I wish I was one of those incredible natural beauties. You know the ones I mean. They look as amazing without make up as they do with. I wish I woke up and could just shake my hair, splash water on my face and get on with my day. But I can't and that's ok. I'm happy to go out without my make up as long as my hair is ok but I cannot leave the house with the birds nest that I wake up with. I swear to god that evil gremlins back comb my hair and spritz it whilst I'm asleep. There is nothing even vaguely acceptable about it first thing in the morning. If you see me with it scraped back and wearing a hairband you know it's a bad hair day!
Even if I'm having a make up free day, which I'll try to do twice a week because it's good to let your skin breathe, I'll still follow my skincare regime. As I get older I'm aware that my face, neck and hands will show any damage that was done in my youth. My mum always encouraged me from being a teen to follow a proper skin care regime and since then, most of the time I've tried to be religious about it; every morning and evening. Lotions and potions and fairy dust. Pretty sure it's the fairy dust that does the most good!
Rick and I don't always agree on beauty. I'm happy to point out a girl to him that I think is stunning; I know he's not going to run off with her leaving a trail of broken hearts behind him! But very often a lovely lady that I think is gorgeous, he will say that she's alright. It's so interesting. I guess the obvious thing is that men and women look for different things, we are attracted to different features. The interesting thing when it comes to attractive men is that I don't have a type. I can admire anyone from Johnny Depp to David Beckham and David Tennant to Dave Grohl.
But the biggest thing about beauty is confidence and happiness. Don't confuse confidence with arrogance though. Some of the most unassuming people are actually the most attractive, they just can't see it in themselves. And then you have some people who are so overly confident that whatever beauty they might have is totally lost. There are plenty of reality stars that I could mention here! Having money to primp and preen, plump and stretch will not make you any more attractive if you are not a good person. And I believe that much of this cosmetic work is done because they continually find fault in themselves, that they haven't learnt to love who they are first. There is nothing wrong with a bit of help but know when to stop. I'm saddened at young women who feel the need for Botox and lip augmentation. Live life for a bit before the tell tale signs of experience appear. But again, I guess we only find that inner peace as we get older and have wisdom wrinkles and laughter lines.
I have a theory that most of the time is pretty accurate. It's quite simple but not at all scientific. It's an observation so please don't shoot me down for it...
An average looking couple will have children that are more attractive than they are; the genes balance themselves out. Both Ben and Bex are more attractive than me and their father.
That child will marry someone very similar to themselves; their children are slightly more attractive than they are,again. But at some point those genes reach the end of their line and the most attractive couple can have an average looking child. There is nothing wrong with that, I truly believe that people can be too attractive, their features are too perfect, too symmetrical. But as I said this is a very loose, flaky theory and I'm sure it can be shot down in flames quicker than it's taken me to write it. And again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The media plays a huge part in this lack of self belief. I understand that celebrities in all aspects of life need to be the more attractive of the species, that we as mere public seem to need to have to look up to these beautiful people. I'm not sure why a handsome man or beautiful woman is held in higher esteem than the charity worker, teacher, nurse, Dr, etc, but they are. This needs to be corrected sooner rather than later. We have children who are starving themselves, anorexic or bulimic. Girls in their late teens having boob jobs and Botox. Teens self harming because they feel they can't live up to this perfect image that is portrayed in magazines and in all media. This is just as big a problem for boys as well as girls, so let's not ignore them. They also need love, support and self belief. But it beggars belief the amount of plastic looking reality stars that these young people look up to. The media has a lot to answer for. Why do we have youngsters self harming and actually committing suicide? For the last few weeks as I go through Facebook I'm plagued by images of Caitlyn Jenner; I respect the agony and lack of self worth I presume she's spent years hiding, and I'm happy that she's found the strength to be true to herself. But we need to give as much media time to the true heroes in life also. I know Ms Jenner will hopefully give others the strength and personal power to heal themselves and find themselves, which is a great thing, but I do want to see true life heroes taking as much pages in our magazines and on our tv's.
So whilst we ourselves and our children are shown these perfect, photoshopped celebrities that we are meant to look up to, let's teach our children that they are truly beautiful as they are. That each of us is beautiful. That beauty is in the eye of the beholder. True beauty lies within us.
Even if I'm having a make up free day, which I'll try to do twice a week because it's good to let your skin breathe, I'll still follow my skincare regime. As I get older I'm aware that my face, neck and hands will show any damage that was done in my youth. My mum always encouraged me from being a teen to follow a proper skin care regime and since then, most of the time I've tried to be religious about it; every morning and evening. Lotions and potions and fairy dust. Pretty sure it's the fairy dust that does the most good!
Rick and I don't always agree on beauty. I'm happy to point out a girl to him that I think is stunning; I know he's not going to run off with her leaving a trail of broken hearts behind him! But very often a lovely lady that I think is gorgeous, he will say that she's alright. It's so interesting. I guess the obvious thing is that men and women look for different things, we are attracted to different features. The interesting thing when it comes to attractive men is that I don't have a type. I can admire anyone from Johnny Depp to David Beckham and David Tennant to Dave Grohl.
But the biggest thing about beauty is confidence and happiness. Don't confuse confidence with arrogance though. Some of the most unassuming people are actually the most attractive, they just can't see it in themselves. And then you have some people who are so overly confident that whatever beauty they might have is totally lost. There are plenty of reality stars that I could mention here! Having money to primp and preen, plump and stretch will not make you any more attractive if you are not a good person. And I believe that much of this cosmetic work is done because they continually find fault in themselves, that they haven't learnt to love who they are first. There is nothing wrong with a bit of help but know when to stop. I'm saddened at young women who feel the need for Botox and lip augmentation. Live life for a bit before the tell tale signs of experience appear. But again, I guess we only find that inner peace as we get older and have wisdom wrinkles and laughter lines.
I have a theory that most of the time is pretty accurate. It's quite simple but not at all scientific. It's an observation so please don't shoot me down for it...
An average looking couple will have children that are more attractive than they are; the genes balance themselves out. Both Ben and Bex are more attractive than me and their father.
That child will marry someone very similar to themselves; their children are slightly more attractive than they are,again. But at some point those genes reach the end of their line and the most attractive couple can have an average looking child. There is nothing wrong with that, I truly believe that people can be too attractive, their features are too perfect, too symmetrical. But as I said this is a very loose, flaky theory and I'm sure it can be shot down in flames quicker than it's taken me to write it. And again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The media plays a huge part in this lack of self belief. I understand that celebrities in all aspects of life need to be the more attractive of the species, that we as mere public seem to need to have to look up to these beautiful people. I'm not sure why a handsome man or beautiful woman is held in higher esteem than the charity worker, teacher, nurse, Dr, etc, but they are. This needs to be corrected sooner rather than later. We have children who are starving themselves, anorexic or bulimic. Girls in their late teens having boob jobs and Botox. Teens self harming because they feel they can't live up to this perfect image that is portrayed in magazines and in all media. This is just as big a problem for boys as well as girls, so let's not ignore them. They also need love, support and self belief. But it beggars belief the amount of plastic looking reality stars that these young people look up to. The media has a lot to answer for. Why do we have youngsters self harming and actually committing suicide? For the last few weeks as I go through Facebook I'm plagued by images of Caitlyn Jenner; I respect the agony and lack of self worth I presume she's spent years hiding, and I'm happy that she's found the strength to be true to herself. But we need to give as much media time to the true heroes in life also. I know Ms Jenner will hopefully give others the strength and personal power to heal themselves and find themselves, which is a great thing, but I do want to see true life heroes taking as much pages in our magazines and on our tv's.
So whilst we ourselves and our children are shown these perfect, photoshopped celebrities that we are meant to look up to, let's teach our children that they are truly beautiful as they are. That each of us is beautiful. That beauty is in the eye of the beholder. True beauty lies within us.