After swimming through a sea of media that endorses perfect shells of skin and counterfeit images, we ask ourselves, what is beauty?
This image of a perfect individual is ingrained in our heads and we often strive to emulate that person. We are obsessed on how we look and what others think of us. This is apparent with the numerous magazines studded out with glamour models and new diet tips. But, I ask myself, is this a picture of perfect beauty? Are we so worried about what we look like that we lose sight of what true beauty is?
On a quick search on Google, I come across every kind of diet regimen or quick weight loss technique I can handle. We constantly read how to better our lives, but in reality, someone already loves us for who we are.
Makeup is lined through the halls in any store, but what does it really do than just makes up lies of who we really are?
Dove, a leader in beauty products for men and women, released a few commercials last year showing the process of how models are prepared before a photo shoot. It started out with a pretty average looking women, who was then masked behind makeup and photographed. If the lavish makeup wasn’t enough, she was taken into Photoshop and digitally reworked to inhuman perfection.
From this, Dove started a whole movement called the Campaign for Real Beauty. According to the website, they wanted to create an image of pure beauty, where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety. They banded together along with the Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and Girls Inc. to help equip the younger generation with the confidence they need to become successful confident adults.
Dove’s simple campaign, tells us exactly why we try so hard to become something we are not. This is because the image we look up to in the advertisements isn’t even true. We are striving to be a Photoshop masterpiece every morning when all we really need to be is ourselves.
Even big name rappers are recognizing the true side of beauty. Drake, one of today’s hottest rappers, spits lyrics that give us a vision of what he finds beautiful when he says, “sweat pants, hair tied back, chillin’ with no makeup on, that’s when you’re the prettiest, I hope you don’t take it wrong.”
In the end, find the true beauty in everything. We are constantly looking for new ways to better our image and to change our appearance, but what really matters most, is how you perceive yourself.
Be yourself, because that’s what’s beautiful. n