Much More Than Just A Pretty Face

When the subject of beauty is broached, mostly what comes to mind is the physical attributes of a person. And that is understandable. It is what is meant in the first place. It is rare to hear someone attribute beauty to anything other than physical features. That though, shouldn’t always be the case.

In the first place; what is beauty?

Who is beautiful?

What are the requirements to being labeled beautiful?

Does beauty have to be about physical features only?

What about personalities?

What about character?

In the society that we live in, all these are often seen as tiresome, non important questions. When our grandparents were growing up, they knew and experienced what real beauty is/was; both physical and otherwise. To them, beauty was in how you carried yourself as a female, how you catered to a house; whether you could make a house a home. It was in the way you spoke,in the way you carried yourself, in how you were brought up and how you will bring your own children up.

Beauty was in the way you smiled, in the way you interacted with other people, even in the way other people saw you and talked about you, in your shyness, how demure you are. Yes, of course, physical beauty was considered, but that wasn’t the main quality back then; character and personality were more important.

These days though, our generation, we are much more interested in the physical feature; who is more beautiful, how many 'double taps' or 'hearts' did she get on that picture on the 'gram, how many guys approach her when she steps out of her house. Our generation is much more interested in the amount of make-up you wear or the filter that makes you look more appealing. We judge you based on your physical appearance. This shouldn’t be so.

Society, has over the years, set some expectations for us, especially females, on how we should look, which is used as yardstick to measure one’s beauty.Of course, they say beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, but what if the beholder has decided to change the rules now? The beholder is no longer using their eyes, but listening to what the society is dictating as whats beautiful. 

Conventional looks are no longer appreciated. A naturally beautiful girl, without any amount of make-up or decorations happening on her face, is no longer seen as the girl of your dreams. The status quo is changed. To be the 'it girl'; that one girl that everyone would stand up to see, you have to be wearing pounds of make up on your face, your eyebrows must be on 'fleek', your lipstick should be perfectly drawn,as should your eye liner, your face should be contoured and highlighted so much that, your mother who gave birth to you, would not recognise you should she meet you somewhere. That is the way of the world today.

But how did we get here, though? How have we fallen so deep down the rabbit hole that we do not see anything wrong with 13-14 year olds uploading pictures of their faces, beat to the gods on to social media, and grown men liking them pictures. How low is our self esteem that we believe the only way we can achieve everything in our daily lives, is if we walk around with porcelain and flawless face; cause no one wants to deal with a face that has a natural look to it.

I have never been a make up person (though I live for a good tube of lipstick), I have never felt the pressure to contour or highlight my cheekbones to look like I was sculptured by Michelangelo. Maybe because growing up, I had this innate feeling that I was beautiful, and so didn't need to wear a ton of chemicals on my face to make me look anymore appealing to any other person, or satisfy the misogynistic urges of man.

I feel like most of these young, and old women who wear so much make up, are trying to makeup (pun intended) for their low self esteem, maybe they do not think of themselves as beautiful enough, and societal expectations not helping matters, they tend to depend on 'painting' their faces to look, or/ and feel more pretty, but of course I digress.

I have nothing against females wearing make up, don't get me wrong. If wearing it makes you happy, boo, do you. It's all good, but do it for you, not because the society dictates it, not because  the boyfriend wants to show you off to his other male friends so that he will be counted as one of them guys with the prettiest girls, and certainly not because that is where your self esteem comes from. If the world can't accept you for you, then you are better off without them.

You are much more than just a pretty face.

xo