Make-Up Free and Au Natural!

Anyone who knows me understands I am not a big fan of make-up. In my mind it’s just another responsibility society has bestowed on women. Frankly, I’d rather sleep an extra half hour than slather paint all over my pores at 5 AM in the morning. I’ve always wondered if daily “face painting” has any negative consequences on the skin because I’ve always been told that your pores need exposure to air. Anyone know the verdict on this?

Well, recently “the girls” on the Today took it all off, their make-up that is, and showed off all their natural assets. I applaud them. In my opinion, we need to feel comfortable in our own skin. Here’s a video of the event: http://www.stylelist.com/2010/05/13/kathie-lee-gifford-hoda-kotb-makeup-free-today-show/. But you should know with all the attention this has received, a year ago French Elle did the same thing with 8 celebrities: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/yay-french-elles-amazing-no-makeup-issue-and-why-american-mags-need-to-step-it-up-446538/ and my girl Tyra Banks did it back in 2005 and again in 2010 http://www.skinnyvscurvy.com/tyra-banks/tyra-banks-without-make-up.html. All these women deserve a round of applauds.

Beauty is so much more than just skin deep, it’s what’s on the inside that matters and more of this type of honesty by these role models are what’s needed to set the stage for women and especially young girls to feel confident about their own natural looks.

There are 14 year olds who are going beyond make-up and turning to plastic surgery to look better and impress their peers. We know why people get plastic surgery to change their looks as they get older—to look younger. But a young teenager interested in going under the knife is a liitle ridiculous, no? An article posted on KidsHealth, http://kidshealth.org/, goes into detail about this growing problem. “According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) over 333,000 people 18 years and younger had plastic surgery in 2005, up from about 306,000 in 2000. Teens view plastic surgery as a way to fit in and look acceptable to friends and peers.” http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/body_image/plastic_surgery.html#.

Don’t get me wrong, a little make-up…the right time, the right place…nothing wrong with it. Having to “put on a face” before you are seen by your husband in the morning is a little overboard. Oh and ladies, you should know…It was not surprising to me that ALL the gentlemen interviewed on the topic preferred less make-up than more make-up.   

Here are more celebrity faces that look just like the rest of us, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL8WKbYv6fc.

 So ladies take off your masks and learn to love yourself Au Natural!