The Beauty Industry | The Savvy Senorita

OK, this post is going to seem like an inconsequential moan to some, so I duly apologise forthwith to those who may consider the latter to be true.

From the moment I woke up this morning I found everything a struggle. It was as though everything was fighting against me, in fact just now I was in the middle of completing this very post and my laptop decided to complete updates and re-start, and I hadn’t saved any of my work, doh!!!!!! Everything has been, well, I can’t find the words exactly; it has just been a chore I have no patience for!

This morning has just been one of those bad starts to a day. I feel not quite at one with myself at all, uncomfortable from the inside out. I began to think about the daily ‘beauty’ routines we go through, well, what us women go through, just as I was attempting to complete mine. I must admit I was becoming extremely peeved as I finished doing what was needed to my way-ward body! Nothing was as I wanted it to be, and I thought, ‘You know what, right now I’d trade places with a man in a heartbeat’.

I do not negate the fact that I am fit and in good health, which I thank God for, yet, today like on many occasions before, I just felt at odds with myself and nothing could ease my mind.

As a woman I tend to see my body as a chore, because as women we give ourselves lots of work to do, and that work revolves around making ourselves feel and look good. The list of ‘to dos’ can be exhaustive and never ending! Shaving and waxing, plucking, cutting, trimming, washing hair, drying hair, straightening hair, curling hair, applying dye to hair, styling hair, applying facial moisturisers, applying make-up, covering facial flaws like lines and wrinkles, body moisturising, cleansing, toning, removal of make-up, applying fake nails or eyelashes, painting nails, exfoliating, battling cellulite, applying fake tan, exercise, dieting, buying endless outfits and accessories, and shoes!

I know this isn’t the end of the world, but it is part of a woman’s world, and it is boring and time consuming; there are better things to think of and do! I also am aware that the above activities might not be completed by every woman, I myself don’t do it all, but it frightens me to think that this list of what needs to be done seems to only increase with age. That alone is enough to exasperate me!

Every year I notice something different, something else I will add to my list to attend to, because I like to make the most of the skin and body I’m in. I’m not obsessed with image alone, but I feel if I don’t do X or Y then I’m failing myself. OK, I don’t buy into beauty myth of miracle products, nothing is a miracle cure, but whether I use Tesco cheap or Roc Retinol I wouldn’t go a day without moisturising. All these ‘to dos’ are often passed down from Grand-Mother to Mother to Daughter; no generation escapes unscathed!

I also feel women go through so many changes, internally and externally. Of course there are our Periods; a monthly change that to be honest I wish the female of the species didn’t have to endure any longer. I say endure, because again as a woman gets older these things become even more of a chore, a nuisance; they become more difficult physically and mentally. It is the hormones that annoy me most; ever fluctuating throughout the month, one day I wake up myself, and the next I am somebody else. Angry, upset, depressed, unenthused and feeling out of sorts with everything, yes, and spotty. It can only be a Period day (or soon to be). It is something I look forward to every month; yes, just to know I’m not pregnant!

This may seem like a topic no-one should discuss, but to be honest I don’t think women talk enough about how much of encumbrance being a woman can be. Who in their right mind would envy being a woman?

After the Periods are finished, a woman then has the Menopause to look forward to; aching and brittle bones, no libido, hot flushes and sweating, sleep disturbance, even more psychological changes, physical changes such as bladder issues, weight gain, increased body and facial hair, strokes and heart attacks. This can happen anytime from your 30’s to your 60’s, oh the joy!

So you get over one change (Periods) to be saddled with another! What women battle all their lives to prevent then comes back full force to haunt them! Yes, I am on a downer about it, I suppose most of the time no-one thinks of it as harsh, but then just because it is natural doesn’t mean it’s fair. Why is it only women go through this nonsense?

Men; what changes do they go through so regularly that it can impede and effect their lives? Ummm, nothing springs to mind. They shave their faces, so what some women have to do that too, and it can create extraordinary psychological issues for them. Men sometimes crave a perfect body and honed abs, so what women do too! In fact, most men I know just get up, get showered, get dressed and go out of the house without one concern about the spot on their nose, or the state of their hair or their beard or even their beer bellies. Women however are a different and complex kettle of fish, and again I wish I wasn’t! I repeat; I would in a heartbeat trade places to be like a man, and feel unburdened by a body that constantly rebels month in and month out!

So, I am not going to ask the Lord to buy me a Mercedes Benz, as Janis Joplin once did, I am going ask for peace of mind and reprieve; for one month of being able to be carefree about myself and my body hang-ups. That ladies, for me, is worth all the tea in China and all the Gold in the world.

Inconsequential moan now officially over, thank you for reading!

What are your thoughts; women especially? I would be interested to know how you feel about your bodies, your Periods, body maintenance (chore or not) and the Menopause.

Leave all comments below.

Below: bad hair day – not the worst that can happen!

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© Bex Houghagen and The Savvy Senorita, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Bex Houghagen and The Savvy Senorita with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

By chance I read a blog by College Candy, entitled ‘Why This CC Writer Doesn’t Have Pubic Hair. The page discussed a topic which I didn’t realise could hold such fascination; to perform hair removal on the intimate feminine area or not.

Is it a question worth asking at all? I think the reasons behind asking such a question, and the reasons why performing hair removal is seen as the norm are definitely worth considering.

Does being hairy in that area make you less feminine, desirable or hygienic? Is hair free less ridiculed or shunned than being hairy? Isn’t hair removal just about personal choice, or is it a ‘must’ dictated by some societal norm?

Choice should be a personal matter; to be hairy or hair free is a woman’s own decision to make. However, what used to be beauty choices are now interwoven into the everyday good woman’s guide of how to maintain her-self. When there is a pressure to do something to conform to an accepted norm, then where is the freedom of choice?

This pressure to conform then takes the initial questions of hairy or hair free to a much deeper level than merely the topic itself. These questions can be applied to all aspects of self and society; especially people’s reactions to such pressure, and the perceptions of themselves. So how much of the beauty regime that women do, is because they choose to do it and want to do it? How much is done because women have a fear of being ridiculed?

Who decided these measures of beauty as a norm, who decreed these expectations? Who woke up one morning and thought, ‘You know what without the beauty industry I am nothing; Oh, and by the way I really must remove my body hair to be accepted’? Maybe this is just about women’s expectations, their ideals gone out of control to an extent that it is driving all of this ‘beauty myth’ to new heights, or maybe men and sexual attraction are the culprits to blame?

To have sex, I suppose women have to be seen as attractive by the men of the world, but are men’s expectations of beauty always what women think they will be? Could it be women labour under false pretences, maybe to please a society of men who really couldn’t give a damn about all that beauty malarkey? No man would say, ‘Nope, I’m not having sex with you until you remove that pubic hair’, surely not? If that was the case then does a woman reply, ‘OK, I’m not having sex with you until you remove yours’?

If men do indeed frown upon a woman who doesn’t fulfil her ‘beauty duties’ then God help him if, and when he does secure a stable relationship. Life dictates that most women refrain from being slaves to the bathroom on a 24/7 basis; a girl has gotta work for a living too! What would a man do when he realises this, up and runaway to a woman who maybe does live by the rule of beauty alone? If the answer is yes, then is that man worth wasting yourself on?

Women aren’t merely dolls to be played with. A measure of a woman is surely more than her individual parts? Is she just hair, teeth, skin, nails, and features and so on? How sad it must be to believe you are only as good as what your make-up or hair looks like. In reality, if women did what the ‘beauty experts’ suggest they do to their bodies daily, then such exhausting routines would consume their lives and minds! Hell, no woman would be able to step outside without crippling anxiety that she isn’t worthy, just because she hasn’t done X or Y before walking down the street.

Yet, can this beauty obsession ever come to an end? Are we that reliant on it? What will the pilgrimage towards beauty insist upon next though? How far can the boundaries be pushed until women say; no more of this, this is me and deal with it. More importantly who are women changing themselves for; is it for individual benefit or for others? How can we be certain? If the reasons to change are so inextricably linked to society pressure and norms, then surely no-one can be 100% certain what motivates their choices and why.