Me, Myself & The Beauty Myth

Understanding what parts of the beauty industry I participate in for myself vs. for society.

For the past 6 months of quarantine, I’ve spent a whole lot of time alone. This has caused me to strip down a lot of my beauty routines to the bare minimum, simply because I didn’t have to interact with anyone outside the four walls of my house. Usually, I wouldn’t think twice about this, but after reading The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, and doing some self-reflection, I wanted to investigate my beauty routines, and why I really do them.

My Beauty Routines

Shaving

I’ve always hated shaving my legs. I hate having to spend an extra 10 minutes in the shower examining every square inch of my leg to make sure all the hair is gone. In the winter, I rarely shave my legs, and even in the summer, I try to go as long as I can without shaving them. This quarantine, I decided to not shave my legs for almost 4 months. Not only that, but I actually left the house wearing shorts or a dress, with my hairy legs. I realized that I really don’t care if my legs are super hairy. I’m not saying that I’ll never shave my legs, I do enjoy it from time to time, but personally, I don’t find it something I need to do every week or every two weeks. With this being said, I do like to shave my armpits regularly. Essentially, I’ve tried to understand what parts of my shaving routine I do for myself, and what parts I do for society, and I’m going to continue doing the parts of the routine I do for myself.

Makeup

Makeup is another thing that I don’t particularly enjoy putting on my face. Over these past 6 months, I’ve worn makeup maybe once, and that was just a little bit of mascara and blush. There are times when I do enjoy makeup, but I’ve realized that I really only enjoy wearing mascara, cream blush, and a little bit of concealer. This is the makeup routine I enjoy, no matter the occasion.

Skincare

Skincare is something I really enjoy. This is the one industry where I actually have to limit myself from buying products that I don’t need. I’ve never had the best skin, so I am always curious about new products that could help me out. I’ve kept my skincare routine fairly basic, with no more than 5 products, but I thoroughly enjoy doing it every day and night. It gives me a sense of purpose in the morning, and I feel like I am treating my body well.

“The problem with cosmetics exists only when women feel invisible or inadequate without them.”

So, what’s the point of all of this analyzing? In The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf helps us understand the history of the beauty industry and how it has constantly adapted and reshaped itself to make women hate their own bodies. Although this book was written in 1991, a lot of the conclusions are still very applicable to the beauty industry today. From weight loss companies advertising dieting to plastic surgeons promoting silicon breast implants, there is a constant societal pressure that tells women that our bodies are not good enough, and that they need something to be “more perfect”. In reality, there is never a need for most of these products or procedures, they only exist to make the beauty industry more money.

Once I became more aware of this concept, my natural instinct was to reject the entire industry. “I’m not gonna wear any makeup or shave or wash my face”, is what I thought to myself. This is one way to go, but just because the beauty industry is manipulative, doesn’t mean it needs to be completely rejected. This is why I wanted to analyze my own beauty routines to see what parts of them I do for myself, and what parts I do because I’ve been told that it’s the “right thing to do”. This way, I have a choice, and I don’t feel inadequate if I don’t do something that is the “right thing to do”.

Supporting Myself & Other Women

Jealousy

Another part of the beauty industry that doesn’t get talked about a lot is how it affects women’s views of other women. Whether it is through media or how you are raised, we are taught to compare ourselves to others and jealousy is a part of that equation. Generally, jealousy comes from a place of internal insecurity. I wish I could say that I’ve never been jealous before, but I have, like most women, felt lots of jealousy. It’s something that has taken me a long time to come to terms with, but simply being able to recognize when I am feeling jealous is an important step for me. I can then attempt to take that feeling and replace it with a feeling of support, and conduct an analysis of my own insecurity.

Loving Myself

If there is one thing I’ve learned in these past 6 months, it’s that I have one body, and if I want to live for a long time, I have to take care of it, because it’s all that I’ve got.

Loving myself and my body is not something that comes naturally to me. It is something that comes externally, and it has taken me a while to make an internal process. This is why I’ve wanted to analyze my routines to see what I actually enjoy doing and what makes me feel good, rather than what is supposed to make me feel good.

Overall, I have concluded that I need to educate myself more about this industry, and I need to spend more time loving myself, and supporting the women around me.