In a world where instant gratification is sought after, the term natural beauty is a concept that is lost in translation. Today it is all about how many likes and loves you have on your post and the amount of likes and loves determine your beauty according to social culture in today’s world.
Since social media has taken over our lives and the world, natural beauty is something of the past. It is all about the perfect photo – lighting, makeup, setting and destination – on our social media pages to ensure that we gain more followers, likes and loves.
It has been more prevalent in the last few years that natural beauty has made a comeback – the “I just woke up like this” look and the #nomakeup trend – but it is still frowned upon (in some way) in society for a woman to go out in public with no makeup and her hair un-coiffed.
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I completely disagree with the view of society that a woman always has to have a full face of makeup and her hair perfectly coiffed. That is why I asked men, from all cultures, backgrounds and spectrums of life, for their opinion.
The question that they were presented with was: What does natural beauty mean to you?
The answer was unanimous: beauty comes from the inside, looks are only skin deep.
Along with that answer, most of the men also added the following:
- Someone with a pure soul – she takes care of herself but not embarrassed to admit she cares too much about others
- Someone who is spontaneous
- Someone who is friendly
- Someone who is not scared to take a risk
- Someone who is not scared to make a joke nor is she scared to make a joke about herself and still laugh
- Someone that truly laughs from her stomach out loud
- Someone that is open minded
- Someone that has opinions and not afraid to share those opinions
These things are all easy to read and most women know this but the reality of the fact is that there are too many games that are played, too many voices that whisper in your ear and too many insecurities in today’s world because according to social media you have to look a certain way, act a certain way and beauty is defined by your likes and loves on your posts.
As women we forget that nothing has really changed since the late 1800s when women used to “drop” their handkerchief in front of a man they thought suitable. The man would pick up and return her handkerchief and, like in today’s world, the woman would smile, giggle shyly and a conversation would be started.
As women, we forget two things: women used to pinch their cheeks to have some colour in their faces and social media did not exist!
When I was interviewing the men, it was clear that even though we live in an extremely superficial world, it was more important to the men that a woman should be able to be herself, laugh about stupid things and not be scared to laugh at herself.
Most, if not all the men, also said that there is nothing sexier than a woman who is comfortable in her own skin; no makeup, tracksuit pants and an oversized t-shirt with a messy bun but in the same breath they said a woman who dresses up and takes care of herself is just as sexy – the best of both worlds.
It all comes down to balance – to have a balance in life is what we all strive for.
In a world where we, as women, have to look a certain way, act a certain way and always have to be on top of our game, I say: “No! Be the best you can be and stop worrying about what social media tells you to be, what to look like and how to act!”
If today you feel like jeans, a t-shirt, sneakers, no makeup and your hair in a bun, that is your sexy today and the world will see it! Sexy and comfortable in your own skin is something only you can determine. Sexy is what you feel sexy in and not what some post on Instagram or Facebook told you that you should feel sexy in.
Natural beauty is the fact that as women we are not all built the same, we have different body types and that is perfectly fine. A style that looks amazing on a social media model or your friend, does not necessarily suit your body type. In the same breath, something that looks breath-taking on you might not suit your friend and that is OK!
Natural beauty is being you, being comfortable with yourself and once that beauty shines out from within you, it will blind those around because you are GORGEOUS!
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Natural beauty is accepting our flaws and using those flaws to your advantage!
But most importantly… Natural beauty is YOU!
