Friday, 29 November 2013

We are all Plain Janes

I have a bit of weakness for celebrity gossip (let she who is without guilty pleasures cast the first stone). So of course I clicked on a link to an article called, “Stars who are average Plain Janes in real life” (http://www.hollywoodlollipop.com/articles/view/192). And do you know who I saw there?

My friends.
My sister.
My mom.
Myself.

Underneath the flawless, thickly layered make-up and big hair, these women look like Cape Town hipsters on a grocery run.

That’s nothing new - celebrities are only human, bla-bla-bla. But what upsets me is the suggestion that, without all the artificial stuff, these women are not beautiful. They are plain, unnoticeable, boring, average.

Ugly.

So what does that say about us mere mortals, who on our best days look like these women do on their “worst”? If you cannot be considered beautiful without a face full of creams and powders, and hair that billows in the hairspray, and boobs that (look like they) defy gravity, and (most importantly) pictures taken in perfect light and photoshopped to perfection, are any of us really beautiful?

It seems that wanting to be beautiful is a bit like wanting to win the Tour de France – it’s not going to happen if you’re not willing to use what everybody else is using. So unless you're going to take a leaf out of Lance Armstrong’s book, then darling, prepare to go through life unnoticed and unappreciated.

Or

What if tomorrow you gave your make-up the day off, looked your reflection straight in her unlined eyes, and said, “Hey there, beautiful.”

I wonder how many of us would believe ourselves.


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