The clean girl aesthetic is on the rise. Girls waking up at the break of dawn, wearing matching sets, hair always done, working out constantly and eating clean. You can’t help but wonder if this lifestyle is a true representation of someone’s life or just a facade for the people around them to admire.
I am the type of girl that likes to wake up past 10 in the morning, have a sweet treat daily and bed rot like no other. Being this type of girl in the age of the clean girl aesthetic feels almost criminal. Oftentimes I feel the need to conform to this standard that has been set by so many girls around me.
I walk to class every day and see girls who look effortlessly perfect. The cutest matching set, bouncy blown out hair and flawless skin. For the longest time I looked at them in awe as I have old sweats and a hoodie on, hair barely brushed and imperfect skin.
In these types of occurrences it’s easy to automatically feel bad about yourself and want to feel invisible. And for a long time, that’s how I felt. It only took almost two years at Penn State to realize that these “clean girls” I was admiring for all this time probably felt the same exact way I did.
For my first two years here I took it upon myself to conform to this aesthetic that was being forced upon so many young girls. I would do my hair, makeup and wear a cute outfit to class, yet I still found myself looking at other girls feeling like I still wasn’t fitting in. I realized that when I was doing all of this trying to be a “clean girl” I was only doing it to fit in and not for myself.
I was getting ready every day for others. I was waking up early for others. I was shopping for clothes for others. All these areas and aspects of your life are ones you have to do for yourself, rather than the others around you, so no wonder when I was actively being a “clean girl” I was still comparing and feeling like I was still sticking out.
Being a girl unfortunately comes with a lot of comparison. No matter how put together, pretty or productive I am, there is always going to be someone I am looking at that is exceeding those areas more than I am. It took a lot of self-awareness and love to stop comparing my lifestyle and appearance to others.
With this all being said, I want to preface that I find it inspiring for young girls to want to have a healthy and productive lifestyle. But it’s important to acknowledge that this lifestyle more often than not is based on conformity and desire to fit in.
With an aesthetic such as the clean girl being such a prominent part of girlhood and culture right now it is incredibly important to remember that comparison is the thief of joy. No matter how put together one may seem, we all live crazy and on the go lives that are easy to disguise as ideal and seamless.