The clean girl: effortless perfection. Flawless skin, soft and bouncy hair, and a scent that lingers; warm vanilla kissed with amber. It’s the goal.Â
During the past couple of years, depictions of this standard flooded social media. TikTok’s captioned “clean girl aesthetic” infiltrated my For You Page.Â
My feed was filled with expensive, monochrome hoodie sets with gold hoop earrings. I gained constant consumption of French nails while preparing Caesar salads over a white, marble countertop. I saw skincare videos of girls with glass skin sitting in their strategically organized rooms.
To be that girl, there are a few things required.
First, you need the perfect slick-back hairdo. There can be no strands of hair out of place, because that’s messy. You must wake up early, drink green smoothies, go to the gym, do all your schoolwork, have salads for dinner, and hang out with your millions of friends.
I wanted to be a clean girl — everyone did. How could you not?
I sat in my room staring at the clothes on the floor and the posters falling off the wall, and thought to myself: I am so not a clean girl. I look at my acne in the mirror as I eat my microwavable ramen dinner and laugh.
After slicking back your hair enough times, you realize that a few strands may fall out. And after drinking kale smoothies and eating salads every day, you crave some chocolate.Â
Social media allows us to portray any version of ourselves that we want. It enables us to deceive viewers by giving a false sense of perfection or stability. While someone could be the messiest person alive, on Instagram, they appear flawless.
We know this, yet we still compare ourselves to these “perfect” individuals. We still put ourselves down because we are not this unachievable standard of the “clean girl.”Â
We all want to look like we have a million friends. But in reality, a few amazing ones are just enough. We desire success and completion, but sometimes, the schoolwork becomes too much. Social media is toxic, but we love it. It consists of constant competition and is a representation of everything we know we cannot be. The day we accept that is the day we shut down the standards.Â
I will never be a clean girl, and I am fine with that.Â
In fact, I think it is beautiful when someone has a wispy braid in their hair. Wrinkles, acne, and eye bags all present imperfections that lie within us. Mismatched outfits are my favorite; they show personality. I love my sugary coffees and you will not catch me at the gym.
The clean girl is not real. She is a blend of lighting, makeup, and various camera shots. We all have to realize this: none of us is her, and that is okay. If we were all her, the concept of uniqueness and individuality would wither away by lip gloss and Crest whitening strips.Â
We are not clean girls; we are human. And to be human is to be messy.
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