I think the blossoming clean girl aesthetic is a falsehood. I am not a clean girl. I don’t eat the meals those girls eat and I don’t have the silky smooth hair that they do. I don’t have a consistent self-care routine that I do every single day, but does that make me any less than them? This trend has a deeper impact on womanhood and enables cultural appropriation. This is another example of plaguing young girls on the internet with deep-rooted insecurities because they aren’t exactly like the girls they see online. It is damaging to the psyche of adolescent girls and I don’t think that conversation is talked about enough. It is okay to have days where you lay in bed and eat a bag of chips. It is okay to not drink lemon water every day. It is okay to have messy hair that hasn’t been brushed in a few days. These things are okay and they can be self-care. Worth mentioning is the blatant appropriation of black and Latinx cultures that the clean girl aesthetic portrays. Black and Latina women have been wearing high, slicked-backed ponytails, and hoop earrings for many many years, decades even. The same girls participating in this clean girl facade are (sometimes) the same girls demonizing women of color for the same exact attributes. Furthermore, this aesthetic has capitalized on Latinx culture and whitewashed it. The rise of cowboy caviar (salsa) and spa water (agua fresca) has gained warranted criticism. It is really important to not forget the origins of the clean girl aesthetic and the problematic essence of it.
In summary, it is important to not get caught up in the trends. If a trend is causing negative self thought and insecurity; it probably isn’t a good one. It is perfectly okay to not be the clean girl.