If you ask me, there are lots of things in our society that are extremely backward, and feeling confident is no exception. An industry that dominates through their sky high profiting, beauty companies goal is for cosumers to religiously buy their products (of course, that’s how they make their money). In order to accomplish this, they must make [us] feel as though we need or could benefit from their products, improving our lives—–but most importantly, our image. With the industry having such control over our perception of beauty, we let the existence or lack of products in our possession dictate whether we ourselves feel beautiful.
Latest skincare products=> Clear skin => beautiful
Raved about eyebrow pencil => Perfect eyebrows => beautiful
Charcoal toothpaste => White teeth => beautiful
Unfortunately, I could go on and on and on. This is how our society; how our cycle works. The beauty industry as a whole, want us to feel insecure about ourselves. Being insecure is the reason they can succeed. As women, we’re taught that there’s a correlation between looking beautiful and having confidence—–that the only way to be confident is from looking good. It’s an outside in concept; building self-esteem from appearance when it’s very well the opposite. But what would happen if we decided to flip the system? What would happen if we built our inner confidence and let our appearance reflect that?
Although I believe it’s important for girls to believe they’re beautiful, I also find the stress placed on image overwhelmingly overrated. While people often give praise to those blessed with good looks or rather those who have worked toward achieveing them, I find something much more praiseworthy about a girl who feels confident in their skin regardless of their outer looks. By fueling the fire of the beauty industry, we’re helping individuals profit over their emphasis on appearance. Confidence becomes faulty when it relies on what we see in the mirror—–feeling good about ourselves only when our image complements that. However, choosing to establish self-esteem internally first, means that we are complete control of our self regard; and I think that’s pretty darn cool.
Dear beauty industry,
You can’t and won’t influence me with your false allegations of my so called insecurities.
That’s up to me to decide.
Sincerely,
One fed up girl