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Natural isn't sexy on its own, neither is Makeup. How does it matter? What's sexy is individuality. Sexy is YOU.
What is artificial beauty, anyway? Isn’t the whole concept about being you. How does it matter then if your You is different from mine?
I was probably ten when the concept of natural beauty came into my life. My mother was getting ready for an event and my curious self happened to ask my father, why wasn’t he getting ready. It was an earnest question but from the perspective of early 2013, it was rather controversial to expect my father to put on makeup but I say what I think and that’s exactly what I did.
My father by now very well accustomed to my curiosity said something that had a huge impact on me. It was a simple thing. He introduced me to the concept of ‘natural beauty. But the impact was multifaceted. I never made any effort to learn makeup and styling but I also became careless about my health. The line between self-care and self-pampering is very thin. Self-pampering, too, in a way is self-care but that’s exactly where I faltered. I refused to care about my body because I wanted to be natural. What followed was insecurity and lack of self-esteem during the most precious years of my life.
Today, as I look back at 18 when I am at a much better place in life at least, where mindset and perspective are concerned, my thoughts don’t align with my previous self anymore. I no longer think that I am a superior human because I chose to dump makeup when most of my peers experiment with it. On the contrary, I admire how skillful they are at makeup and styling.
Today, I no longer feel the need to compare myself to others. I always knew you cannot put people into boxes because no two people are ever the same but today I practice it. I am not good at makeup but I like skincare. I feel equally comfortable in a kurti and shorts. My choices don’t make me a certain type because I have no type. I am me and that’s my type. If you rather go natural, your choice. If you rather put on makeup, your choice.
That’s what everything boils down to, eventually. How are you morally superior just because you don’t have highlighted hair? If you are dying to get a tattoo but won’t because you rather be natural then it’s you who is letting others’ opinions of yourself affect your choices. The person who got that tattoo they wanted is at the very least aware of their choices and has the guts to stick to them. Now that is admirable. To have the guts to listen to your heart and do whatever you want.
Natural isn’t sexy on its own, neither is Makeup. What’s sexy is individuality. Sexy is YOU.
Image Source: Vivaan Rupani Images, Canva Pro
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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