Wednesday, October 22, 2014

My standard of beauty

Does anyone else feel sort of bad for Renee Zellweger and her new face? Like, what is she feeling today now that those pictures are out and she looks drastically different and everyone is all, "Hmmm. Ummm. Whaaaaaat?" Do you think she went to the event hoping that people would just comment on how youthful she looked? And now she's home crying into her scrambled egg whites because that was absolutely not the reaction? It's just awful to think about. I feel doubly bad because I've been guilty of commenting on her old face, thus adding to the obvious problem that these poor women in Hollywood have to care so much about their looks that they end up doing things to themselves that make them nearly unrecognizable. I've repented and won't say mean things about faces anymore. I'm sorry Renee. It was a perfectly lovely face. I hope you really, truly love your new one.

Which brings me to my complicated thoughts on altering our looks. On the one hand I wish that we could all just age with grace and perspective and wisdom, embracing our wrinkles and sun spots and dark circles and love handles and gray hair and still have the Bluebird of Happiness in our hearts to keep us young and fresh. And on the other hand I think that if you're truly unhappy about the way something looks, I mean really down in the dumps, you should have the freedom to change it. I wear mascara, don't I? Because I like the way it makes my eyes open up. Is there a difference between wearing mascara and getting botox injected into your forehead (other than botulism)?

I suppose the difference is that I can leave the house without mascara on. While I almost always wear it I don't think I'm a deformed short-lashed freak without it. It doesn't alter who I know I really am, is what I'm saying. The other day I slept through my alarm and woke up 10 minutes before seminary started (heart attack!!!). I had 5 minutes total to get ready which means that I had to cut it down to the bare essentials: clean clothes and brushed teeth.  I didn't even consider putting make-up on. But that's my standard. Other people's standards could be a lot higher. Higher as in cutting yourself up and putting a brand new face on because you don't like the face you've had your whole life.

Personally, I think it's all in our heads. You know how you feel when you're having a really gross hair day and all you can think is that the world will finally know what kind of hideous monster you are and they'll shun you and you'll spend the rest of your days in a cave. And then you walk into work and someone says, "Hey, you look super cute today." We have no idea what the world sees in us. It's usually a lot better than what we see.

Later, I will discuss how I think, "You can't possibly be 39," is not a compliment.


4 comments:

Tessy said...

I don't wear mascara every day but every other day I fill in my eyebrows with a pencil (not just any pencil, of course)! That makes me feel 1000% better - but that's because I'm a crazy eyebrow lady.

Rach said...

This is why we're bosom sisters. I haven't seen the pictures of Renee yet, but you know I'm about to look them up. But just because I'm curious and need to know why I feel sorry for her. Anyway, I say amen to everything you wrote.

Unknown said...

I'm fairly certain that the world would spin off it's axis if I stopped wearing mascara...other than that, I'm fine, unless they stopped manufacturing hairspray.

Andrea said...

As soon as I saw the news report about Renee I anxiously awaited a blog post about it from you! I still don't know how she thought no one would notice. Oh well, I hope she feels better about herself. As for me, I can't leave the house without mascara, my eyelashes are too blond. I've thought about having them dyed, but I'm too scared to have anything done too close to my eyes. Weird, I know, but I'm even too scared to wear contacts.