Just Noise

I ran into a few people who usually see me sans makeup when I was very dressed up and made up after a film shoot.  All 4 of them exclaimed over how different I looked.  One said, “Normally, you just look like a normal girl but, with makeup, wow! You should wear makeup all the time!” Another said, “You look so great right now; like a totally different person.  I almost didn’t recognize you!”  The other two comments were similar.
 
I know these people meant well, however, the comments made me sad.    They seemed to suggest if I didn’t have a professional hair and makeup artist style me up, I was, well, ick, blah, vanilla, basic.
 
Why are so many of us women expected to spend hours coloring our faces and burning our hair into submission, lacing ourselves into literal corsets sometimes, and balancing on spindly little rods (aka high heeled shoes) in order to be considered “wow”?
 
Obviously, pretty much everyone likes to be told they look nice, however, I would rather all of us be considered pretty because our faces are full of joy than because we’re shellacked with make up and hair styled into the stratosphere.
 
If people say you’d be so pretty only IF (you wore makeup, etc.), then f*** ‘em.  
 
To me, beauty is defined by two things: joy and kindness.  If you have one, you’re lovely.  If you have both, you’re truly beautiful.
 
Everything else is just noise.

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