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I don't know if you know this, but I wasn't born and raised Muslim, which I think it's an important thing to know,
Because when I speak of beauty struggles
Im talking from the painful experience of trying to catch up and fit in by all means necessary
And you know what the crazy thing is?
That for 28 years,
Until I became muslim,
I never stopped to question the standards placed on me,
I never questioned why
-my curly hair was called “pelo malo”(Which translates to: bad hair)
-Why my eyebrows were not the right shape,
-Why my nose was not up to the standard and why I would constantly daydream about surgery..
-Why beauty pageants were set up as one of the best things I could do with my life…
All of this was second nature to me,
Part of a daily routine that also said it's an abomination to go out without makeup😮,
(Even if it was just a quick in and out)
Im sure you have your own stories,
But where did this come from??
Who was calling these shots and deciding the kind of nose, skin color, hair type, lips and eye shape were the “right”one???
The shocking truth is that it hasn't even been that long,
The modern beauty industry really took off in the 1900’s,
with companies like Max Factor and L’Oreal ( both founded in 1909),Elizabeth Arden (founded in 1910), Revlon (founded in 1932) and Estee Lauder (founded in 1946) all coming up and making these beauty preparations available on a commercial level
And with the creation of this companies, came the need to be profitable and sell these products,
And what better way to compel women to attach themselves to these companies,
Than to appeal to our inner desire for beauty,
To set up a standart that they decide on, based on which product they want to sell.
So then came the beauty icons: Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe…
unintentionally playing part in the machine that chose them as the goal for all of us
And so we’ve been playing the game ever since,
We’ve been expertly marketed these “trends” in breathtaking movie scenes featuring ethereal flowing dresses, strong women on magazine covers, independent types on tv shows, etc...
And all these come attached with the "standard" that bypasses all the beauty from all the women around the world and focus only on one set of features...
It’s mind boggling, honestly.
I like to think of all the flowers everywhere right now
and how absurd it would be if someone were ever to say that THIS specific flower was the best of all,
and tried to make the other flowers change themselves to fit,
Really,
Imagine the Lillies,
Marigolds,
Hibiscus flowers,
Orchids,
Lavender,
the Tulips,
Hydrangeas,
the Roses….
imagine them all trying to be…
a Sunflower…
Imagine all the fields of flowers slowly turning into Sunflowers because they were convinced that’s how they should look…
It would be disastrous…
But that is exactly what this alliance of beauty companies has done,
They have taken one of us and set her up as the “It girl”
And when they need to renew their marketing, they find another one,
And then another one,
And the cycle goes on,
And we go on trying to keep up.
So what is beauty?
They claim is thin brows, fair skin, thin lips.. ....Oh wait that was the 1920’s
It’s thick brows, tan skin, pouty lips…. No, no, that was the 80’s girl
It’s chissled cheekbones, overdrawn lips, fake lashes…. Mmm, i think that’s last year..
See where I’m going with this?
Their standard has always changed, and will always change,
And I think we all know this,
But it can be so insidious…
it sneaks in our mind in such a sneaky way,
So, in tomorrow's email im going to tell you the ONE thing that ties all their marketing together,
The One thing that catches our attention each time, and makes us fall back into chasing whatever goal they are dangling in our faces….
🤍🤍🤍
Claudia
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