Natural Beauty vs the Beauty Industry

by Richard Rowell, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff

Photo credit (c) Lyn Lomasi

There are plenty of people out there searching for natural beauty photos. Yet, when one goes to search for these sorts of photos, what comes up are “natural makeup look” or “no makeup look.” There is still actual make-up involved. While I don’t have anything against using make-up, if somebody is looking for natural beauty out of sheer appreciation for it, why can’t we find it?

The answer is pretty simple. Promoting natural beauty doesn’t pay. We live in a day and age where products rule our lives. Even ones made with natural ingredients are still products. While I’m glad that there are many people shifting away from chemical-based mass-market products, when I’m looking for natural beauty, I’m looking for actual natural beauty.

Girls are having make-up and other “beauty” products marketed to them at younger and younger ages as the years go by. Younger and younger, girls are being coerced to imitate the looks of their favorite celebrities. The truth is that most celebrities are actually not really any “better looking” than us. This isn’t to say there aren’t some naturally gorgeous celebrities – Scarlett Johansson comes to mind – because there certainly are. But if you’ve seen a lot of the celebrity “no makeup” photos, most “ordinary” people are far more attractive than those that we supposedly look to as fashion icons and models of beauty.

So you can probably figure out why the media perpetuates these “no makeup” celebrity photos. They want people to think that if you don’t have makeup, this is what you will look like. However, let’s also understand that most of these “no makeup” pictures are celebrities at their absolute worst. If you really look, you can tell that some of them are even photo-shopped to make them intentionally worse looking. It’s all a big conspiracy to keep the booming beauty business growing. The celebrities are in on it, too, because they often wear the products because of the huge stipends they receive from said companies. It’s disgusting and it’s costing perfectly beautiful girls their dignity and money they really shouldn’t be spending on products that will only destroy their natural beauty.

Yes, that’s right. These products are specially formulated to destroy natural beauty. Fortunately, there are all-natural, chemical free alternatives to the mass market products. But that’s not really the point. You’re still covering up your natural beauty. This whole “no makeup look” thing which actually in fact involves things like lightly applied concealer and whatnot seems to fool a lot of people. Why is it that girls need make-up in the first place? They don’t. It’s just a big mass media scheme to make lots of money and to fuel the advertising revenue of major entertainment venues. And now they’re going to the point where these products will actually leave behind residues that will damage your skin and hair. They will claim you’ll have to use more products to make it go away. It’s a horrible trap.

There are some celebrities that have started promoting natural beauty more, such as Demi Lovato and Lady Gaga. However, they then return to wearing make-up again soon afterward. It’s frustrating to me that we don’t have celebrities just go all the way natural, but there are obvious reasons for that. It’s the pressure of mass media for celebrities to conform to trends and styles and whatever they’re being told by the big “beauty” companies is fashionable right now. I’m sick and tired of the psychology that these big corporations are using on all the lovely ladies, and now the teen girls, and even tween girls. It’s time we put a stop to this.

It’s actually quite easy. Stop wearing make-up. That’s right. Just everyone stop wearing it. If you have to, you could wear the ones made with only natural ingredients (check the labels!) But honestly, I say we just stop using products altogether, outside of natural solutions such as lemon peels, coconut oil, or the many other natural beauty aids in our world that are both inexpensive and effective. As a society, we must send a message to these corporations who only want to destroy women’s beauty so they can increase their bottom line. This isn’t a conspiracy theory. This is fact. We need to begin to reverse the damage that mass media has done to us, and right now.

While I am not a fan of the selfie craze, I actually invite people to take selfies without makeup. You might be surprised when you compare them against pictures of celebrities. The thing you will notice is how fake they look. A wrinkle here or there is not going to ruin you. Freckles are beautiful. And when people start seeing their friends and family wearing no make-up and looking uniquely beautiful and lovely, it’s hopefully going to start a trend.

Fact: you don’t need make-up to be pretty. It’s fun for dress-up, but on an everyday basis, a fresh face is always best. You’ll look younger longer, save lots of money on products and actually look healthier and fresher. It might look rough at first, as the residues left behind by products need to be washed away. But eventually you will see a difference. There are plenty of natural solutions for things such as acne or skin discoloration. All you have to do is search for them online. The info is there.

And for love’s sake, never encourage your young girls to wear makeup. They’ll thank you for it later. Promote natural beauty. The world will be a better place for it.