Who says you are beautiful

I look around me and sigh: Hair cream, face cream, body cream, make up, tweezers, nail polish, jewelry, human hair extensions and loads of clothes. I sigh again. I love being a woman, no doubt! But with all the pressures of fitting in, I wonder ‘is it really worth it’?

Isn’t beauty supposed to be natural? Shouldn’t it come from within? Shouldn’t it be effortless? Then why does it cost so much? And: Why does it hurt so much?  Sadly I know I am not alone in this run, but no one will admit to the cost of trying to fit in.

Black skin, brown eyes, kinky hair, flat nose, heavy set buttocks, robust and heavily endowed, flat chest, skinny legs and deep set eyes! The list is endless- you are perfect, but the world dares to ask: Who says you are beautiful? Put on the TV; look at the stars- perfectly angular without any trace of fat, smooth skin without a trace of a wrinkle, no spots no blemish, that’s beauty! But I ask myself, is it really?

So tutor me! Who defines beauty? Who says fat is ugly, by what standards do they judge, who says freckles are disgusting? ‘Last I checked I was created by a supreme being who loves perfection’, who says my big legs, are hideous? Who died and made them God?                              

This I think with relish as I admire my lovely features in front of a mirror, but then I pick up the magazine on my bed and I am hit with a wave of anguish, I feel beautiful in the confines of my room but when it’s time to face the world and its outlandish standards of beauty, I am transformed again into an ugly duckling without the chance of ever becoming a swan. At least, not without draining my bank account for the rest of my life.

It’s difficult in today’s society to truly feel beautiful. Women are constantly attacked with every turn, by images and voices telling us we are imperfect creatures. Tons of cash are made by various companies and advertisers telling us WE can achieve perfection via the purchase of some “beauty” product; eating or NOT eating certain foods, exercising with this piece of equipment or that one, camouflaging or uncovering certain body parts…..  Goodness gracious! Does it ever end?

I prefer to shave my legs, wear nail polish and lipstick, smell nice and look good, but I’d like to think that when I wake up without an ounce of make up on my face, I weigh 10 times more and I am hairy all over, I would still be considered beautiful.

So with determination, will power and turning a blind eye to the world’s shallow standards of perfection, I look in a mirror smile and say to myself ‘I am the true reflection of beauty’.

Jubemi Omabuwa