So I like eyeshadow and foundation. So what? Don’t most girls?
Or did this love of pretty things come from being denied them most of my life, or maybe I’m trying to compensate for the constant battle I have with alopecia. Or maybe both.
I started searching on the internet and the wordpress blogs: alopecia. I found some beautiful young ladies who suffered from this at a very early age. Each one was diagnosed with it and said the doctor said it was triggered by stress. Some wear beautiful realistic wigs. Some choose to go with rockin’ head gear or simply wear nothing on their heads at all.
And I found this touching beautiful article. It has some slightly traumatic pictures of ways these women were scarred.
photo credit to fabulousmag.co.uk
“my scars are part of who am“
These four women’s stories touched my heart deeply. I have been doing a lot of thinking about the whole subject lately. I have thought a lot about the people who go to an extreme and say women’s beauty is inward and if you like lip gloss and mascara you’re obsessed with outer beauty. I heartily disagree, as every woman in the world wants to be beautiful and these things enhance your natural beauty, bring it out – show you that you are beautiful, too. And then there are the people who are so obsessed with outward beauty that there fragile little tiny inner selves make you nauseated. I am thinking of a couple people who will remain nameless. These people often don’t know where to stop, they have endless plastic surgeries and they can’t hold their head up unless they look like a hollywood star. I can’t stomach these people.
There’s a lot of freedom to be yourself in between these two extremes, and part of my reason for this blog is to help people find that middle ground.
So in finding that middle ground, we might need to stare in the face the stories of beautiful women who are facing difficulties that, if we were facing in a sudden heartbeat, might make us feel like we could never feel beautiful. I hope I’ve said that sensitively. And while we’re faced with the beautiful realness, humanity and depth of stories, we should realize we are SO much more than what society defines as good looks.
Marisa Porter 
Well said! 🙂 I can’t stand that people assume that because I go gaga for glitter and gloss and all things girly, that I’m somehow vapid or lacking in personality. Having a condition that affects your appearance (for me it’s psoriasis) makes you even more aware of ways to “normalize” (I don’t even think that’s a good enough word) your appearance and/or embrace your imperfections, whether its through makeup or style. If that’s what’s going to make you comfortable to face the world, then great. Most women fall somewhere between the ugly bookworm and the vapid beauty queen, and as long as women keep everything in balance, then they’re beautiful. Too much of anything is never good – except chocolate and gummi bears. Those are always a good.
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I love your comment! It says it much better than I could.
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HAPPY NEW YEAR – I have nominated you for a “Very Inspiring and Versatile Award” – please accept here: http://dedivahdeals.com/2013/01/05/very-inspiring-versatile-blogger-award/
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Happy new year! This is a good read. Every woman should have some beauty item no matter what difficulties they are facing. A simple lipstick will brighten up the day, usually. 🙂 And we wear makeup because we want to look beautiful. That’s it. It has no relation with how deep we are inside. I work part time. On the days that I am at home with the kids I like to wear light makeup even if it’s just a simple eyeliner. It is also a good chance for me to test drive products (I don’t want to be at work wearing a product that I am not sure if it will melt down or smudge etc) especially foundation, concealer and eyeliner. 🙂
And I absolutely agree with you that we should find the middle ground – not only in beauty but in everything else.
Wishing you all the very best of luck with your battle. 🙂
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Thank you! For some reason I’ve struggled with this issue but it’s been so refreshing to me, too. And my husband certainly doesn’t mind that I want to look my best! I really appreciate your comment. 🙂
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