"Beauty Standards"

I submit the "Beauty Standards" are the stupidest thing on the planet.  Who says that you have to wear make-up to be beautiful?  Who says that you have to use a ton of product in your hair and style your hair into submission to be beautiful?  There's nothing wrong with wearing make-up and styling your hair, of course.  But to say that you can't be beautiful unless you do those things is a total farce.  Here's my argument in picture form:

The following picture was taken last Tuesday night:

 

I have on full make-up.  I'm even wearing mascara!  (GASP!!  I usually forget that.)  I had used my flat iron (and a lot of mousse) to get a really cute spiky 'do for a LOST party (I was going as Cindy Chandler, the Oceanic Flight Attendant.)

Okay, so this picture was taken on Wednesday night:

 

No make-up whatsoever.  No product in the hair.  The only thing I did was blow-dry my hair for about a minute that morning. I think I look better in this picture than in the previous one!  Granted, I look very tired in the second picture (blame the 5 1/2 hours of sleep the night before, followed by a full day at work).

Nobody can tell me that I have to wear make-up.  I actually hate wearing make-up.  (In fact, when I'm in a show and wearing heavy make-up at night, I generally go make-up free every day!)  As for my hair, it's a constant battle.  It has a mind of its own and I usually have to submit to it's will.  I am at the mercy of hair that is not curly and not straight and VERY VERY THICK!!!!  I choose my battles with it, and the battle I fight is the gray.  And my flat iron is my best friend.

How sad that we live in a world where magazines and television shows and movies tell us how we should look.  How we should be beautiful.  They don't know squat.  "Beauty Standards" can bite me.