Ladies, do yourselves a favor and reduce your usage of cosmetics by 80% or more next year. Help break the cycle and encourage other women to do the same. Men, you can help too.
Consider for a moment:
Many women today began using cosmetics at a very young age. They are taught from a very young age - through other women, TV, magazines, books, friends, family - that it somehow takes many steps to make your skin look 'normal' and/or 'beautiful'. Part of the modern socialization process even includes 'reality shows' where everyone laughs and/or makes catty remarks at the 'ugly girl' for not doing her makeup right, until a professional comes in and remakes her image with cosmetics.
It's a form of manufactured demand, and it keeps makeup companies in business: convince young girls to coat their skin with excessive amounts of chemicals and by the time they're thirty, their skin will be so damaged that they'll feel like they have no choice but to cover up the blemishes.... and the more damage you've done, the more products will be necessary to make this possible so you can look "beautiful" again.
Ladies (and some of you guys out there): every time you use makeup, your choices reinforce this industry. You've become a passive salesperson for them. Not only that, but it further reinforces a shallow, skin-deep view of beauty through our inconsistency. We teach our daughters that their true beauty comes from within, but then teach them how to advertise the sight of their face and body first in order to attract attention, as if their character won't be noticed if the sight of them isn't immediately found desirable to the men around them. (Watch Katie Makkai's "Pretty".)
Here's how you fight it: start with the simple stuff. You don't have to fight the industry - just manage from within. Still, you can watch The Story of Cosmetics....great video.
Teach your daughters to look in the mirror and smile.
Teach them to communicate by looking a person in the eyes....and how to speak with their eyes.
If they want their face to glow, teach them to splash their face with cool water. You'll never need blush again.
If a special occasion warrants a little extra dressing up, teach them how to get the most effect with the least product.
But then give them confidence - strength of character that is born through acquiring knowledge and sharing kindness thoughtfully with the world. Compliment them on those qualities 10 times more often than you compliment their physical appearance.
Teach them how to bring forth their true radiance from within.
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