5.2.14

As a girlie I've spent my early teenage years onwards being interested in hair and makeup, clothes and boys. No different to todays girlies.
But it is different. Today they have so many more pressures. Not natural pressures, man made pressures. The ones that encourage them to be perfect. Perfect boobs, perfect hair, perfect clothes and makeup, and those unbelievably ridiculous eyebrows and eyelashes that are fashionable at the mo.
Why can't girls look like girls any more instead of looking like blow up dolls?
I saw a documentary a few years back where the boys were given 20 photos of boobs. Only one photo was of a natural pair. The rest were all silicone implants. Not one boy chose the natural pair as his favourite. They all went for the 'perfect' pair.
The girls who are unable to look 'perfect' have such low self esteem, leading to pain and suffering, mental illness, and a life of upset cos they're 'not good enough'.
The reason I'm blogging about this was something i saw on TV that hit a nerve.
I think it was Lorraine Kelly on GMTV doing some article on flat stomachs, exercise, bikini diets etc. I like Lorraine. I think she's a decent person. But she has to do what is popular and 'en vogue'. Thats what she's there for.
So much effort is put into looking good. I know we all have some pride and want to do our best, but people are going the extra mile these days for everything. Why should tv stars and presenters have to indulge in cosmetic surgeries just so they can stay looking good enough for TV. If they have a wrinkle, God forbid, they're thrown on the scrap heap.
Ive already mentioned the eyebrows and eyelashes, but theres nails which cause problems. Filing down nails to put chemicals on them cannot be good for you. Filing the chemicals off again till the nail is smooth is definitely not good for you. Yes they look lovely, if you like completely unnatural looking nails.
Hair extensions, stripping, dyeing, treatments, straightening, curling, perming.
Teeth are another one. Whitening, brightening, straightening, veneers. I can't help but think of Ross on Friends when he over whitened and they shone so bright when the lights were off.
Botox. Who in their right mind would inject poison into their face to paralyse muscles? Lots and lots of men and women. All so they don't have wrinkles or any expression. And the recipients are getting younger and younger. It used to be women of 50 something. Now its teenagers.
Surgery. Face lifts, boob jobs, nose jobs, butt jobs, and various other surgeries. All to make ourselves perfect. Perfect for who? The opposite sex? Ourselves?
All of this stuff includes the use of chemicals. What causes the rising numbers of cancer these days? Many causes. Genetic, diet (maybe chemicals in the diet), being overweight, smoking (chemicals in cigarettes), the sun, radiation, to name but a few.  Im no expert but I'm sure some of our problem is from using unneccesary chemicals. And what are the young people of today encouraged to do? Use more chemicals.
So maybe we should be spreading the word. Instead of worrying about a flat stomach, and trying to squeeze into that little black dress, or getting an itsy bitsy bikini. Instead of making our nails look perfect or ironing away a wrinkle or two, we should be trying to hold onto the hair that is likely to fall out when we have chemotherapy for our new cancer. I think thats far more important than a flat stomach.