Makeup?

Why do human females alter their bodies superficially or otherwise, all in the name of beauty? In the animal kingdom, it's typically the male of the species that puts on the extra feathers or colors or bravado. But with humans, it's the women that get fancied up like cheap cupie dolls, especially on a Friday or Saturday night when prowling for a husband. We use potions and lotions and sprays and creams and shades of this and tints of that and false eyelashes and don't even get me started on the facelifts and boob jobs! And the fact that we scrape hair off every surface except our heads (and that hair we start coloring before we hit our 2nd decade)!

I rarely wear makeup anymore - it feels almost hypocritical, since most of the time I'm just plain ol' me, more out of necessity than anything else (sweating in massage or onstage are not conducive to heavy makeup). Those few times, though, on those rare occasions, I'll have someone (always a woman) come up and say, Wow! You look gorgeous! Why don't you wear makeup more often! or my personal fave - You look so beautiful with makeup on!

Why why why why? Why do we have to paint ourselves and be something we aren't? Why do we have to "doll" ourselves up to be accepted in the world-at-large? In my humble opinion - men don't care. They're more interested in cleavage than makeup (well, the straight guys are, anyway).  And if you're a hetero female lookin' to score a hetero male, how fake do you want to be to "hook" him, really? 

I just got my new Avon book, and the first third of it is competely devoted to painting oneself or hiding the cellulite/wrinkles/sags/stretch marks/facial hair/etc etc. Are we as women that awful that we need multi-billion dollar businesses selling us crap to look like something we're not? Are we saying God (be that who/whatever in your mind) created us so less than perfect that if Avon or Revlon hadn't come along...well, let's just not even think of that horror! Are we really so much "less than" that we must pretend every day, day in, day out, to be something we aren't? We consider ourselves lucky if our fellas shower, shave and get their hair cut occasionally!

So next time you're putting on peuce eyeshadow or driving while you splash mascara on your face, ask yourself - can I be ok with myself just as I am? Could I be ok w/my female friends if they all stopped piling on potions, lotions, hair color, or anything other body-altering thing we can think of?

I challenge you - TAKE IT OFF! LEAVE IT OFF! Be real. Be the beauty you are, naturally. The more of us that do this, the simpler - and more real - we all become.