I'm hoping my daughter draws the line at this denuding fad. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. My still-intact eyebrows rose, of their own volition.
Feel the same. I “get” why some might do it for artistic expression or a part in a movie (like the Hunger Games), but the removal of hair (OMG bikini waxing not to mention shaving of legs, under arms, etc) and control of women’s bodies through all kinds of manipulation is so ubiquitous nowadays that this just rubbed me the wrong way. Thanks for weighing in.
I don't wear make up anymore. After round two of cancer, I find life so much easier without all the fuss. I used to wear eyeliner daily because after round 1, my lashes were sparse. But, now. Who cares! At 62, I have pretty darn good skin. The stray hairs on the chin...geez. Lose our estrogen and testosterone says, AHA!
I understand that our face is a canvas for many so shaving off eye brows to create the ones that you want to see on your masterpiece for the day makes sense for adults.
Having taught junior high, I have to say Music videos and Social media certainly influenced them. But like all young ones, when they came back to see me from high school, they had outgrown that phase and were onto other phases.
Teaching our children to be who they are and love who they are is a long process.
Oh.my.dear.god.no. women shaving their eyebrows completely off? I have not heard of this crazy craze. I am not looking forward to seeing prepubescent girls and teens and even grown women looking like aliens. What. The. fuckety fuck???? Sigh....this is nuts.
Glad you are having the same reaction as I did. I didn't want to rant too much, but I found it deeply disturbing too. It's just the latest ploy to make women believe their bodies are not okay as they are. I know some will disagree and say it's just artistic expression. And I love dress up as much as anyone, but this is beyond that.
Truth! Enough is enough! Our society has done enough harm to young girls and women by brainwashing them into thinking doing stupid harmful ugly things to their bodies and minds is "normal". It is so terribly horrific and sick. End of rant. Happy New Year Jena and all💜
Make-up can be fun, something we do for ourselves, an experiment with our presentation to the world, a costume of self expression, a way to experiment with being someone different. Make-up, like clothing, sends signals in various sub-cultures, at work, on stage, for the mating game. Make-up as a mask can cover one's self-loathing, or simply shyness, can provide the security needed to apply for that job, tell a drunk groper to fuck off.
So does shaving eyebrows. At its best, it provides a small canvas for artful self expression. Like other bodyart, it is more intimate, closer to ones true self, than the shrouding with clothes. Bare skin is vulnerable; on it, one draws the design of one's soul.
And that my friend would make a beautiful poem. And to be clear, I am not suggesting that all make-up or even eyebrow shaving per se is wrong or bad. Only that our culture is well and truly obsessed with outward appearances and that focusing there keeps us from looking at and dealing with some deeper issues that keep us from becoming the best we can be.
I’m allergic to make-up! A great article, Jena. It reminds me of the 18th century practice of applying faux moles to a powdered white face. Today tattoos will look silly a century or so down the road. They also don’t look so cool when the person gets to be 90 and wrinkled.
Yes I get hives from a lot of make-up which happily absolves me from a lot of the nonsense. This is a BIG subject and I didn’t want to get too philosophical or heavy handed but I can’t help but think being preoccupied with outward appearances is a way to distract ourselves from inner work that needs to be done.
I was never a fan of makeup. During my corporate career I considered makeup to be part of my work outfit. I hated that I had to remember to take it off at the end of the day when I was exhausted - I put cotton and makeup remover on my night table so that I could take it off after lying down in bed, because that was invariably when I'd remember that I needed to take it off...
I remember having an interesting conversation with an older French woman who asked me if I had self-esteem issues because I never wore makeup. She saw wearing makeup as a gift of beauty to herself... I'm not sure if it was really that, or French society female peer pressure to always "look one's best" when going out in the world.
I've never done anything to my eyebrows, what a crazy idea to shave them off!
I did wax my legs & bikini area as a teenager & young adult, the motivation being that it decreased regrowth and took a long time to grow back. I don't do any of that anymore!
I'm also very fortunate to have nice skin with very few pimples during adolescence. Age spots have now appeared & I don't plan on doing anything in particular about that, except to use sunscreen.
The one thing that I do pluck out are the post-menopausal hairs growing out of my nose...
Oh yes! Another thing I detested about corporate America - the uncomfortable clothes, shoes (that gave me bunions), and the assumption that make-up had to be worn to be professional. Another reason never to go back, though it seems they wouldn’t want me now that I have gray hair and wrinkles. Grrrrr….
Being an athlete in a non-glamourous sport (swimming) also saved me from a lot of the make-up crazes, though not the eating disorder. I shudder tot think what ice skaters and gymnasts go through.
Post-menopausal nose hairs?! Yikes I’d be plucking too. So far I have been spared those, though a few uninvited chin hairs have had to be taught a lesson. Thank you for sharing Lorraine. Personally I think horses have the right idea. Their chin hairs are adorable and make nose kisses fun. HUGS!
So true about horse chin hairs, they're so cute! OMG bunions, I got those too - they're gone now thankfully, now that I don't walk in city shoes anymore
I was surprised and taken aback this Christmas to see that my 12 year old granddaughter received a LOT of makeup-like products-- a package of a dozen different color lip glosses, tubes of foundation, powder, an EYELASH CURLER fergawdsakes, mascara (though clear)... and her 5-yr-old sister got a faux makeup kit. They set about putting it all into play. Seriously, I was stunned. When she asked me I said I didn’t use makeup except for some lip gloss for special occasions, and used to use stuff on my eyes more often but got out of the habit a long time ago. I also don’t color my hair.
I said, “Women use makeup so they can have skin that looks like ... yours,” but I’m not sure she got the idea. She said she needed it because she had zits, gesturing to her forehead where, upon very close inspection, there were a few to be seen. I said that nobody will see those anyway, and immediately regretted it, because I remembered how very self conscious adolescents are about this even when they’re almost invisible to everybody else. Oh well.
Both girls are on swim teams and loving it, in the pool two or three hours six days a week and competing above their ages because they’re good. Maybe a lot of time in chlorinated/bromated pools makes a difference. I swam almost exclusively in native salt water and only in summer, so I have no basis for comparison there,
I realize that I was lucky having almost no pimples when I was an adolescent; my mother, brought up in a mining town and homeschooled until high school because the nearest school was many hard miles away, never wore any makeup except lipstick for dress up occasions. Her mother had beautiful skin into her eighties. And now, of course, I have old lady skin, with the incipient age spots and familial red things my father and his mother grew, though fewer wrinkles (she smoked heavily all her life and had a face like a Goodyear tire...and I would give a lot to see that beloved face again). I see my skin in the pictures of the old ladies on that side of the family ... and oddly, though I have gotten my whiskers lasered away, I don’t mind at all.
I am saddened by the make-up your twelve year old grand daughter got and the reasons she gave for needing it. This is how the brainwashing gets handed down. Have you read “ The Obsession: Reflections on the Tyranny of Slenderness” by Kim Chernin?
I am happy to hear they are both in swimming. Having that as a way to boost my self esteem was life saving for me (I did not have the best home life). Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could celebrate every difference, every wrinkle, every age spot as medals of honor? We’ve certainly earned them :-) I love picturing your dear face in the family line up of strong, wise women.
I don't know about female make up thingies ...but your question makes me think of your previous, charlatan turd45, orange blob, in your whitehouse...how much of his ritual, daily ritual and care for it, and post application care, wasted (disregarding the taxpayer dollars) precious "presidenting" time, reduced even further by his innumerable golfing trips all over.
I feel he & his family and henchmen, henchwomen, spent more time to&fro marine one, than actually doing any decent governing work at the WH. So much making up and dressing up. Literally & figuratively.
Your lists, spartan lifestyles, reminds me of the wonderful John Lennon song - I read the news today... -
...found my coat, grabbed my hat, made the bus in seconds flat... -
Oh. Now, I've gone & done this to me...it's gonna stay in a loop in my brain a while ....
Hahaha the song replaying in your head aside, you brought up a good point. I hate to think how much money and time the orange pustule has wasted on his appearance.
I'm hoping my daughter draws the line at this denuding fad. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. My still-intact eyebrows rose, of their own volition.
Feel the same. I “get” why some might do it for artistic expression or a part in a movie (like the Hunger Games), but the removal of hair (OMG bikini waxing not to mention shaving of legs, under arms, etc) and control of women’s bodies through all kinds of manipulation is so ubiquitous nowadays that this just rubbed me the wrong way. Thanks for weighing in.
I don't wear make up anymore. After round two of cancer, I find life so much easier without all the fuss. I used to wear eyeliner daily because after round 1, my lashes were sparse. But, now. Who cares! At 62, I have pretty darn good skin. The stray hairs on the chin...geez. Lose our estrogen and testosterone says, AHA!
I understand that our face is a canvas for many so shaving off eye brows to create the ones that you want to see on your masterpiece for the day makes sense for adults.
Having taught junior high, I have to say Music videos and Social media certainly influenced them. But like all young ones, when they came back to see me from high school, they had outgrown that phase and were onto other phases.
Teaching our children to be who they are and love who they are is a long process.
Oh.my.dear.god.no. women shaving their eyebrows completely off? I have not heard of this crazy craze. I am not looking forward to seeing prepubescent girls and teens and even grown women looking like aliens. What. The. fuckety fuck???? Sigh....this is nuts.
Glad you are having the same reaction as I did. I didn't want to rant too much, but I found it deeply disturbing too. It's just the latest ploy to make women believe their bodies are not okay as they are. I know some will disagree and say it's just artistic expression. And I love dress up as much as anyone, but this is beyond that.
Truth! Enough is enough! Our society has done enough harm to young girls and women by brainwashing them into thinking doing stupid harmful ugly things to their bodies and minds is "normal". It is so terribly horrific and sick. End of rant. Happy New Year Jena and all💜
Love and HUGS to you too Jennifer. See you soon.
Make-up can be fun, something we do for ourselves, an experiment with our presentation to the world, a costume of self expression, a way to experiment with being someone different. Make-up, like clothing, sends signals in various sub-cultures, at work, on stage, for the mating game. Make-up as a mask can cover one's self-loathing, or simply shyness, can provide the security needed to apply for that job, tell a drunk groper to fuck off.
So does shaving eyebrows. At its best, it provides a small canvas for artful self expression. Like other bodyart, it is more intimate, closer to ones true self, than the shrouding with clothes. Bare skin is vulnerable; on it, one draws the design of one's soul.
And that my friend would make a beautiful poem. And to be clear, I am not suggesting that all make-up or even eyebrow shaving per se is wrong or bad. Only that our culture is well and truly obsessed with outward appearances and that focusing there keeps us from looking at and dealing with some deeper issues that keep us from becoming the best we can be.
P.S. Love me some dress up :-)
With the time I save from not applying makeup or shaving I spend more time having fun. It's just as simple as that.
Yes! Clearly you are my kind of woman!
I’m allergic to make-up! A great article, Jena. It reminds me of the 18th century practice of applying faux moles to a powdered white face. Today tattoos will look silly a century or so down the road. They also don’t look so cool when the person gets to be 90 and wrinkled.
Yes I get hives from a lot of make-up which happily absolves me from a lot of the nonsense. This is a BIG subject and I didn’t want to get too philosophical or heavy handed but I can’t help but think being preoccupied with outward appearances is a way to distract ourselves from inner work that needs to be done.
I totally agree, Jena! And the money 💰 I’ve saved is worth it!
👏
I was never a fan of makeup. During my corporate career I considered makeup to be part of my work outfit. I hated that I had to remember to take it off at the end of the day when I was exhausted - I put cotton and makeup remover on my night table so that I could take it off after lying down in bed, because that was invariably when I'd remember that I needed to take it off...
I remember having an interesting conversation with an older French woman who asked me if I had self-esteem issues because I never wore makeup. She saw wearing makeup as a gift of beauty to herself... I'm not sure if it was really that, or French society female peer pressure to always "look one's best" when going out in the world.
I've never done anything to my eyebrows, what a crazy idea to shave them off!
I did wax my legs & bikini area as a teenager & young adult, the motivation being that it decreased regrowth and took a long time to grow back. I don't do any of that anymore!
I'm also very fortunate to have nice skin with very few pimples during adolescence. Age spots have now appeared & I don't plan on doing anything in particular about that, except to use sunscreen.
The one thing that I do pluck out are the post-menopausal hairs growing out of my nose...
Oh yes! Another thing I detested about corporate America - the uncomfortable clothes, shoes (that gave me bunions), and the assumption that make-up had to be worn to be professional. Another reason never to go back, though it seems they wouldn’t want me now that I have gray hair and wrinkles. Grrrrr….
Being an athlete in a non-glamourous sport (swimming) also saved me from a lot of the make-up crazes, though not the eating disorder. I shudder tot think what ice skaters and gymnasts go through.
Post-menopausal nose hairs?! Yikes I’d be plucking too. So far I have been spared those, though a few uninvited chin hairs have had to be taught a lesson. Thank you for sharing Lorraine. Personally I think horses have the right idea. Their chin hairs are adorable and make nose kisses fun. HUGS!
So true about horse chin hairs, they're so cute! OMG bunions, I got those too - they're gone now thankfully, now that I don't walk in city shoes anymore
Horse hairs and horse-hay breath. Sigh…
My bunions are mostly gone too. I will never put on another pair of heels or pointy toed anything!
I was surprised and taken aback this Christmas to see that my 12 year old granddaughter received a LOT of makeup-like products-- a package of a dozen different color lip glosses, tubes of foundation, powder, an EYELASH CURLER fergawdsakes, mascara (though clear)... and her 5-yr-old sister got a faux makeup kit. They set about putting it all into play. Seriously, I was stunned. When she asked me I said I didn’t use makeup except for some lip gloss for special occasions, and used to use stuff on my eyes more often but got out of the habit a long time ago. I also don’t color my hair.
I said, “Women use makeup so they can have skin that looks like ... yours,” but I’m not sure she got the idea. She said she needed it because she had zits, gesturing to her forehead where, upon very close inspection, there were a few to be seen. I said that nobody will see those anyway, and immediately regretted it, because I remembered how very self conscious adolescents are about this even when they’re almost invisible to everybody else. Oh well.
Both girls are on swim teams and loving it, in the pool two or three hours six days a week and competing above their ages because they’re good. Maybe a lot of time in chlorinated/bromated pools makes a difference. I swam almost exclusively in native salt water and only in summer, so I have no basis for comparison there,
I realize that I was lucky having almost no pimples when I was an adolescent; my mother, brought up in a mining town and homeschooled until high school because the nearest school was many hard miles away, never wore any makeup except lipstick for dress up occasions. Her mother had beautiful skin into her eighties. And now, of course, I have old lady skin, with the incipient age spots and familial red things my father and his mother grew, though fewer wrinkles (she smoked heavily all her life and had a face like a Goodyear tire...and I would give a lot to see that beloved face again). I see my skin in the pictures of the old ladies on that side of the family ... and oddly, though I have gotten my whiskers lasered away, I don’t mind at all.
“A face like a Goodyear tire.” Priceless.
I am saddened by the make-up your twelve year old grand daughter got and the reasons she gave for needing it. This is how the brainwashing gets handed down. Have you read “ The Obsession: Reflections on the Tyranny of Slenderness” by Kim Chernin?
I am happy to hear they are both in swimming. Having that as a way to boost my self esteem was life saving for me (I did not have the best home life). Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could celebrate every difference, every wrinkle, every age spot as medals of honor? We’ve certainly earned them :-) I love picturing your dear face in the family line up of strong, wise women.
Jena Hey Hi
I don't know about female make up thingies ...but your question makes me think of your previous, charlatan turd45, orange blob, in your whitehouse...how much of his ritual, daily ritual and care for it, and post application care, wasted (disregarding the taxpayer dollars) precious "presidenting" time, reduced even further by his innumerable golfing trips all over.
I feel he & his family and henchmen, henchwomen, spent more time to&fro marine one, than actually doing any decent governing work at the WH. So much making up and dressing up. Literally & figuratively.
Your lists, spartan lifestyles, reminds me of the wonderful John Lennon song - I read the news today... -
...found my coat, grabbed my hat, made the bus in seconds flat... -
Oh. Now, I've gone & done this to me...it's gonna stay in a loop in my brain a while ....
Happy🐙New Year Jena 🌱🥀🤓🙏🏻🫂🧘🏻♀️🌌
Hahaha the song replaying in your head aside, you brought up a good point. I hate to think how much money and time the orange pustule has wasted on his appearance.