The Importance of Beauty
On my YouTube channel, I’ll often get nasty or silly comments and shrug them off, but one I received today really got under my skin and irritated me–so much so, that I’m going to bring it to light here and address it.
A commenter, in response to a Botox video I have posted, said, “You looked fine before! WTF … way too young to even worry, seriously. I notice a lot of your videos are personal appearance stuff, yet you seem pretty smart — surely you have a lot more to offer and contribute and share here. Beauty is great but it DOES go away and we’re all creative people with tons to give — right?”
Okay, so fair enough in regard to Botox–either you get it, or you don’t; though I’m firmly of the mindset that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure–and I understand and appreciate the sentiments that beauty is fleeting and that a creative, intelligent mind should share whatever gifts they might have with the world.
Then, two minutes later, a follow-up comment appeared–which is the one that really irked me: “It’s also disheartening to see the “M.D.” on this guy’s jacket and realize he could be in Iraq, helping in Haiti or Pakistan, or helping injured troops with UCLA’s new facial surgery program there … but no, he spends his day injecting the barely-wrinkled faces of young NYC girls. It’s sort of sad, no?”
Clearly I’m defensive about this, but I get very frustrated when people suggest that beauty is a stupid/meaningless/bad/(insert derogatory sentiment here) profession. Life is long, and shit happens, and people die, and jobs are lost, and relationships break up, and companies fall apart, and pensions are vaporized, etc, etc, etc. I don’t need to tell you about the everyday stresses that dog us all–we’re both human, you and I.
It’s precisely because of all this bad stuff (i.e., huge disasters like the wars in Iraq, the conflicts in Pakistan, the devastation in Haiti; as well as mini-tragedies that rock individual worlds, like cheating spouses, cancer diagnoses, or foreclosed homes and foreclosed dreams) that we need a little levity and balance and diversion and, yes, beauty in life.
Any girl who has been through a divorce or painful breakup can tell you that a sexy haircut, fierce smokey eye and deliciously subtle perfume will lift her mood, help regain a much needed sense of identity and power, and make her feel a million times better. Do these very real personal emotions simply not matter because there are people experiencing other, “more serious” problems elsewhere?
Studies show that people who put their best face forward at job interviews–and that includes presentable hair and makeup, clear skin, good teeth–are more likely to get the position than the poor saps who insist it’s ALL about inner beauty as they stubbornly refuse to make the most of their own looks and shoot themselves unnecessarily in the foot.
I consider myself a beauty writer and not a fashion writer because, to my mind, fashion is primarily about consumption and trends. While fashion can be amazing, what I love about beauty is that you can be beautiful naked. You can be beautiful for free. And because life is a journey and each new day’s blank canvas is the only one that truly matters, there is always play space for personal improvement on every level (not just physical); not in a “let’s make you into Heidi Klum” kind-of way, but in a making-the-most-of-your-unique-body-and-face-and-spirit celebration.
There are definitely people who take it too far–who spend their lives on an endless treadmill thinking they’re never good enough/thin enough/pretty enough–but I live in a nuanced world where things are not so black and white. It’s not good or bad; shallow or serious; beautiful or ugly; Heidi-Montag-surgery-tragedy-mask or deodorant-free-hairy armpits. (The only people who live in that pointless either/or space are politicians, the ignorant and talk-show pundits–often one and the same.)
You can be an intelligent woman and still care about your appearance.
Every once in a while, I hold a personal state of the union. I think, “Hmm, should I be doing something more meaningful? Should I have chucked magazines for newspapers and be reporting from a war zone, putting my 5 years of Arabic to use? Should I do something “serious”? Am I wasting my time?”
And then I get a comment like that, which wasn’t at all nasty, to be fair, but which smacked me in the face and reminded me why I so passionately love working in beauty. It reminded me that there is a need for levity and whimsy and excitement and joy and entertainment–beautiful, all!–in this world. Beauty connects us, whispers tantalizing promises, pleases the senses, inspires us, gets us through.
So, no–it’s not rocket science or disaster-relief. But anything that makes the world a little more pleasant is beautiful and worthy, indeed.
September 24th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Ha! Love this! And at the risk of insulting many people, (and not really caring), why exactly is Haiti our problem? Didn’t we send enough money?
October 1st, 2010 at 8:59 am
Hi Jolie! I really enjoy your blog. It is honest, engaging and informative. And fun to read!
I used to work as a beauty writer/editor (most days, I still consider myself one). I often found that when I told people what I did for a living, I was met with something along the lines of a smirk … i.e., “That isn’t a serious profession.”
To these people (and the aforementioned commenter), I say: Yes, it isn’t rocket science, but writing about beauty requires a lot of knowledge, a lot of research and a solid understanding of health and science. It isn’t all fluff.
So no, I don’t think that you are wasting your time, and I agree with you: “Anything that makes the world a little more pleasant is beautiful and worthy, indeed.” :)
November 4th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
Nadine,
Beauty is art. Art is a product of the human imagination, as are many other things such as countries, laws, religions (arguably), sports, marriages, families, intellect, homes, money, etc. All those things play a part in making our existence worthy and interesting and one is not objectively more valuable than the other.
Love your art and make the best you can out of it, that’s how you make your part of the world a better place.
Courage et reste jolie!