The pursuit of beauty

I spent all winter in layers of clothing – hats, scarves, gloves… the works! Just exposing the little part of my face that contributed towards sight and respiration. But as the warmer months came along – hemlines grew shorter, necklines wider and sleeves disappeared. Natural beauty is suddenly in focus.

Confucius had said: Everything has its beauty but no one sees it.

Just like no one saw any beauty in the dryness of my skin from the extreme winter and in the eruptions on my face thanks to the developing heat. I guess wrapping yourself up for months just makes you forget about the existence of elbows and knees until other persnickety people point out how chapped they are.

I never fussed about my skin during my teenage years. (Was too busy climbing trees and falling off of them). So, instead of attracting herds of love-sick teenage boys, I drew to myself a large number of nosey aunties who offered me herbal remedies, mythical creams, unrelenting (and unsolicited) advice and even prayer! After the creams malfunctioned and the yagnas fizzled, I sought out a dermatologist. She told me how simple it was - drink more water, sleep peacefully for 8 hours every night and most importantly, stay away from any food that was oily or cheesy or junk. In the fear that my taste-buds would plot a mutiny, I proceeded to treat myself to some samosas and paani-puris!

Flash forward – this summer, I decided to enhance my beauty quotient and improve the business of Bath and Body works. Since it looked like I had missed out on the ‘pre-summer treatments’ – I had a lot of catching up to do! I undoubtedly belonged to the ‘misbehaving’ skin type (as the attendant pointed out with a dazzling smile and a quick scan of my face). I needed to super-scrub my skin, then lift it and then dramatically firm it. Then, of course, I had to get sea-swept-just-flaunt-it hair, an all-day perfect pout and 3x fuller lashes!

I couldn’t have said it better than Helen Fielding –

'Being a woman is worse than being a farmer - there is so much harvesting and crop spraying to be done: legs to be waxed, underarms shaved, eyebrows plucked, feet pumiced, skin exfoliated and moisturized, spots cleansed, roots dyed, eyelashes tinted, nails filed, cellulite massaged, stomach muscles exercised. The whole performance is so highly tuned you only need to neglect it for a few days for the whole thing to go to seed.'

Needing all the help I could get, I researched every skin-care and make-up tip that the fashion magazines and beauty pundits could scrounge up. It's ironical how beauty magazines make you feel terribly ugly. With models staring contemptuously out of those pages with their o-so-perfect air-brushed glow – my skin in comparison felt like an oil-field. (I could probably give Texas a run for its money). And then, I had the arduous task of deciding between a how-to-get-movie-star-skin-tones-in-20-days makeover and a transform-yourself-to-look-great-naked-in-1-month makeover.

In the meantime - until I have amplified my attractiveness and uncovered the 10 best kept beauty secrets of women who have never had a bad hair day – I have resorted to a bit of camouflage and large earrings and a larger grin to draw attention away from other flaws.

But, seriously, with everyone in the pursuit of perfection, I often wonder – isn’t the absence of flaw in beauty a flaw in itself?

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