All Done Up

Today I was looking at Clutch Magazine Online when I spotted an article called "Trend Watch: Would You go Earring-less?" Apparently, the writers at Clutch spotted celebrities like Janet Jackson and Estelle going on the red-carpet with bare ears.

Many people left comments saying they could never go with out earrings. One user said she knows she looks better with them. My question is, why are we, as females, afraid to be our natural selves, with no adornments?

Now you can say this is just a simple question about earrings, but its not. We go to the nail shop and get our crystal nails, pedicures, individual lashes, eyebrows plucked, hair weaved, bleached, colored, permed then we weigh our necks and wrists down with chains and bangles, get 1 or 2 holes in each ear, and a cute little tattoo to top it off.....did I miss anything? O_0

Once my BF asked me why did I get my hair done in a glue-in weave (he wants me to get locks). I pointed out that I liked the look. [The look being a close cropped cut without the cutting of your own hair that you can't get with a sew-in]. He then said, "hair weaves are expensive. Glue pulls out your hair. Fake eyelashes pull out your real lashes and fake nails damage your real ones. Ya'll girls complain about these things but you guys do it to yourself."

What my point is, is that underneath all these things we are hiding ourselves. But why? One can say it's self hate. That we don't appreciate the skin we're in so we do all these things to ourselves to make ourselves "pretty". You can also say it's society forcing us to be this way. With all the light-skin, long-haired, made up blacks girls with euro centric features on every advertisement, music video, and television show. Who's to blame?

Or who is to say that there is a problem? What makes a woman wanting to make herself [more] attractive, wrong? That's something to think about.

I do not hate myself.

But I go and primp, pluck, paint and perm.

I know I shouldn't but I'm a victim. Yes, a victim. To this notion that we aren't cute enough, girly enough. Than without lipstick and hair weaves we are just Plain Janes. But until I can get out of this bad habit, I will continue to get myself all done up.