A new mentality

This one's a bit random. Bear with me...

I have a thing for interior design and home decorating magazines. So over breakfast I was flipping through the latest issue of House Beautiful and saw there, on page 3, a gigantic ad for Olay Total Effects 7-in-1 anti-aging miracle something-or-other.

Huh.

See, now, in my treasure chest of skills, talents and useless knowledge, I have a pretty decent understanding of mass communication (Adweek was one of my favorite reads as an undergrad). So to me, the placement of this Olay ad speaks loudly to House Beautiful's target readership. Female. Middle-aged. Cares enough about her appearance Worried enough about her appearance and has enough disposable income to be in the market for anti-aging products.

Originally I had planned to use this post to rip into Olay for all the harsh, toxic chemicals that they put into their products and then force on unsuspecting women. But then I realized that there's a larger issue here. I mean, I can tell readers all about what's horrible and what not to use, but that doesn't eliminate the need or demand for these products. 

So where does that need come from? Of course some health and beauty products aren't really negotiable, like toothpaste and deodorant, but others, like all these BB creams and whatever bullsh*t, why do we need these? Why do I need a color correcting cream? Is my skin color so wrong that it needs correction? 

For sure, there are a lot of folks out there with real skin problems who need the help of strong prescription-strength products and the like. They deserve, as do we all, to like what they see when they look in the mirror.

My beef is when the rest of us average folks don't like what we see. Why? I mean, seriously, why shouldn't we like what we see? How, along the way, have we learned that we don't measure up to some false ideal presented in media, be it advertising, movies or television? When, in the course of growing up, does self-criticism crop up in the place of self-esteem?

Friday I assigned some homework for SMACK! readers to find one product in their daily lives that could be replaced with gentler, lower-chemical version. What did you choose?

This week's homework goes a step further. Where, in your life, can you make the conscious decision to not criticize yourself? Start small, pick something easy. Maybe you decide you're not such a bad cook after all. Maybe you congratulate yourself for walking twice a week instead of beating yourself up that you're not running half marathons. Or maybe you'll choose to see your laugh lines not as wrinkles but as signs of a life well-lived.

Doesn't matter what you choose, as long as you choose something. It's long past time for us to start telling the cosmetic companies what we need, not the other way around.

Confidently yours,
Jazzy