Beauty Unmasked
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008by Alorie Gilbert
SWITZERLAND–One of the best things about living abroad are all of the British channels on cable. I love British TV! My favorite program at the moment is Miss Naked Beauty, a beauty contest of sorts with all of the classic components of reality TV–competition, eliminations, and a panel of scary judges.
The most interesting part, however, is that the ladies must forsake all artifice–makeup, fake boobs, high-maintenance hair and jewelry–and embrace their natural sex appeal. The winner gets a modeling contract and a column in a fashion magazine to promote natural beauty. In the first episode, 25 contestants were led in their underwear into a big hall and drenched with a fire hose. Pretty entertaining stuff. Then, they were instructed to remove all of their make up, piercings and hair-dos and talk about how they feel. It was amazing how many women really struggled with taking off their makeup. There were lots of tears over this. I hardly wear makeup so I found this somewhat amusing. But I have as many beauty hangups as anyone, so I find the ladies very sympathetic most of the time.
In one recent episode, eight contestants had to witness plastic surgery in the operating room and then write about it. There was a boob job, a lipo and eyelid surgery. Only one of the women (all young and blessed with good looks), was appalled, and she was eliminated for not condemning the procedures. I find this lame. I’m by no means a proponent of plastic surgery, and it has definitely been taken to extremes. But I can allow for more than one opinion on the matter. The show raises a lot of good issues, however. I’ll continue to watch and will report back on the winner…
Ever since my aesthetician’s first utterance of the words “sun damage,” I’ve been on the lookout for a natural sunscreen for my face that also doubles as a moisturizer—and that doesn’t cost more than a bag of groceries at Trader Joe’s.
People are often more concerned by what they eat than by what they put on their body. But the skin is our largest organ and absorbs all those lotions, deodorants and perfumes directly into the blood stream, without the natural toxin catchers of the digestive system. That’s why it’s good to be choosy about what you slather on the skin.