I'm beginning to think it's all a hoax. Like Bigfoot. Someone, somewhere, is laughing at me for believing it all. For thinking I have to have jewelry, makeup, hair products, body sprays, scented lotions, styling equipment, and fashion sense in order to meet the minimum requirements of feminine beauty.
I think I've fallen prey to a gargantuan marketing scheme. Shouldn't it be enough that every woman is made in the image and likeness of God? Isn't feminine beauty inherent in femininity itself?
There's nothing more beautiful than a woman, according to Sacred Scripture anyway: "A woman's beauty makes her husband's face light up, for it surpasses all else that charms the eye" (Sir 36:22). The passage doesn't speak of women who wear a particular size, women who sport a certain brand, or women whose hair is a specific color. Elsewhere, Holy Writ instructs women not to define their beauty based on fashions, hairstyles and jewelry (cf. 1 Pt 3:3-4). Apparently God wants us to know that women are beautiful exactly as they are. So why do so many women struggle to believe it? Why do women tend to spend so much time, energy and money in the pursuit of something they already possess?
Perhaps it's because we've bought into the idea that beauty lies outside of us. If beauty only exists "in the eye of the beholder," then my beauty is dependent on the one who's doing the beholding; I am not beautiful in and of myself, I am only beautiful if someone else declares me as such. I have to earn my own beauty by catching someone's attention.
This line of thinking can convince women that if they don't have a man by their side, it means they're ugly, unwanted and unattractive. This often leads to involvement in unchaste relationships as part of the quest to be declared physically beautiful. And in the hopes of attaining (or maintaining) one of these physically-based relationships and its accompanying declaration of beauty, many women employ the assistance of products and devices galore.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not interested in eradicating beauty supplies from the face of the earth; they may have a place in embellishing women's beauty. But it's important to see them as embellishments, not necessities. Quasi-addictive dependence on beauty tools is another symptom of thinking beauty lies in something outside of ourselves – a product, a technique, a style.
But in truth, we don't have to buy our beauty at the store. It's not something we must earn by hard work (i.e. the skillful application of makeup, the winning of a man's attention, etc.). We already possess beauty. We don't need to try to attain it.
The beauty industry has dulled our capacity to appreciate beauty in its natural state. A fixation on earning (or giving) affirmation based on the use of external devices has overshadowed the recognition of our built-in beauty. I'm not talking about "inner beauty" in the sense of something spiritual as opposed to physical. I'm talking about the inherent physical beauty we each possess by nature of our creation: "In the divine image He created him; male and female He created them" (Gn 1:27). This physical beauty, however, is not separate from our spiritual beauty, just as our bodies are not separate from our souls.
No matter how much a woman paints herself, no matter how stylishly she dresses or how manicured she keeps her nails, no matter how well she does her hair or how much silicone she employs in her figure, she will never reach the fullness of her own physical beauty until she reaches the fullness of her own spiritual beauty. No eye-shadow can match the impact of virtue. No lotion can produce the glow of holiness. The radiance of sanctity can be seen, but it can't be bought. This fullness of beauty is freely accessible to everyone. Holiness embellishes our inborn beauty like nothing else can. But step one in growing in holiness is to believe what God has told us. In this case, it means believing His Word when He says our beauty is already built in.
Advertising campaigns would have us believe otherwise: "Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Maybelline," when what they really mean is: “She isn’t born with it; that’s why she needs Maybelline.” It’s time we questioned these marketing schemes. God tells us she's born with it. The hoax is over.
