THE BIGGER PICTURE Shalini Sinha Could shaving your legs be bad for your health? Certainly, tanning and dying our hair harms our bodies. But what is the price (for men and women) of participating in the cosmetics industry?
Indeed, there are far-reaching consequences to denying our true selves. For a start, we are systematically prevented from feeling who we really are and loving ourselves completely.
Summer has arrived, and as we peel off our clothes to receive some much-wished-for heat, we are all confronted by our physical selves - the shape of our bodies, the colour of our hair and skin, blemishes, bumps and every tiny spot for which we have long since been made to feel inadequate.
While it might seem a trivial matter, it is extremely damaging not to be in touch with our inherent beauty. This hurt causes us to engage in dangerous activities and make bad decisions about ourselves - lavishing toxic chemicals onto our hair and skin, wearing masks, taking drugs or using other extreme measures to hastily change our shape. We hide, pretend and nurse deep insecurities that compromise our mental and physical well-being, and kill our society slowly.
Although we are each born beautiful, attractive to others and unique, very early on we are hurt deeply over our physical appearance. It is nearly impossible to find an adult in this society who can give sincere attention to his or her body without feeling a deep pain. At the same time, it is impossible for someone to face this pain with honesty and integrity and not emerge radiantly beautiful.
The pains of our past are carried in our bodies and on our faces. All the places where we needed love and assistance but didn't get it meld to form a rigid mask over our true appearance - frozen in time, leaving us in confusion, persistently shielding our true beauty. Covering ourselves up with 'products' and 'treatments' - plastering over our emotional injuries - only makes us more rigid, entrenched and, ultimately, less beautiful.
The gaps of confusion and doubt left in our self-esteem are preyed upon by the cosmetics industry. Make-up, hair products, fake tans, dyes, perfumes, and more are all to create a beauty where we are told there isn't one.
But this is a hunt and we are the hunted. Consumer marketing and product imaging are aggressive. Most of the capitalist giants operating today have an interest in cosmetics because profit margins are highest here. They seek global domination, using our insecurities as bait. Believe it or not, there is a connection between our lack of esteem for our physical selves and financial support for war and violence in the world.
The cosmetics industry suggests that human beings are fundamentally flawed because we are living, growing, dynamic and unpredictable organisms. Far from being human, we ought to have been made of an unchanging, inanimate plastic.
It is important to withdraw our support from it, including deciding not to tan your skin for sport. White skin is beautiful and healthy as it is, and needn't be disguised. The reddening or browning of the skin occurs to protect us against harmful rays in the sun. It shouldn't be abused and manipulated to mask a collective anxiety.
The stress of our facade is deadly. True, you have never heard it reported in the press that someone died of pretence. But the inability to be honest with oneself and others, the fear of judgment and exclusion, all make our lives more difficult. When it comes to our physical beauty and inherent attractiveness - on the question of whether other human beings want us - we are left on our own, and there is little more destructive to human beings than isolation.
Do you think you are worth enough to venture out without make-up, let your hair fulfil its own ambitions, and really appreciate your unique features? Do you think you could face the summer with hairy legs, blemished skin with your genuine shape on display? Are you prepared to arrive home from the airport, wearing something other than white and deprived of the comment, "The colour of you! You look so healthy!"
Well, don't even bother to do it until you have good friends around you. You will need to be listened to without judgment, criticism or even 'friendly' advice about 'what you should do'.
Beauty and health are inherent to us - within our internal senses and control. Emerging from the pain will demand that people who encourage us warmly surround us. And we will need to be encouraging of them - collectively displaying our true splendour.
Women have hair on their legs. Human hair greys in time. Our skin is not one consistent tone. Our hair will be wild and move to its own agenda.
It is the beauty of our belief in ourselves and others that is irresistible. We are wanted. We are needed. We are beautiful.
Shalini Sinha is an independent producer, counsellor and journalist. She is a counsellor on equality issues. She has lectured on Women's Studies in UCD and co-presents Mono, RTÉ's intercultural programme.