BEAUTY AND MYTH

                In the context of the International Women’s Day organized by the Herbally Radiant on March 8, the book “The Beauty Myth” written by Naomi wolf (published by Harper Perennial) drew our attention to the point that women now have come to enjoy more equality, privileges and social and political rights, but the beauty factor continues to have greater dominance over women’s lives, their own thinking, the attitude of their male colleagues, preference of marketing and promotional companies, fashion trends and so on. The book highlights the beauty myth, as an obsession with physical perfection that traps the modern woman in an endless spiral of hope, self-consciousness, and self-hatred as she tries to fulfill society’s impossible definition of “the flawless beauty”.

The myth of beauty has provoked author to tell the world that women should be judged not necessarily by the prevalent yardsticks of physical features, but by a deeper understanding of her as a human being, as a loving character, as a responsible person equal to men and capable of making advances in all fields, independent of the feminine norms laid down mostly by men in the society.

                We feel that the concept of beauty has been made more complex. The myth of beauty applies in the case of both men and women, in varying degree, women being more sensitive and self-conscious feel the effect of this ‘myth’ more than men.   But most men also seem to suffer from their own views about beauty which could also be “myth”.

                This myth is as strong in beauty industry as it was centuries back. The anti-aging creams, for example, continue to make same absurd claims like their “new youth” creams “erased” signs of age, “restructured” skin on a “cellular” level or “renewed” tissue “from within”. Now some companies are claiming “hydrogen filled” face mask, some are marketing “platinum” mask, others are claiming to introduce “friendly bacteria” on dermis or advising digestible pills which they claim work “from within”. All of these are unverifiable claims which are not physically possible because most chemical ingredients do not penetrate dermis.

 The book says the myth of beauty, the unconscious hallucination grows ever more influential and pervasive because of what is now conscious market manipulation: powerful industries – the $ 33 billion a year diet industry, the $ 20 billion cosmetics industry, the $ 300 million cosmetic surgery industry, and the $ 7 billion pornography industry – have arisen from the capital made out of unconscious anxieties, and are, in turn able, through their influence on mass culture, to use, stimulate, and reinforce the hallucination in a rising economic spiral.”

In the din of all such marketing noise, Herbally Radiant continues to advise its customers to follow the time tested efficacy of certain natural organic ingredients that provide  most effective nutrients to skin that help accelerate epidermal regeneration and build a bright, flawless skin. These improve visible signs of aging by constant skin hydration and elasticity while reducing the appearance of over-pigmentation and skin inflammation.