No Christianity 101 today. No cruise talk today. And we will even leave Obama alone today. Let’s go light!

I have thought about writing this post more than once and did not because I thought you might find it too shallow but I saw it again and had to speak up! How in the world did Brooke Shields get roped into doing a commercial on how to get your eyelashes to grow! Of all things! Of course it’s not about Brooke; it’s about the obsession with it all. Where will we ever draw the line and say, enough is enough?

Now let me go ahead and admit, I am all in favor of women (and men) taking care of themselves and projecting the best “you” possible. I wear makeup. I go to the salon for hair and nails. I get my eyebrows waxed/arched. I do microdermabrasion. I try to utilize all the bells and whistles available to me as a woman, to make me look my best, and feel my best, thus projecting my best self. However, when I see a former co-worker with a jacked up line on her lip because the tattoo artist went outside the line when permanently tattooing on a lip liner, or another friend with amazing eyebrows because her tattoo artist had a steady hand and created the perfect line, or hear a commercial telling me that I can grow longer eyelashes but the side affects are “possible” permanent brown eyes that should be white (Sclera), I think that is going too far!

Yesterday I was watching a movie and strayed from the story line as I watched the woman’s mouth trying to move but it couldn’t. Botox! Gosh, isn’t it a shame that we can’t just be who and what we are and look the way we look and still be considered beautiful? Who actually defines that beauty? Is it society? And what society, hormone growing men? Young eager men? Mid life crisis men? Dirty old men? Lol. Let’s just establish up front, surely the society I’m speaking about is men! Wouldn’t you agree? Because woman to woman, we know the pain of trying to be beautiful! I’d love to go out occasionally looking like “who done it and what for”! I’d like to just throw and go! That is, throw on anything and go anywhere and not care how I looked. But I can’t! That doesn’t project the image I want to exude. It doesn’t speak to the classiness I try to carry with me at all times! But people… it is hard! Don’t hate me if you think I look beautiful, it was hard work getting there!!!

I quit perming my hair in a stand for sistas everywhere! I wore it in its natural state for quite a while, all kinky and whatnot. Did I feel as pretty??? No I didn’t because society says my hair needs to be straight and as close to the Barbie look as I can get. (Sidebar: Did y’all know Barbie turned 50 this year and her full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts? Uh huh) In efforts to change up occasionally, I took the hour and a half necessary and went through the grueling steps of straightening my hair. I did that one time too many and now it won’t conform back to the kinkiness and whatnot. Once again I am sporting that permed look (although it is still natural). My husband is happy and I do like it, but I’ve lost my Angela Davis edge and I feel like I have let my sistas down!

I want to be beautiful. I want to be sexy. I want all the good feelings that come with what we go through to look our best. I have another admission. I got the fake eyelashes. Yes, I did! I went to the salon. She analyzed my natural lashes and we discussed the appropriate size for me and my face. Off we went! She glued the lashes on in groups of three hairs at a time. I sat in fear as she got closer and closer to my eyeball. When she was done, I was beautiful! Or so I thought. The lady next to me told me so. Nails, toenails, hair and eyelashes! Mary Kay helped me manually do the rest. Lol. So the next day when I saw something black lying on the floor, only to discover it was a group of my customized lashes, I was distraught. The next day, the next group landed on the sink. Between Tuesday and Saturday, I had been to that shop three times getting and re-getting my lashes done! Nothing worked! I even had my husband to bring home goggles to wear over my eyes when I showered. And still they wouldn’t stay affixed to my “real” lashes and lid! I had to treat them so gingerly. “Don’t get them wet,” is what the “lash tech” told me. Huh? How can I not get a part of my face wet? And I always felt like there was a shadow looming over me. It felt like I had clumps and clumps of mascara caked on my lashes when in reality, it was my $20.00 set of new lashes I tried in my next step of enhancing my beauty! Pray church!

Where should it end? Now I am a proponent of believing all women should wear a little something. There is nothing more beautiful than a finely crafted eye with just the right shades of matte shadow/s and pencil and mascara to make the eyes pop! Rarely do you see a perfect complexion, one without a little blemish here and there. Nothing a little foundation or pressed powder couldn’t smooth out. I believe it is self affirming to take steps to beautify ourselves and it gives us confidence, I just don’t know where we stop! Treatments for growing eyelashes??? One that could leave permanent browning of the eyes?

So here’s the thing, you have the treatment, you get beautiful lashes that have probably only grown a 1/10 of 1/10 of an inch and the whites of your eyes are permanently brown. Uh… certainly the latter completely cancels out the former. And what’s up with the commercials when they say, “before starting this regiment, ask your doctor. Blah blah blah (said regiment) may not be right for you”. I’ll just speak for me; I have never had a family doctor that would sign off on an eye lash treatment that could cause permanent browning of the eyes!

I have one more admission. I am in Georgia now. A place where it is (as I say) slavery hot! The women here are not feeling all the beauty regiments I am used to in Indiana. The heat makes them just say no to beauty regiments. However, I have seen some beautiful, beautiful smooth complexioned ladies here who use a bar of soap and go! I ain’t mad at ‘em!

Sigh…. I’m just saying… Is the side effect of a brown sclera, for slightly longer lashes, worth it? Is beauty still in the eye of the beholder? Hope so! No brown eyes for me. Short lashes that are mine and snowy white eyes that shine bright! )

Holla back!