Broiled, Sliced, and Slathered~

I just commented on one of my friends FB posts about how she was going to go tan for a wedding.  So I thought it would be interesting to research beauty rituals , past and future. 
Tanning was really the ideal in the 60's and 70's beach culture, with bronze gods and goddesses reigning on the top of the beauty tower.  People oiled themselves up with cooking oil, and baby oil, and literally cooked themselves in the sun.  In the hey-dey of the 1700's and into the 1800's pale for women was the epitome of beauty.  If you had that buttermilk complexion, you were the cream of the crop, so to speak.  Of course in the early 1600's men AND women painted their faces with lead to produce a completely white complexion, which actually caused the wearer to succumb to lead poisoning.  Of course, there have been different degrees of tattooing , body modification, piercings, and all manner of crazy things people have done to "increase" their physical beauty over the years.  In the 1800's when a 13 inch waist was ideal , women had their lower two ribs removed in order to "whittle" the waist.   Japanese women used bird poop facials to get the "geisha" look.  People in certain parts of the world drink placenta milkshakes to prolong their youth.  I don't know about you, but that 's a little far out even for me, lol.  I guess what I'm really trying to say is that the fads change so fast, I'm not sure anyone could ever really keep up with what is the "standard" for beauty anymore.  And if you think about it, all the really beautiful people that we remember , the classics, they don't really look like the "normal" fad going around anyway!  Cher, Elizabeth Taylor, even the Mona Lisa, they are not typical looking women.  Barbara Streisand , with her classic profile, that's not the "normal" idea of beauty.  Or think of  Clark Gable , with his over-sized ears.  Not what most people today would consider a sex symbol.  So really, I kind of think all this pressure is over rated.  We bake, pull, pluck, shave, pierce, starve, paint and fry our bodies, and hair in all manner of stuff, in order to look "beautiful".  I think sometimes we'd be better off , if we just left it the way God had it to start with.  Am I super thin?  Am I tan and firm?  Am I wearing the latest hairstyle, and the latest outfit?  Nope.  But you know what?   I still think I look pretty good, and isn't that what matters?

Here's to rockin' the natural look~ Ruby Jeanette