There are no Ugly Women - Only Poor Women

A friend of mine sent me this information and picture in an email.  I want to thank  him sincerely for getting my blood going.  I'll comment below the picture.

There Are No Ugly Women - Only Poor Women 
This Proves It...

The photo below was taken at a competition in June 2008 involving 9 women for best makeover.

They had every possible beauty treatment available to them over a period of 12 hours before the contest.

Look at the before and after photos.

Conclusion - there are no ugly women only poor women.

The woman 2nd from the left won the contest.

OK, so I realize the women now look like gorgeous, sexy beauty queens.  Just like Miss America, right?

But I am offended by whomever thinks these women are more beautiful or somehow better than they were before just because they've gotten themselves glamorized and are showing their breasts and standing provocatively and have died their hair and have their long luscious locks cascading over their shoulders.

TWELVE HOURS to look like that?  I have many other things to do with myself than spend 12 hours in a salon getting made over to look more like Barbie.

 

The messages I get from the two pictures:

Glasses make you ugly.  Long hair is sexy.  Sleeveless dresses (probably black) with low cut fronts make you look more like a beauty queen.  Lots of lipstick and big halfmoon smiles win prizes.  Dark hair is not in.   Putting your hands on your hips and swaying back a bit is sexy.  Pulling your hair back makes you ugly.  Dull colored T-shirts and flat chests are not attractive.  Don't wear overalls.

I understand the fun of going to a salon and getting pampered - I love massages more than most, and I do feel better when I've gone from drab frowzy hair to a haircut I like - but I am troubled by the message this picture and the writer are sending.  I recognize that lots of money made these women look more like models, but I think the problem isn't that people are poor and can't make themselves up like that - I think the problem is that we would even THINK that these women are how we want to look! 

Authentic beauty which comes from within and a real smile which comes from the heart can move me to tears and leave me with a smile on my face all day, but seeing just another woman made up to look like a Barbie doll leaves me unimpressed.  It's like the difference between a lovingly-prepared meal and a McDonald's Happy Meal with a plastic toy.

Can we please start to pay attention to what really matters?

Comments to this post:

• CA: I loved your blog entry about this, Susan. I think 12 hours of making-over must have included squeezing them into a big plaster mold and then glazing them with some kind of plastic material. Processed People. They all look identical now. Fabulous, all we need is one day to remove our uniqueness. GROSS!
• DB: Funny, I think that they look beautiful before and after. They just... don't look like the same women. I notice their lovely warm smiles and eyes in the "before" photos. I kind of ignore the glitz factor in the "after" photos, and still see beauty. I certainly don't expect any woman to look like that on a daily basis, but it sure would be fun to 'dress it up' a notch (or 10) like that for a night out.
• DL: I suspect that I would look ticked off and tired if were to spend 12 hrs being picked at, plucked, painted and styled. There's something to be said for dressing it up a bit from time to time but not at the cost of authenticity and an entire half day of my time. Loved the blog entry!
• EK: The Before women are people I want to get to know. The Afters, not. (Revealing my prejudice against glamor, I guess.) The one time I came closest to a makeover -- a simple "do" at the beauty parlor for 8th grade graduation -- alienated me from myself to the point of tears. I'm wondering if an "improvement" from overalls to overexposing Barbie dress might have the same effect.