How to feel pretty while standing up to toxic beauty standards

Do you ever find yourself watching some sort of beauty commercial and all of sudden end up comparing yourself? It’s normal, and it happens to more women than you think - including us!

These commercials inject an idealistic view of beauty, so much so that when watching these commercials sometimes we think whether we’re fit, smart, or happy enough. They make us much more aware of a “perfection” that doesn’t actually exist.

And today, Shapermint Gal Lesley shares with us how she’s naturally more aware of her appearance because of constant exposure to ads, and how she deals with it.


As we gain experience, we start to understand that what really matters is that we feel good. And we start to realize that if we do something for our appearance, it’s just for a little boost to be who we are instead of worrying about external factors.

Lesley’s way of dealing with external factors was to not stress over things that she couldn’t change and had no control over - a wise move in our opinion!

How do you stand up to beauty standards imposed by the beauty industry? Share it with us on Facebook or Instagram.


Transcript:

My name is Lesley, and I live in Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan and I grew up in New Jersey.

I can’t say I feel pretty every minute of every single day, but I think I feel pretty more often than not.

I’m in my 30’s now, so in my teen years, in my 20’s there were times where my hair was driving me crazy, my acne – or whatever it was – was just out of control and I did not feel pretty.

Being in my early 30’s now you just care a lot less I think about certain things. You don’t stress over things you can’t change and that’s really, really helped me a lot.

Even going back a couple years ago I don’t really feel like I cared so much about like anti-aging and prevention, and things like that. And now, just going on Instagram every single day, I’m seeing ads and learning so much more, learning my skin type and what works for me.

I do love that the beauty industry is really beginning to embrace individuality more and just being comfortable in your own skin.


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