The saying, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” dates back quite a long time and still holds true to this very day. Depending on one’s personal preference, where they’re from, sexual orientation, and other variations can have a huge impact on what we find beautiful. To some people, beauty isn’t necessarily something we can see with our eyes but instead more of a feeling. For example, beauty can be described as happiness. Beauty has been described and characterized through concepts and pictures piercing our minds.
It’s the situations and pictures that represent and inspire the most unique and remarkable attractiveness of our innermost being. It’s the moments that we feel real, free, proud, and eminent. It’s these very moments when we feel the most alive. Even though it seems like that element should be inherent, but it, unfortunately, is not.
Beauty: Everyone Wants it – but Nearly Everyone Has it
For a concept as old as beauty, it for some reason is often misconstrued, misunderstood, and just all around plagued by a shadow of conflicting pressures. It is something that every single one of us endlessly strives for, but rather see it in the true essence of our most enjoyable and happiest moments.
Beauty, at its core, is based primarily on looks, or at least that’s what a lot of people think and that would be wrong. This belief or theory has been around since the concept of the word itself, but with every passing decade, the meaning of true beauty gets more and more disfigured.
Today, thanks to social media and filters, people are presented with gorgeous and flawless looking models everywhere you turn. People confuse visual attractiveness for beauty in this way, and overall this creates an illusion of what being beautiful actually is, worse yet, it’s almost the exact opposite.
Beauty can’t be based on hair or eye color, waist or bra size, the number of muscles or tattoos, beauty instead needs to be judged on happiness. The ability to dance like nobody is watching. Live every moment like it’s your last. Being comfortable in the skin that you’re in.
Those are all signs of beauty. If someone uses an app to change their eye color, skin tone, lip size, etc., they aren’t really showing off their beauty as much as they are showing off their photoshop skills. If true beauty is loving the skin your in, then using filters to change the real you must be what? True ugliness?
Don’t take that literally but instead figuratively.
Not that this article intends to confuse you, but instead to challenge the way you think and perceive words and concepts that we take for granted. For example, beauty can be found in something ugly. You may be reminded of the story of the ugly duckling who grew up to be a beautiful swan, but that’s a bit different. Something less attractive grew into something more attractive. Again, basing the concept of pure and true beauty on that of looks alone. A better example would be from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The bell ringer appears as a grotesque and short man with a huge hump on his back. The town fears him because of his hideous appearance, but before the movie comes to an end everyone no longer sees the ugliness because of the loving heart that he has on the inside, and that is what true beauty is all about.
Other Ways Beauty is Defined in Cultures Across the Globe.
Different cultures have different variations of attributes that they generally find beautiful or attractive. Aside from real beauty being on the inside, pure beauty is having it on the outside as well. Here is a quick list of what some countries find beautiful within their borders. This list is far from a complete one and just meant to give you a little bit of insight into how each of the following cultures perceives the word beauty.
Photo Credit: Dr. David Low
KOREA
• No tan, Koreans value paleness over a dark tan.
• Double eyelids, which is a surgery that makes the eyes bigger and fuller
• V-line Face, which is a surgery performed on the jawline to create a sharper V angle.
INDIA
• Long, flowing, and glossy hair.
• Fairness Cream, in India, it’s about lightening the skin tone with fairness cream.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ‘The Hip-Hop Booty’ Americans like their junk in the trunk.
• Plastic Surgery Craze – there are so many procedures available, whether someone wants a new nose or higher cheekbones, or some other form of plastic surgery, there is likely a doctor that will perform the surgery, for a small fee of course.
To put it plainly, in America, if you have bigger lips, bigger breasts, and a bigger butt, then you have it all.
• With America being as big as it is and comprised of as many cultures as it is, it’s hard to lock down specific traits.
ENGLAND
• Slim and Sexy
• Make-up – In England, they love hazy eye make-up, oftentimes with that smokey tint to it.
• Flawless Skin and Fake Tan
THE ARAB WORLD
• Eyes and the Makeup
• Black kohl enhances the eyes to make them more appealing and exotic.
• Argon oil is said to slow aging which is something the women in this culture are very fond of.
• Hammam Maghrabi is a homemade bath that slays off all the dead skin and helps reveal gorgeous glowing skin.
Closing Thoughts on True Beauty and How it’s perceived in the world.
Hopefully, after reading this article you have a deeper understanding of the word beauty. It comes in many sizes, colors, shapes, and forms. Beauty can be defined as the birth of a child, a breathtaking sunset, a majestic beach, a parent, or even a crush. It can be a feeling, a sound, a taste, a small, or a touch, just as easily as it can be something that you see with your very eyes. No matter how you perceive it, it’s different for everyone. I guess it really is true what they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
