Salon

Dah lama tak ke salon rambut. The truth is, I always feel uneasy about the idea of going to all sorts of beauty care, be it spa, hair salon and whatnot. The main reason is because of my low self-esteem, so I don’t like it when people go highlighting all of my flaws that I am already full aware of. Which leads to the second reason - due to the ‘defects’ it would be so easy for the masseuse or hairsylist to promote their services/products. Which annoyed me like hell. Argghh. 

Weekend lepas sempat curi masa kejap pergi potong rambut, and as I expected, yang potong rambut tu ‘analyzed’ my hair and promoted lah segala mala  service/product yang diorang ada. No surprise there. Tapi tak tahan mendengarkan the prices. Semua harga RM300 and above. Selamba je bagitahu harga sekian sekian macam benda tu perkara biasa. Haha. Memang tak lah nak ambik pakej treatment seribu lebih tu.

Rasanya kalau beli produk bodyshop dan buat semua sendiri okay kot. I mean untuk rakyat marhaen macam aku. Okaylah, tu je nak bebel.

Revolusi Kening

So, this is what I was talking before. Found this in Instagram while I was writing this. I was amazed to read the caption - what a similar sentiment!

Haha.

The Standard of Beauty??

I've thought about this for some time already but I find it hard to put it into words.

Sesiapa yang sezaman dengan aku, agak-agak ingat tak di zaman remaja kita, semua orang nak kening nipis. Mana-mana ikon jelita zaman tu mesti berkening nipis dan halus (tak kisahlah semulajadi atau dicukur dan dilukis ke).

Sebab utama aku ingat ialah: kening aku tebal, maka aku terasa sungguh tak cantik masa tu, semacam sangatlah rendah diri. tapi tak adalah pergi cukur. In fact tak pernah mekap pun bahagian kening tu. Okay, tipu. Pernah, masa tunang dan kahwin, itu pun mak andamlah yang kerjakan kening aku masa tu.

Tapi tup-tup bila dah mencecah 3 series, aku perasan dah menjadi kegilaan wanita nak kening tebal pula. Tengok trend sekarang macam-macam tutorial kening nak lukis kening bagi nampak tebal pulak dah. Semua nak jeles dengan kening Elfira Loy tu. Serius aku tak faham. Kalau zaman 90’s dan 2000’s dulu memang kening macam tu orang orang takkan cakap cantik punyalah.

So, how to say it? Here we go..

Kening halus ke tebal ke, at some point, pada pandangan mata manusia, eventually, it will be 'IN TREND". It will be acceptable and even followed by many.  So the question is,  why do we have to fall victim into something that is so TEMPORARY and SEASONAL? Why do we have to adjust ourselves to suit that kind of standard? And again, like I once wrote in here, who sets the standard, anyway? 

Ada betulnya bila orang kata perempuan ni  semuanya cantik, no matter how you look. Terbukti dengan teori kening ni, cuma silapnya kita ni ikutkan sangat pandangan mata manusia yang penuh kekeliruan. Keliru dan tak perpendirian tetap. Like this trend of kening tebal yang menjadi kegilaan sekarang - 20 years ago, nobody found it beautiful. 

So, the point is really - tetaplah menjadi diri sendiri. We have to accept and love ourselves just the way we are. ( A reminder for myself first and foremost).

That’s all I have to say.

Putih

First of all, I wonder, who defines the standard of beauty? And what qualifies them to set the standard?

I am writing not on behalf of those highly-esteemed people, but on the contrary. I know what it's like to grow up believing that you're NOT pretty. Don't tell me about 'beauty is only skin deep' kind of thing - I've read tonnes of that stuff to comfort myself. Well, sometimes it worked. But most of the times, it didn't. Because at the end of the day, it's always the pretty faces who get away with anything, get every task done first (since they have so many volunteers to help them with), get the job, and so on.. 

As long as I can remember, I was not jealous, But I was upset with how the world works.

But as I grew older, I've come to terms with that reality. That's just how the world works. People will go after what appeal to their eyes first.

And somehow I have this urge inside of me to change that sentiment. I don't know how to do that  but as for now, I'll just write it up first.

I remember when I was 15, I decided to focus on people's 'strength', hoping that people will look at me the same. There must be something unique in a person, even though as a whole, one may not look gorgeous like a supermodel. There must be something special about her. Maybe she has a nice smile, or  dimples, or beautifully aligned teeth, or almond-shaped eyes, nice long fingers, or soft long hair. Or you can go to personality wise; like a good humor, kind heart, pleasant personality, anything, anything at all. If you really look beyond typical appearance, you will find it. It works for me all these while. After I changed the way I look at people, I don't bother so much about my physical appearance anymore.

And I really hate to see that it is now acceptable in our community to promote white skin and thin body as the standard of 'beautiful'. I think in a way, it's a discrimination. I've come across some of my younger friends who commented on those whitening product in FB pages with the intention of buying them. Yes, they are not the 'white-skinned' type, but they are pretty just fine, if only they could see that themselves.

And that's the problem. I feel like we're being brainwashed by these beauty products' marketing strategy, promoting the so-called ideal of beauty. Like, if you want to be beautiful, you have to be putih dan kurus. And to be exposed to that idea 24/7, of course, it will get to us eventually.

And have you noticed our local celebrities who suddenly became fair and white? I really don't think it's such a healthy trend.  

Don't get me wrong. I don't have anything against putih and kurus girls. I think I fall into that category, too, only I'm not the good-looking one. Of course, MOST of them are really good-looking. But my point here is, that is not the ONLY kind of beauty. You can be sawo matang and hitam manis; and still looking good. The problem is the mindset of our community - who doesn't see that, who makes fun of the skin colors other than 'white'. Personally, to me, it's a sick kind of perspective.

But you have no idea how it affects the kids yang chubby, yang tak putih bila diejek-ejek? You have no idea what it does to their self-esteem. Somehow I know that feeling, as a teenager with pimples and scars on my face - it's very upsetting to be ridiculed like that. The insults could do damage to our emotion for a lifetime. Of course, I don't blame the kids yang mengejek, but in the first place, they should not have the idea of 'putih/kurus tu cantik'. And again, who's responsible for inculcating such idea into their raw mind?

Having said these, I really admire Adibah Noor and Sherry Al-hadad so much. They don't fit in our society's requirement of typical beauty but to me, they are wayy more gorgeous than those who do. They are confident, smart and funny - tell me, what's not beautiful about this?

The thing is, when someone wants to be white and fair, that should be his/her personal desire. It shouldn't be generalized. It shouldn't be advertised. It shouldn't be normalized.

If you're born fair and white, it's okay. And if you are not, it's okay, too.

After all, we are a bunch of geo-politically-Nusantara people , why would we want to look like a Caucasian?

..Another Wonderful Lips Product..

First of all, thanks a lot to my sis for giving me this efficient product as one of my last birthday's present.

I did mention here that it was quite problematic for me to wear lipstick/lip gloss because after 10 minutes applied, the lipstick/lip gloss layer will dry out and and become flaky.

With this Lips & Cheek Stain from Bodyshop, I can wear lipstick / lip gloss with no worries now :) *ewah, ni betul-betul macam iklan ni :p

Just apply this before lipstick and lip gloss

And it works as a blusher, too!

..Lip Treatment That Works..

Hmm... Agak tak percaya - me reviewing a beauty product?? I even have to add another label "Beauty" for this blog hehehe.

But good things need to be shared, right?

I think I've mentioned a few times in my previous posts that I have this flaky, dried and chapped lips since - forever. Dah banyak jugak lips products yang dalam affordable range saya cuba - Vaseline, LipIce, Banana Boat, Maybelline, but nothing works :(

I even tried Clinique Vitamin C Lip Smoothie, tapi sama jugak. The applied layer akan jadi kering dan mengeringkan lagi bibir saya.

Lipstick was a big no-no for me.

Plain water memang saya minum lebih kurang 3liter satu hari, but still my lips are not improved at all. Sedih sangat and rasa give up :(

Sebelum jumpa produk yang OK ni, I tried Aloe Lip Treatment from BodyShop, but sadly, tak jalan jugak.

Tapi I dh tak tahu nak try apa lagi, so I decided nak beli jugak lagi for the second tube, but fortunately that time, the promoter at BodyShop suggested these two when she looked at my super-dry lips. So I guess I should give it a try.

Lip Care:

LipScuff:

Alhamdulillah, the LipCare works wonder on me. It moisturizes my lips well, no dried layer anymore, unlike the previous lip care products. Normally, every morning I apply Lipscuff dulu to remove the dead cells, then only apply the Lipcare. Tapi I selalu kena apply Lip Care tu, like every hour kalau duduk dalam air-cond. But that's OK, asalkan tak kering lagi. I dah try ni dalam sebulan, so far memang OK.

Since I have the worst lips problem in the world, I think whatever products that work for me would work well for others, too.