I very much like and agree with the concepts contained in the article  below:

Why I Don’t Wear Makeup
 …. Excerpts from an article
by Aabye-Gayle Fracis-Favilla

Our culture is subtly (and not so subtly) waging war against the body — a result of an unhealthy obsession with youth and perfection. We tell women that they’re beautiful and that they should love themselves. We tell little girls to have self-confidence and that they can be anything they want to be.

But then, and often with the same breath, we suggest they can be beautiful (or confident) only when they are not quite themselves. We sell women (both young and old) products to “fix” or “improve” their appearance — wrinkle removers, concealers, eyelash enhancers, and other colorful cover-ups.

The young want to look mature. The mature want to look young. No one really wants to look like herself. Everyone wants to look unflawed. Feminine façades have become the norm — what’s expected. Maybe you’re born with it. Maybe you bought it (or had your plastic surgeon inject it).

I want to avoid falling prey to a self-erasing mentality when I look at myself in the mirror.

Bodies are imperfect and asymmetrical. Bodies come in a myriad of sizes, shapes and colors. Bodies grow older. I don’t want to view aging as an adversary, which I have to fight or the imperfections of my face and form as mistakes I have to hide. That’s not a safe approach to loving myself well.

I wish I could rid our culture of cosmetic dependence. I wish I lived in a world where every woman was encouraged to be satisfied with her face instead of bombarded by messages offering ways to improve it or cover over it. I wish the majority of our society viewed makeup as an optional accessory as opposed to the required response to any perceived deficiency.

I have enough insecurity that I’m working on. I don’t want to buy or apply more at the cosmetics counter. So I’ve made up my mind about makeup. At least for now,

The article below is a keeper.

It definitely
belongs  here in my
DietHobby online scrapbook.
   I love it. 

When Can Women Stop Trying to Look Perfect?
                by Jennifer Weiner  - 1/8/2016 New York Times

As a lifelong devotee of fashion and tabloid magazines, I’ve read dozens of “Beautiful/Sexy at Any Age” features. You’ve probably seen these spreads, showcasing a bevy of lovely women whose faces, fashions, exercise routines and skin-care regimens are laid out to encourage imitation. For years, readers could stare at starlets and actresses and singers in their 20s, their 30s, their 40s and even edging bravely into their early 60s.

Then — nothing. While Vogue’s most recent “Age” issue expanded its range to include a runner in her 90s, and People’s “World’s Most Beautiful” made room for 75-year-old Jane Fonda in 2013, those are exceptions. It’s as if, for the purposes of good looks and sexiness, older women simply cease to exist. Or maybe they turn 60 and go marching, “Children of the Corn” style, into the racks at Nordstrom, never to be seen again.

On one hand, it’s obvious discrimination. The Golden Globes are Sunday night, and the red-carpet parade is likely to include the nominees Lily Tomlin and Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren and Ms. Fonda, proving that a woman can be stunning and stylish when she’s 70, or beyond.

On the other hand, those magazines always gave me — and, I suspect, other female readers — a little hope. Reading into the absences, you could make out a finish line, a point at which you were no longer expected to perform what sometimes feels like a woman’s major duty in life — looking good for men. You could bobby-pin the “babe” tiara atop the next generation’s head, throw away your Spanx and your food scale and enjoy your accomplishments, your grandchildren, your free time.

Sadly, recent events suggest that the finish line has moved — if it existed at all. Consider the fuss over...