Naked Face

I want to preface this post with a shout-out to Chelsea O'Neil and Donica Christina Snyder, who introduced me to this idea through their incredible blogs. These women serve as a continual source of inspiration. I highly recommend following their blogs; they are guaranteed to challenge, inform, excite, and motivate.

Today is Bloggers Without Makeup Day - it's a novel idea in a society that is consumed by an obsession with appearances. And I am not innocent of this obsession. Last year I was involved with Project Girl Boulder through Boulder Youth Body Alliance, an arts-based initiative aimed at empowering young women against the harmful effects of mass media advertising. We discussed how the media exploits our insecurities through impossible standards of beauty, with the sole aim of selling us products to "fix" ourselves. Looking back, I realized that I always was perfectly "put together" when co-facilitating this group. I always wore a full face of makeup, nice outfits, and a splash of perfume. I then extended my outlook and sadly realized that I only show my "naked" face to my husband. I've been known to put mascara on to run to the grocery store. So this opportunity, to share my honest, real, and raw self is both scary and amazingly empowering. I invite any other bloggers, or women in general, to embrace their natural selves for the day.