To Make-up or Not to Make-up

By: Mashaka Williams

A make-up day

It is so funny how certain things become such a must discuss topic. Should we have natural hair or should we relax it. Should we wear make-up or should we go without.

So in true blogger style I have to give my take. Who cares! If you are comfortable in your skin you can do whatever you want.

I remember in high school I had a really good friend named Francine and she never relaxed her hair and wore no make-up only good old fashion Vaseline. And she was the picture of what a natural black woman should look like. No one had better braid ups than her. But the truth is you did not hear the guys saying wow look at that beauty. She never made that her deciding factor on how she should carry herself. I see pictures of her now and every now and then she has on make-up. She is still as beautiful with it on as she is with it off. Make-up does not make you any less or more pretty.

So you wear it great, you don’t that is great too. It is a choice. That is the wonderful thing about being a woman we can change our hairstyles and appearances. Let’s embrace it and move on.

I read some comments on Alicia Keys not wearing make-up. That is a great thing. It shows women that they are beautiful as they are. As a You tube fan and a person who has just started making videos, she helped me realize that I can do these videos without make- up and be proud.

The point is there are so many things that we have to worry about on a daily basis, let’s not make a big deal out of make-up or no make-up, let’s embrace the fact that we have the choice.

By the way let’s also accept that are skin is not flawless. That’s part of being human. J

 

Have a great day,

Shak

Missed Photo Opps

By Mashaka Williams

Coming out of the slump

 

In planning my 40^th birthday celebration and looking for pictures of myself, I realized that there was a period of time that I did not take any pictures of myself. And I thought to myself if it is just me or are there other women out there that did not like how they looked and refused to take pictures.

I think that it is sad to know that the reason I did not take any pictures was because I felt chubby and did not want my old school mates to see me looking a little plumper than they probably remembered me. But the more I thought about it the more I had to be honest. I did not want to think about people saying that about me because I have done it.

Society is as such that we look at pictures of the people we knew and comment on them. We would say both good and bad. It is not always done in a malicious way, but it was done. And it is because of my own self I hid the reality of how I felt about myself.

The funny thing is now when I look pictures of people who gained weight I look at the picture to observe if they are happy. Rather than if they are skinny, fat, or the same. I think we need to really enjoy ourselves at each stage. So I am upset that I don’t have those chubby pictures of myself because I missed out on some photo opportunities with my kids.

So if you are doing what I did, don’t feel bad you’re not alone. However I do encourage you do take those pics and be happy. At the end of the day we only have one life and there are greater struggles in life than being a little fatter (there I said it) than we want to be.

 

Have a great day,

Shak