Au naturel? Could you do it?

I’ve never understood severe cosmetic surgery such as you describe. Really, that’s just going too far. I look at pictures of older women who have obviously had a lot of work done, and I wonder what feelings drive them to those extremes.

I had braces on my teeth as a child, and I say it ends there. If I were a woman, I might feel differently.

Surely, there is a line that can be drawn. I wish I knew where.

I am ‘au naturel’ and fully intend to stay so. I may not be confident about my looks, but i’d rather look as I am.

I met a girl once who had botox even though she’s only 24… I mean what the hell is that all about…?? 20 bloody 4…! Who has wrinkles then? I’ve only just noticed that my skin is starting to change and i’m 39 (can’t bear to call it a wrinkle yet… i still think i’m too young)...
She was totally paranoid about getting wrinkles, and wanted to make sure she never got them..
Crazy!!

Been doing it for 42 years. Unless, of course, you count getting an ear pierced at 16. My hair is starting to turn grey, every so slowly, slowly, slowly, but surely. It may take another decade, but it’ll be all grey one day, and there’s not enough Just For Men advertisement in the world to ever convince me to slap that on my scalp. Not critisizing those who do, mind you. We all make choices, and letting nature take its course is my choice.

I am a despicable hypocrite. I do spend a lot of time without make up and wearing comfortable clothes. I do not judge people on their appearance. I do not diet.
But… I dye my hair, I do have a large make up bag for when it matters to me, I possess lots of clothes (not expensive designer stuff – just clothes) and I do buy face creams to try and keep the wrinkles at bay.
It seems to depend on my mood – sometimes insecure, sometimes at peace with myself.
Women in particular have been trying to make the best of themselves since they arrived here. It is a natural instinct used to attract the best males – the same throughout all the animal kingdom. With some species it is the male rather than the female but I think we humans have the instinct in both sexes to a degree.
I would be quite happy to be au naturel all the time if the males of our species would be happy to see beyond false eyelashes, large boobs etc

I’m just too lazy to be anything but “naturel”! That said, however, nothing about my appearance has ever been “point-and-laugh-worthy”. Now that I’m on the other side of 50, my looks don’t matter to me (much to my mother’s dismay) so being clean and dressed appropriately for the occasion is as far as I’m willing to go. And my feet are still cute.

I agree with @joannamc apart from her last sentence. I am mostly au naturel with the exception of a bit of make up, hair dye every so often (ironically I dye my hair a “natural” but different to my own colour) and pierced ears.

However, I think it’s time we stopped blaming men (Like @joannamc did) for the fact that the world seems to be beauty obsessed. Women are much harsher critics of other women than men are and, in my experience, plenty of men prefer the natural look on a woman.

Here’s another vote for as Leanne puts it, the natural look on a woman. Other than a group of superficial men that really don’t have a clue, I think most men like the difference and variety found in nature. The same “plastic” crap is boring.

At best I wear makeup once in a while. I hate being in the mirror 24/7, so rarely do I ever even put my hair in a style. I’ve never had any kind of surgery before, so going under the knife to look pretty is beyond me and anything I’d ever do. I never quite understood the entire obsession on looks, so natural is pretty much my IN thing when it comes to life. Really, I’d rather be fat and happy instead of skeletonish and miserable. :D

It’s hard to avoid being hypocritical here. On the one hand, as a man I feel a lot less pressure to fit myself into a particular mold or standard of appearance. I’ve been going gray since my 20s, so I’ve had time to accept that, and I’ve been more or less completely gray for over ten years. And I’m not bald, so I don’t ‘need to’ accept that, either – or deal with it in any way. But I think that what has allowed me a certain freedom from over-concern about my own appearance is that… women accept me for who I am, and men don’t care what I look like, nor do I care if they do.

On the other hand… I like young and young-looking women. I don’t deny it. I don’t always even recognize the art and artifice that makes them appear to be so delightful to my eye, but I have to say that I often do appreciate the result, even if I know that expensive surgery, cosmetics and even chemical alteration of scent is involved. And I know that other women usually know, and comment.

Which is not to say that once I’m attracted to a particular woman I don’t notice her charms beneath the edifice, and the ones that have nothing to do with physical appearance. At that point ‘what she looks like’ matters little to me, or at least “much less”.

Maybe G.K. Chesterton’s advice was best here, @seazen: “The best thing that that a man can do for his children is… love their mother.”

Serendipity:

I just saw a this link posted on a friend’s Facebook wall. It’s totally germane to what you’re on about here.

I can and I do. My goal each morning is to stand up straight, be well-enough washed and groomed to avoid scaring the horses, and have a cheerful smile at the ready.

i am delighted with the way in which I am aging. I am also thrilled to get out of bed each morning and discover that 1) I am able to get out of bed) and 2) that I am breathing in and out.

I use the dentist, the dermatologist and the optometrist as my beauty consultants. I slather on home-made face cream and organic almond oil, file my nails, suck in my stomach and seize the day.

I am almost 100% “au naturel”, but I do use a daily mosturizer with spf, and a “night cream” to deeply mosturize my skin and keep it looking young and fresh. It has also shrunk my pores, which is great!

I do wear a little bit of makeup these days, just to feel a little better about myself, but it’s a very quick and light makeup application. I use light eyeliner, a touch of mascara, a dash of light powder across my forehead and nose and tinted lipgloss. The entire process takes me 5 minutes or less and it looks pretty natural. I can’t stand the “cakeface” look.

Other than that, I don’t do anything to really enhance myself. I will admit that I would like a breast lift, just because I’m very self-conscious about my sagginess after two babies, but I wouldn’t have any implants put in. I just want em picked up and stuck back where they’re supposed to be, lol.

I actually would love to have cosmetic foot surgery, but recovering from foot surgery is pretty tough. I guess my views on this subject are are kind of confusing, but they mainly sum up to this (for the time being): I don’t think people should alter what makes them who they are ethnically. Straightening your hair, making your nose thinner, bleaching your skin, and things of that nature make me sad for the person who thinks they need to “fix” themselves. I also hate breast implants because, in my opinion, natural is best. But, things such as botox, liposuction, makeup, and the like are all fine with me. Everyone wants to feel and look more attractive, and I don’t see anything wrong with that.

I think @WasCy‘s link to the “beauty” post is germane to the extreme.

We shouldn’t be talking about going from one extreme to the other – the fact that we have a cultural standard of beauty isn’t necessarily a wrong thing, but is certainly unavoidable.

The problem is not a beauty standard – but a perfection standard.

I do use moisturizer with SPF. After my double mastectomy I opted to not have reconstructive surgery. Pretty close to natural.

No, I’d be a hypocrite for sure! I’ve been slathering on sunscreen since Jr. High in order to preserve my skin for as long as possible. People in our families live a long time and I have always assumed I’d live even longer because of better medicine, lifestyle, what not.

In my mid 40’s now, I don’t yet have enough gray hairs to be noticed but I will be a woman who dyes her hair. My hair is naturally black so unless I get nice salt n pepper or silver streaks, I’m going to keep my natural dark hair color.

Will I consider cosmetic/elective surgeries? Yes. I will have no issue to pluck up sagging eyebrows from over my eyes or to have surgery done to tighten muscles that will keep me out of adult diapers. Will I go so far as to lift breasts or crepey neck when they come? Maybe. In my mind, I want my body to look as good as it feels for as long as I’m spritely and I think that’s just the nature of the human beast, a survival feature of sorts.

I dye my hair and wear makeup, but I can’t see myself getting surgery, unless I’m disfigured in an accident or something like that. The foot surgery to fit a particular size is insane.

I know I could do au naturel, but I like wearing makeup and colouring my hair because it’s fun. That said, I spend a total of about 10–15 minutes on my hair and makeup (including blow-drying) depending on whether I’m planning to wear my hair up or down. I don’t spend much on cosmetics, either – I have only a few makeup items (eyeliner, mascara, foundation and a few eyeshadows) and I dye my own hair. I know a ton of women who wear a ton more makeup than I do, and who spend hundreds of dollars a year (if not more) on their hair, so I’m not going to feel bad about doing what I do. I’m 30 years old – if you don’t like the way I look, don’t look at me :P

We’re bound to catch up with the Chinese, and I’d be a hypocrite if I objected since I’m still seeking their penis enlargement technique.

How natural do you have to get to be au naturel?

- I will never get cosmetic surgery (even though my pediatrist thinks I should to shorten long second toes… gahhh no)
– I will never dye my hair, because I like how the sun changes my color with the seasons. And I want to celebrate getting to gray hair, right now it feels like it’ll be quite an achievement.
– I’ll never get tattoos because needles scare me, as does the idea of never being able to really take them off if I don’t like them anymore. (I’m always changing my mind.)
– I don’t wear make up.
– I don’t even paint my nails.

But—
– I do have five piercings (three studs in one ear, two in another).
– I do wear deodorant.
– I deal with any zit that lands on my face

- I will put on sunscreen when I’ve got to
– I’ll wear lotion when my skin’s dry

- I take showers
– I cut and brush my hair
– I wear clothing (and when I’ve got to, shoes)

I don’t know where the ‘au naturel’ cutoff is for sure, so I don’t know for sure if I could do it.

And as to a collective stopping of the artificiality—I think that would be marvelous; I’d jump on board for sure.

Oh, tats, yeah, I got me some. And many holes in my ears. Hmmmm. So much for my “naturel”.

Oh.My.God. @JilltheTooth has tats? It boggles the mind.

I live to boggle.

Oops. I forgot about my tats.

You too, huh? We should have a “showing” and shock the hell out of everybody!

@JilltheTooth Are you sure we aren’t the same person. Do you ever feel like we share the same head?

Cue “Twilight Zone” music…
I’ve got a frog on my boob. Can you beat that???

A frog on your boob? No. Can’t top that one. One on my lower back, a Crucifix, the tree of life and the dates of my children and husband and I in the infinity sign.

I’ll bite. Why a frog?

Self esteem issues, a cute pic of a frog and a bet. 1977, I was young and it was an adventure….

Hey, I have the lower back on, despite the stupid name for it

Hey, is there internet boggle? I love that game.

Can we get a game going?

@seazen pogo.com has boggle on the free side.

Thanks.

@JilltheTooth No frogs, but I do have a giant panther and a naked fairy, if those can be considered “similar”.