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When she first revealed the results of 10 surgeries within a short time-frame, it certainly freaked the heck out of me that she even considered that many procedures let alone actually going through with them. She barely looks like the same person she once was...I personally think she looked way better before the alterations.
What would make someone do cosmetic alterations at such a young age?
As I write this I realize that I too, had my own thoughts about wanting to do minor cosmetic procedures done when i was still in my adolescent years--adhering to the pressures of teenage idealistic perfection.Gasp! I know, even I'm not immuned to insecurities. It was a long road and a bumpy one--but I realized eventually that my imperfections are not the end of the world. I learned to love myself the way I am, and dealing with insecurities in a more healthy manner.
No one deals with insecurities well...I know at first I didn't, and sometimes, I still don't.
Seeing all those pictures of pretty models in the magazines and hearing about the ideal women from boys my age only exacerbated any warped images I already had in my head...I think that at some point, striving for perfection broke me, and I realized that there is nothing wrong with not being perfect...Don't get me wrong, self-improvement is vital--but to remember that there are serious costs to risking your mental and physical state to find that ultimate perfection is not worth it.
I think for me, the healthy way to look at it is that there is no such thing as perfection--but there is such a thing as the best version of you that you can be.
For Heidi Montag, I believe that her insecurities were piled on once she moved to LA, and losing her friends who were also her support system (being away from her family) just pushed her over the edge and into cosmetic alterations to make herself happy. This suddenly reminds me of the song on the opening credits of the show Felicity, 'New version of you' lol. It's like trying to fulfill a void with shallow happiness.
Even in episodes of Jessica Simpson's 'Price of Beauty' where she travelled to two countries, Japan and Brazil, that regarded cosmetic surgery as a necessity more than a luxury. Procedures such as eyelid surgeries and breast augmentations become more of a need in women's minds, rather than extra procedures that do nothing to increase health. I thought that Heidi's 10 procedures was shocking, but to hear a Brazilian woman having 42 procedures (not all in one day, mind you) is something that I can't quite comprehend...
It's hard to fathom that in Brazil, a young girl will come to realize (as her mother has said in the episode) the importance of Cosmetic Surgery when she grows up, much as her mother did. Jessica Simpson couldn't understand the mother's logic(and niether could i): to trade a chance of being able to find a better place to live with the money saved up with paying for a procedure to enhance beauty. It's also hard to fathom that an exotic asian beauty like a Japanese woman would get a procedure to make her eyes bigger, when that's what makes an asian woman unique...
I love that nowadays, the measure of beauty has changed.
Beauty and perfection have come under scrutiny more and more lately...even the runway shows in the fashion capital of the world are capping models' weights and body structures...Designers like Marc Jacob are suddenly going for the curvy models instead of the boyish stick frames that used to dominate the runways.
The women that realize the pressure to be thin, perfect and model-beautiful has tipped the equilibrium in the favour of those that are more real and not-so-perfect. Companies like Dove has taken it upon themselves to change the way the world perceives beauty with its Campaign for Real Beauty marketing concept that aims to break the perceptions of beauty and perfection.
Girls need to learn from a young age that beauty isn't what the magazine dictates or what the mass media may think it is...It is being strong and confident in your own beauty and realizing that the ultimate perfection and beauty is the confidence in self-acceptance and loving yourself. Girls need better role models to show them the way to deal with the pressures of perfection, and to rise above it with your head held high and confident in your own beauty.
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