I was scrolling through Instagram today and saw an advertisement for a liquid you can drink that will gradually make your skin tan over time. Besides wondering about its safety, I was startled to see the women advertising the product. They appeared to be in their late teens to mid-20s, wearing a ton of makeup and revealing a lot of skin through minimal clothing. It made me think about the emotional cost of young women looking perfect online.
As someone in their late thirties who is concerned about the future of younger generations, my heart broke at the sight of these young women. They are way too preoccupied with their looks and are abusing their bodies with many products. They are applying excessive amounts of chemicals to their skin, which contain endocrine disruptors that will negatively affect their hormonal and biological processes over time.
Many of these young women on social media appear unnatural yet camera-ready. They know how to look good in front of the camera, but at what cost?
Putting on a Show is Compromising Yourself
When you perform to sell a product or to gain a following on social media, you are compromising yourself. You are putting on a face, a cover, which comes with a cost. The cost is that you can’t tune into your true self and speak as you, express as you.
Then, when people meet you, you probably feel like you have to become what you presented on social media, or else they may not like you.
Do you know the saying ‘’never meet your heroes?’’ When you meet someone you look up to or admire on a screen – you are usually disappointed and hurt by how different they are in real life. Sometimes, how you imagine a person is better than knowing who they are in reality.
Plus, when you cover up your true self through social media, people don’t know who the real you and you can end up creating fake relationships.
Young Women Looking Perfect Online: Transparency Unavailable
When women doll up in front of the camera, they can send a lot of messages to other women. One of these messages is that it’s easy for them to look this way.
However, the truth is we don’t know how many hours they spend behind the mirror doing their hair and makeup.Maybe they have a personal stylist, and to stay fit, they have a personal trainer.
A lot of what we see on social media is a smoke screen. We don’t receive full disclosure or transparency on what photos are edited or the team behind making a woman look a certain way.
Instead, many women watching content feel terrible about themselves because they don’t know how to look as good as these influencers – when, in reality, we forget that there may be other people or resources available to help them achieve a look.
However, people don’t disclose the work it takes to make someone look a certain way on camera – because they want to maintain an illusion.
Using Products and Services that Do More Damage than Good in the Long-Run
For young women to look perfect online, they may use a lot of products on their faces and bodies that are full of endocrine disruptors. That means, over time, their hormones can get wonky, which means health issues can arise and mood swings can come into play.
But for some women, beauty is more important than health. Because money is necessary and we need it to survive, women will often go to great lengths to earn money, even if it means compromising their integrity and health.
Solutions to Young Women Looking Perfect Online
To the young women who go to great lengths to look well on social media, I would say: please be careful about what you are doing. Especially if you are putting on a performance or a facade, consider to what extent you are compromising yourself and if this is something you are truly okay with. If you compromise yourself in the name of money, you may do things in the future that you could regret.
Furthermore, if you are an influencer, please disclose whether you edit your photos and, if so, what specific aspects you edit (e.g., your legs, stomach, etc.). You can even say you edited the photo to optimize the image in an attractive or interesting way. Then regarding your looks on camera, you can share the products you are using and/or the people you hired.
However, many people don’t want to disclose this information because it shatters the illusions and ideas you want people to have about you or your visuals.
Yet, I believe we need to start being more authentic – expressing the real, relatable side of life so we can connect on a deeper level and work together on things that truly matter.
Featured photo by Daria Nepriakhina