This is a really important and close to the heart blog post, and this has been inspired by my obsession with South Korea, which all started with my Korean drama obsession.

Korean beauty standards (according to media and hear say) is beyond crazy! You should be perfect in every way possible. As a black and average-sized woman, my main issue with this is, of course, my complexion and my daily battle to be happy with the fact that I am not fat nor will I ever be or should want to be skinny.

Koreans beauty standard are pale white, spotless/poreless and super skinny. From what I have read and watched, they seem to be incredibly aware of their appearance in the public. I am a spotty mess who detests makeup and could care less how I look most days

Conclusion of the Korean story is, I absolutely adore South Korea and I would definitely love to visit there someday, but I’m not in any rush to.

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Getting back to the country I live in. I would say the standards are more down to earth, however in this day and age, where we live isn’t what determines our beauty standards because there are a media such as instagram which is covered with absolutely stunning and gorgeous people that can cause us to feel inadequate and proceed in feeling negative about our appearances. It’s a struggle for a lot of people scrolling through this particular social media. The filtered world is crazy and there are many more people than ever before.

As I said earlier, most of the time I’m pretty satisfied with the way I am but this was not an overnight occurrence and it’s definitely not every day. I by no means believe I am good looking in any way possible, however, I have accepted the fact that beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, also what’s pushing this thought is also the fact that I absolutely hate using makeup.

Of course, validation from other people should definitely be what we look to. So in order to be happy with ourselves, we have to be happy from within and that is most definitely not a simple task. It takes time and effort.

Small steps we could take could be;

• Smiling – never underestimate the power of smiling. Everyone no matter who they are is 100% prettier when they smile, because a happy person gives a more pleasing appearance. Also to boost that confidence, when we smile we almost trick ourselves into feeling happier.
• Focusing on the people In our lives – they obviously likes us for us regardless of how we look. Focus on those relationships and those people you’ve met and come to know regardless of if you had met the beauty standards of that day. You have fun when you’re with them and how you look never interferes with this.
• Take a day from makeup (if you’re a makeup wearer)- how are you going to love who you are if you don’t know that person and are not willing to show them to the world. It’s not about validation, it’s about you accepting yourself and knowing that you are beautiful no matter what anyone says.

Beauty is really in the eye of the beholder and because of that our standards of what is good and bad is different for everyone so by aiming to please everyone, we are only going to stress ourselves out and that can definitely harm our mental health.

“Another girl’s beauty is not the absence of your own”