This isn’t your typical Identity Magazine article, but it raises some interesting points. Do you consider hair removal as being vain?
By Christina Moore
Your attitude on beauty should match up with the Serenity Prayer. Part of loving your appearance is learning to accept the things you can’t change, changing the things you can, and knowing which is which.
We shouldn’t be hung up on the things that are most difficult to fix. If we’re growing older, we should realize that a few laugh lines come with the territory and should just be accepted. After all, the wrinkle you remove today will return on some tomorrow. And many issues, like breast size or a little cellulite, can be tolerated in the name of setting a good example for younger women who are dealing with their own flaws.
But we should also bear in mind that there are some things we shouldn’t have to put up with. So here are some thoughts on deciding what’s worth changing, and what we should learn to love about ourselves.
What’s The Financial Cost?
For most women, that’s the biggest question. A lifetime scar might be treatable, but cost-prohibitive. It’s a tough way to choose to accept something, but sometimes that’s the only way to get around self-loathing and begin to love your appearance, whatever the bumps and bruises.
A good way to assess this kind of thing is to do an analysis of the opportunity cost. That’s snazzy economics talk for asking yourself this simple question: What can I spend that money on if I don’t spend it on this procedure?
Maybe it’s something simple you’re considering, at a cost of $500. The alternative to that would be a few nice dinners out, or maybe a couple of nice outfits. That’s a fairly easy choice. But when the cost starts hitting $10,000 or more, you face a tougher choice.
How Sure Are You That It Will Work?
We’re not working on a car here. We’re talking about the human body. So you must know what to expect from your procedure before agreeing to it. Many of your age-defying procedures can be iffy, but you can find some physical changes like laser hair removal before and after pictures to verify that work of that sort will be successful.
You might pair your probability of a good outcome with the cost. A procedure with an 80% chance of success is relatively more costly than a similarly priced procedure that has better odds of working.
If It Works, Will It Last?
Your potential procedure will seem friendlier if the odds are good that you’ll never have to do it again, or, if it’s so inexpensive that repeat treatments will not be a problem. Again, we can bounce back to the cost. Infrequent hair removal treatments that have a low cost will have an easier time passing these tests than, say, liposuction, which costs much more and still has a much higher recurrence of repeat procedures.
What Message Will You Send?
Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Maybe that extra bit of you at the tip of your nose is getting on your nerves, and you’re thinking about a little reshaping. That sounds good at first, but … You have a daughter with the same nose.
A girl at an impressionable age could really struggle with thinking that the nose she and Mom share is so unpleasant that Mom went under the knife to change it. (Keep in mind, she’ll see the pain, the swelling, the gauze, the stitches…)
Your beauty, in whatever variation it may have from silly societal ideals, is the standard of beauty for someone in your life. So before you demolish that credibility, think it over.
Is There A Medical Benefit, Too?
Beauty is a key part of our mental health and self esteem. But things we may be doing mostly for cosmetic reasons can also have medical benefits. The easiest example to name is skin cancer prevention. If you remove a mole strictly because you don’t like it, your motivation has been vanity. But you may reap a reward by either finding or preventing a melanoma.
Hair removal can produce similar outcomes. It may be the laser removal before and after photos that move you to action. Or maybe it’s the long term reduction in shaving that will keep your skin healthier and more moisturized.
The key is to use a rational, careful analysis before choosing.