02/05/2023

Skin shaming in the beauty world

Initially starting as a game a few years ago on Snapchat, filters applied to our faces through our phone cameras have become a tool for online fun: dog or bunny ears, funny faces, wigs, etc.

Today, however, the use of filters on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram has evolved, giving users the ability to change their eye color, add makeup to eyes or lips, make skin look more tanned and radiant, masking blemishes, dark circles, and wrinkles, and even altering facial features such as cheekbones, lips, and the nose.

While on one hand these filters help us always look polished in front of our communities and boost our self-esteem, on the other hand, we are presenting an unreal vision of ourselves to others and becoming accustomed to seeing a better version of ourselves through filters, finding it increasingly difficult to accept ourselves as we truly are.

Furthermore, it happens all too often online that even well-known people "mask" their features and imperfections by hiding behind filters. By doing so, an ideal of beauty and perfection that does not exist is spread, sending negative messages to younger generations.

Behind the innocent ability of filters to boost our self-esteem and make us feel more confident, several pitfalls are hidden, especially for those going through adolescence or who are more vulnerable.

In this phase, figures such as influencers and creators are highly significant, increasingly playing the role of idols for young people, who take them as examples, follow them, and try to look like them in the way they dress, apply makeup, and present themselves.

By using beauty filters on social media, these public figures tend to communicate a distorted version of themselves that is far from reality. Being surrounded by perfect, groomed, made-up faces free of any flaws, users browsing online begin to fantasize and even feel a sense of shame about showing themselves naturally on social media.

The beauty world, starting with cosmetic companies, plays a fundamental role in raising awareness among its consumers on social issues like this. Starting with communication, brands should shift the focus from using a product to resolve a skin imperfection to using the same product to pamper one's skin, accepting every facet of it. What companies should convey, therefore, is the positive aspect of diversity, which makes each of us unique.

In recent years, we have often heard about body shaming, which consists of offending a person by judging them for their physical appearance: a phenomenon that targets thin bodies or those with a few extra pounds, showing imperfections like cellulite, stretch marks, spots, etc.

The object of these judgments is obviously also facial skin. Oily, dry skin, with blackheads or pimples, showing wrinkles, scars, or acne marks—all those flaws that are nothing more than skin characteristics that distinguish us and make us unique.

Not only are acne, redness, and spots targeted by haters, but also wrinkles and signs of skin aging. Even the signs of passing time, which should be a mark of wisdom and lived life experiences, are instead mocked and judged.

For this reason, it becomes essential on one hand to spread awareness about the art of embracing aging, and on the other, it is necessary to debunk false myths related to aging, especially for women. In fact, the female world is the most affected by the passage of time and social beliefs that aging means losing charm. Aging must be understood more as an evolution rather than a decline, in order to more easily accept the passing of time and the marks it leaves on our skin. This approach helps create the right mindset to start taking care of oneself as an act of self-love and not as an attempt to hide one's age to please others.

We like to imagine the act of taking care of one's appearance as a way to feel good, allowing oneself the right attention to practice self-love. This aspect is even more important than the result we want to achieve through the use of skincare products.

Taking care of oneself and one's skin, in fact, triggers feelings of well-being, which are fundamental in the process of listening to oneself and one's needs.

At yoUBe, we love taking care of your skin not to hide its characteristics, but to enhance its uniqueness, making it shine. Discover yoUBe products to give your skin the attention and love it deserves.