She highlights her mustache with mascara and defies all standards of beauty: "It's normal to be hairy"
Shaving, cutting your hair and trying to improve your appearance, hiding the so-called imperfections as much as possible, is what most women (but also many men) dedicate themselves to every day. We would never want too much hair on our chin to be seen as a symptom of neglect or, even worse, ugliness: this is the common thought of many people. These are the same people who apply a fair amount of filters to their selfies, with the sole purpose of "looking beautiful". Joanna Kenny, a beautician and Instagram influencer, has decided to give us a break and "work" to normalize normality. What does it mean? It means that we all have armpit hair, mustaches and a thousand other imperfections that are typical of human beings and we shouldn't be ashamed of them. To underline this concept, the woman wanted to highlight her mustache with mascara and, of course, the photos caused a lot of discussion.
Joanna noticed that she had a little light hair on her upper lip in adolescence and remembers having always been very embarrassed and insecure about this characteristic which is as common as it is hated. At the time, she would have used any remedy to hide this, until her acne worsened significantly and the hair removal of her mustache further influenced her to address other imperfections. Today, she proudly emphasizes it with mascara or let's it grow between waxing. Whenever she has a mustache or armpit hair, Joanna doesn't think she's any less beautiful: "Choosing not to remove my hair doesn't mean I disagree with other women who shave. The point is, everyone should have the freedom to make choices about our body without fear of judgment."
Unfortunately, the general problem that Joanna refers to and to which she herself tries, in her own way, to remedy, has been amplified by the advent of social media. On Instagram we are used to seeing photos of girls and boys who seem to be perfect. None of them seem to have cellulite, large pores, acne, excess hair - how do they do it? Hiding everything thanks to the great power of photo retouching. The real question to ask, however, is something else: why should we so obsessively hide our flaws? We are human, we are not perfect and we do not deserve to live in insecurity all our life, just because the society we live in has imposed standards that are simply unattainable. It's normal to fail and not be able to match the smooth and perfect skin that only an Instagram filter can give.
The influencer cleverly shows how "easy" it is to use a few filters and the right makeup to mask any imperfections
"That's why it's important to normalize being normal. I put mascara on my mustache to emphasize how normal it is to be hairy. Not shaving my face doesn't make me or any other woman ugly," Joanna said.
We think her message came loud and clear. What do you think?
