The reflection

*A very short story that barely makes a page

She’s standing there with her face expressionless, her hazel eyes staring out into nothingness. In a way she looks sad.  The long wavy brown hair showers around her shoulders. It’s acceptable now, but by morning it will be muddled and frizzy.

 

The girl frowns. The acne on her face is slightly pink, signifying that she’s still going through that dreadful time of puberty.  It almost hurts to look at her.

 

She’s ugly.

 

She’s someone that could be pretty and at the same time someone that’s beyond hideous. Beauty products. Lip gloss. Hair-straighters. Without them she is ugly compared to them.

 

Her friends are beautiful, but it’s mostly because of the dedicated hours of refining their faces with heavy makeup and straightening their hair to the ultimate flattest. She knows this, but still it will not be enough to keep her hand from reaching for the eyeliner, the powder, and the iron hot hair straighter, too. Like them.

 

The girl tries to smile, but its forced; a weak effort.

 

It’s useless. Her smile is a nice smile and her cheekbones are great, but its impossible to get pass the bad skin, the too-big-eyes, and the untamed hair.

 

I turn away from the mirror.

Author's Note

What I wanted to say with this is that natural beauty is the greatest beauty, but girls have it in their head that they need makeup and hair curlers to look ‘beautiful’; a fake beauty. If only we didn’t always feel so self-conscious of ourselves would we truly be able to face ourselves in the mirror, without the glamour, without the makeup, and realize we are beautiful just the way we are.

Wouldn’t life be so much easier?

Reviews

[Emily Rae]

powerful issue that you're addressing here, job well-done!