Dove "Hollywood Hair"

[MemSahib]

Dove "Hollywood Hair" (http://dove.msn.com/#/features/videos/default.aspx[cp-documentid=7049579]/)

My apologies if this has already been posted. Please feel free to delete, Mods.

[Isilme]

awesome, all of the videos! Thanks for sharing, it really made an impression. Now, I do wonder what kind of benefit Dove is getting out of this...

[Awalia]

I dont know about that hollywood hair anymore, but i would surely want your hair MemSahib when i get older! It's just fabulous :). *sorry for offtopic*

[MemSahib]

awesome, all of the videos! Thanks for sharing, it really made an impression. Now, I do wonder what kind of benefit Dove is getting out of this...Oh, Dove is selling THEIR products. They will benefit, don't you worry... ;)

Thank you, Awalia. I wasn't fishing for compliments but I appreciate it.

[savi]

Dove has had the campaign for real beauty going on for sometime now. It's an image thing and they get free publicity from it. But I do think that dispite the obvious value to the Dove brand it's a nice thought. I really liked it when I saw normal looking people adverticing skin creams for the first time.
Youtube has had those photoshop manipulation videos going on for sometime. I think they're entertaining. :)

[lora410]

Wow simply amazing, and I have to applaud them big time about how ads affect young women. I know when i was a teen how i used to wish I looked like them perfect models (heck I still do)

[savi]

lora410 : Me too. *sigh* I think everyone wants to be beautiful.

I really liked that 'Hair' video, fits to the LHC spirit in liking our own hair. At least in the end.. ;)

[prosperina]

I did really, despite my cynical self, like the videos. They are good and positive, yet the whole self esteem real beauty thing is just another niche in the market.

The hollywood hair thing tickled my fancy and struck me as very LHC appropriate. I think I was the only woman I saw this morning without trendy, styled hair. It made me feel sorta weird.

When they say self esteem fund, the word fund implies money is going someplace, dare I say, charitable. What precisely do they mean by "fund"? :confused:

[Nynaeve]

Thanks for that. :)
Liked the hair one and the evolution one, haven't watched the others yet, but those were great. :D

[Unofficial_Rose]

Amazing - thanks, I really think we all need to see things like this. Even though we *know* what they do to make models look as per the magazine features, it takes a visual representation to appreciate just how much difference all these things add up to!

Stephanie Seymour once said, apparently, of the model pics in magazines "You want to look like that? Honey, even we don't look like that!" :p

[Nightshade]

I'd seen "evolution" but not the other three. Onslaught is downright disturbing, and it should be.

[Wavelength]

lora410 : Me too. *sigh* I think everyone wants to be beautiful.


Everyone wants to be beautiful -- except the people who really are beautiful. Some just want to look ordinary so they won't get so much unwanted attention.

When I was in university there was a girl here on an exchange from Australia. This girl was a beauty -- knock 'em dead gorgeous. I would watch guys' heads snap around when she walked by and they'd either stare (the shy ones) or they'd run up and do all sorts of ridiculous things to get her attention. Before I met this girl I thought stories like that were just exaggerations. Nope. It happened around her. A lot.

She also had brains and an awesome personality to boot. Several women just hated her out of an envy reflex.

Anyway, she and I got to be good friends (probably because I was one of the few women who was amused instead of jealous by all the antics from the opposite sex). :drama:

As time went on I started noticing that all this male attention was taking a toll on her. Sure, she could date whomever she wanted and she enjoyed that, but she also had to deal with all the besotted guys she didn't want to date, and there were a lot more of those hanging around. Even some of the guys she dated couldn't seem to see past her face and body.

I mentioned that I'd noticed she seemed stressed out by the attention sometimes, and she got this look in her eyes like a trapped animal and said, "You have no idea." We had a long talk about exactly what it was like for her to look like she did.

After that I was much more content being one of the "ordinary" girls.

[freznow]

I have to say I loved the 'Amy' one. It was so sweet.

I had to laugh at the hollywood hair one. I think that, even though all these companies technically do just want money, Dove has found one of the better ways to do that.

[prosperina]

Everyone wants to be beautiful -- except the people who really are beautiful. Some just want to look ordinary so they won't get so much unwanted attention.

When I was in university there was a girl here on an exchange from Australia. This girl was a beauty -- knock 'em dead gorgeous. I would watch guys' heads snap around when she walked by and they'd either stare (the shy ones) or they'd run up and do all sorts of ridiculous things to get her attention. Before I met this girl I thought stories like that were just exaggerations. Nope. It happened around her. A lot.

She also had brains and an awesome personality to boot. Several women just hated her out of an envy reflex.

Anyway, she and I got to be good friends (probably because I was one of the few women who was amused instead of jealous by all the antics from the opposite sex). :drama:

As time went on I started noticing that all this male attention was taking a toll on her. Sure, she could date whomever she wanted and she enjoyed that, but she also had to deal with all the besotted guys she didn't want to date, and there were a lot more of those hanging around. Even some of the guys she dated couldn't seem to see past her face and body.

I mentioned that I'd noticed she seemed stressed out by the attention sometimes, and she got this look in her eyes like a trapped animal and said, "You have no idea." We had a long talk about exactly what it was like for her to look like she did.

After that I was much more content being one of the "ordinary" girls.

What a lovely post. I'm glad you said that wavelength, and I'm glad you too became friends. It reminds me of the book Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.

EDIT: I mean what the girl was saying about her experiences reminds me of that book. :doh: I could see that potentially being taken the wrong way. argh.

[Eireann]

Great videos! The "Amy" one made me tear up. Good for Dove! It definitely makes me want to buy their products. (I love their soap, but haven't tried their hair products.)

[Kirin]

All of them were good, the "Amy" one got to me though. This might get long....... sorry if its very winded.

When i was young, late elementary school, through early high school, I thought i was beautiful, I really really did....... yet others around me didn't. I was ostracised, picked on mercilessly, boys would laugh at me or physically recoil.

I would look at myself in mirrors all the time, wondering what it was that was so "ugly" to them. I was tall (not over tall though) and slender (wish i was now!) with pale china doll skin, tiny lips, almond shaped green eyes, and long mostly straight honey blonde hair. Really, in my head i thought i was a stunning girl........ adults told me so, my father told me so, my sister's told me so. But in the outside world of school/ friends, no one told me so, they told me I was ugly.

When highschool hit, I couldn't get dates, i took basically the first boy (waaaaaaay older than me and out of school) that would give me attention. He never told me I was pretty, ever. And still at school, the same, just ignored or no attention at all, or friends telling me what i should do with myself to make myself look "better".

By this time I believed it, and often still do. The film "amy" got to me for two reasons. I can't seem to "shake" that feeling of back then that i'm just nto all that pretty......... but.....

In eleventh grade, a new boy came to school from across country, having just moved here. He showed me immediate interest...... when i asked him why he said, "Don't you know? Your beautiful".

I'm married now, I have two daughters, and both look like "mini - me's"...... seriously, they are like my dopplegangers. I look at them and think they are sooooo lovely, but STILL cant think "I" am pretty. I'm always too fat, too wrinkly, too this too that, not enough of that, its rediculous.

Back to the Amy film. A couple of weeks ago while having coffee with my husband, I asked him out of the blue "if you could change one thing about me, what would it be?".

His answer: "The fact you dont see how beautiful you are".

Doh!

[Ohio Sky]

I agree with Nightshade- the one with the little girl is disturbing. Its so sad how little girls are taught to think that beauty is everything.

My daughter gets a lot of attention- I mean, shes drop-dead gorgeous for a 4 year old. She already has boys chasing her around at preschool. And shes smart and sensitive and funny and creative too. I could never ask for anything more.
And even though Ive tried to raise her teaching her that we are all beautiful in different ways and that beauty isnt everything, she is quite vain. I think its because everyone she passes on the street tells her how beatiful she is, but no one but me ever says to her how smart she is.

Physical appearance, though it is superficial, is the first thing people see. It makes me so sad when my kid is sad because shes having a bad hair day or something. A 4 year old shouldnt care if they have a yogurt mohawk.

[freznow]

Kirin... I'm crying. Your story and the Amy film got to me so much, and yet I can't figure out how to put how I feel about it into words. :blossom: I don't know what else to say...

[atlantaz3]

I like the amy one also.

[ladystar]

Great Video. Love it thanks

[soleluna]

The amy one was so sweet!!

[Delenn]

Am I the only one still spinning over the shoe polish in the hair video?! What the!

[MemSahib]

Onslaught really got to me, too. The little girl could be a sister to my oldest granddaughter right down to the red hair and smile.

Our society is sick, purely sick. And it is so hard, even when we know better, to resist those insistent, ridiculous, relentless voices which whisper, "You aren't good enough." The echo goes on and on through our minds and so we chase superficiality. What if we started emphasizing traits like kindness, affection, consideration and... dare I say it... modesty and humility? What if we consciously and deliberately worked to improve our characters as a first choice and the outward appearance as a second or third?

I think I would like the world better.

[lora410]

Back to the Amy film. A couple of weeks ago while having coffee with my husband, I asked him out of the blue "if you could change one thing about me, what would it be?".His answer: "The fact you dont see how beautiful you are".Doh!

This brought tears to my eyes. What a wonderful DH you have!!!

[anna1850]

Dove "Hollywood Hair" (http://dove.msn.com/#/features/videos/default.aspx%5Bcp-documentid=7049579%5D/)

My apologies if this has already been posted. Please feel free to delete, Mods.

This was definitely posted on the old board but I hadn't seen the other ones so it was really interesting.

I thought onslaught was the best. I do think it's completely messed up that for example female pop stars who are aimed at girls aged 10-14 are made up and dressed so that they appeal to older men. It's kind of sick.

I like the campaign but I still won't buy Dove products as Unilever are evil animal-testing b******s

[flapjack]

The Amy one makes me sad sdjfkshgkjgfasdksf.


Thanks for sharing these videos, though. I don't know, this stuff is really frustrating. I remember being a kid and feeling frustration because I didn't look like other girls and my body was so much smaller, etc. etc. That kind of thing hits home. Me and every other female young adult I know is trying to grow out of it, move past it and so on. That's a big part of the reason I only watch specific shows or channels on tv when I do decide to watch, don't watch commercials, don't read most magazines, etc.

[Alaskanheart]

I think overall Dove is portraying a good view of beauty for women when it comes to weight, but their models faces are still way above average looking in my opinion, but the advertising makes sense because most women in the US are very weight conscience.I have noticed that none of their models have flat chests, and seem to be very busty but perky at the same time, and to me thats not very realistic, since alot of us women have big insecurities when it comes to our breasts, but thats not a big deal.

My only big complaint with Dove is they used that popular"real women have curves" Bull to make the average women feel better about herself and buy their products, but for alot of us women who are lacking in the cures department this slogan is really upsetting, Arent we all "Real Women" despite our weight, and if someone is smaller than average does that automatically mean that they are starving themselves to obtain some kindof unreal alien body?Its not a responsible way to go about selling a product to tell the majority of their buyers that they are what Real women look like to make them feel better, but at the same time excluding their minority and then slapping them across the face with your not real, because you arent curvy.Its actually worse than the advertising fashion magazines do, think of the uproar it would cause if Vanity Fair claimed real women are thin.
Eta:I meant for Vanity Fair to actually publically say the words "real women are thin", not the visual subliminal thing.Just to be clear.I know its difficult to look at the models in mags and wish you looked like that too and feel inferior, but its a whole new ballgame actually being told you are inferior.

I do like the new models though, because they look like they could be my neighbor or best friend, and that is comforting.

[prosperina]

:confused: I've seen flat chested (I hate that expression) Dove models. Err, smaller chested, that's the right word. I either see what would qualify in the fashion industry as "over weight" or really slender small chested women in their ads. Guess it depends upon how much TV you watch. :shrug:

[Euphony]

I won't buy Dove products for various reasons and I do see this as being an ad campaign...but - I see it really first and foremost a phelanthropy. Perhaps it's because I'm a business owner I don't know, though I do know I am an odd business owner and my ethics will probably never get me rich unless everyones views change.

I had never seen those, thank you from the bottom of my heart for posting that link.

I was raised by a very sad, very overweight woman until I was 11. In essence she committed a slow suicide over the course of about 6 years. She had a gastric bipass to lose weight, it eventually killed her in a way, because she wouldn't take her potassium suppliment. I don't know if she was being mean (my mother was quite ill) or if she was trying to help me in a perverted way. I was always a very thin child, my mother's family was very overweight and each one of them have passed on far too young due to a complication brought on by their weight or such as in the case of my mother the weight brought on the complication.

My mother always told me I was fat and ugly. Those two words go together like bread and butter for me. I'm now quite overweight myself, though I do eat right and take care of myself and I am very, very healthy. But I'm fat, so I'm ugly; it's ingrained in my mind. It's things like those videos that make me stop and think. I'm not beautiful such as in the eyes of the media, but I am beautiful to at least a few people and for that I need to be grateful, and I don't want to forget it. But give me a couple of days and probably will.

[Alaskanheart]

Everyone wants to be beautiful -- except the people who really are beautiful. Some just want to look ordinary so they won't get so much unwanted attention.

When I was in university there was a girl here on an exchange from Australia. This girl was a beauty -- knock 'em dead gorgeous. I would watch guys' heads snap around when she walked by and they'd either stare (the shy ones) or they'd run up and do all sorts of ridiculous things to get her attention. Before I met this girl I thought stories like that were just exaggerations. Nope. It happened around her. A lot.

She also had brains and an awesome personality to boot. Several women just hated her out of an envy reflex.

Anyway, she and I got to be good friends (probably because I was one of the few women who was amused instead of jealous by all the antics from the opposite sex). :drama:

As time went on I started noticing that all this male attention was taking a toll on her. Sure, she could date whomever she wanted and she enjoyed that, but she also had to deal with all the besotted guys she didn't want to date, and there were a lot more of those hanging around. Even some of the guys she dated couldn't seem to see past her face and body.

I mentioned that I'd noticed she seemed stressed out by the attention sometimes, and she got this look in her eyes like a trapped animal and said, "You have no idea." We had a long talk about exactly what it was like for her to look like she did.

After that I was much more content being one of the
"ordinary" girls.


Thanks for sharing that. I am average looking IMO but thin, and sometimes I feel like other women dont even give me a chance because of it, like Im the enemy or something just for having genetics that make me smaller.I had a real hard time in highschool with girls calling me anorexic and saying that I threw up after lunch.I actually would drink a milkshake everyday hoping to gain some weight and eating as much junk food as I could.It makes me feel bad , because Im a nice person and am accepting of people, and then I sometimes make it worse because Im kindof shy and introverted so they get the impression that Im a snob too.Usually I can win other women over once they talk to me, but gosh they have to give me the chance first.Men are retarted and I could care less about them, and have never had any interest in competing with other women for their attention.

But anyways I never would have said anything about that for fear of seeming full of myself or something so thanks . You are very cool and beautiful person.

[Alaskanheart]

:confused: I've seen flat chested (I hate that expression) Dove models. Err, smaller chested, that's the right word. I either see what would qualify in the fashion industry as "over weight" or really slender small chested women in their ads. Guess it depends upon how much TV you watch. :shrug:


Thats probably true I dont watch alot of Television.Umm smaller chested would be a nice way of putting it?Someone should tell all the teenage boys that.

[Kirin]

I realize, all of this is an advertising campaign, but in my eyes, if you are going to do an advertisement, this is the way to do it.

I've seen scare tactics used in advertising for natural products that we're all gonna get some horrible disease and die if we keep using X products, and I've seen the commercial industry promise youth in a bottle and miracles in little tins. Both sides are just as guilty of this, sorry to say.

Both make promises, neither can keep them....... and then those like me, still think they are ugly...... no matter how much we're told otherwise.

[Marysmirth]

The pressure young girls are under today to think they have to look a certain way to fit in, is sad. I'm sending my youngest sister this web site so she can share it with her daughters. Thanks for posting it.

[gretchen_hair]

Those videos were neat. The first and second were the best. In the 2nd i loved the little girls strawberry blonde/ red hair. Great messages too!
I dont want "hollywood hair" i will strive to have LHC hair. Even if they do call me plain jane.

[puredoxyk]

I suppose it's better that a company be giving generally-okay information like this as part of their advertising, than the all-out heinous lies that are the norm. But I lost any respect for this Dove campaign when I read up about it, and found out that they're doing a sizable amount of photoshopping (airbrushing) to their "real" models, too. Which is fine; 'shoop away. But don't do it while you're using your "natural" look to sell your product....sheesh.

I guess the lesson is that ALL advertising campaigns are based in lies, because unless they're simply giving information with no coercion, they're still trying to make you believe that you need their product...which is a lie.

In my perfect world, companies are only allowed to advertise by giving facts about their product(s). Anything that's not factual, or that is false or misleading, gets the entire Board of Directors stripped naked and shot in public with rubber-band guns. :D

[Haith]

This is the first time that I've seen these videos. I knew that everything we see on/in magazines was hardcore photoshopped, but I really had no idea what the models looked like before (much more beautiful in my opinion). I was cringing throughout that "hollywood hair" video. I really couldn't imagine doing all that stuff to my head (shoe polish??? uggh!! I'll stick to my little halo of flyaways, thanks!)

Seeing these 4 videos has really opened my eyes... I need to be much less critical of myself.

[GlassEyes]

I'd seen evolution before, and the hair one was, at the least, amusing.

The Amy one does make me sad despite myself. It should come off sappy or cheesy, but it doesn't.

I wish someone would do that for me, to be honest. xD But you'd think that he could find ONE thing wrong with her; that she doesn't find herself beautiful.

And even though there are other kinds of beauty, what people see is the first impression they get. It's a sad state, and it makes things harder, but it's true.

[C_Bookworm]

Yeah really liked the message of it. Makes me glad to stick out regrowing long hair instead of bonding in some fake hair.

[MemSahib]

She had such pretty hair to start with, didn't she? Of course, I imagine they're torturing wigs and not her real hair, or at least I would hope so!

[az_sweetie01]

Kirin, your story made me tear up :)
I remember high school as being very similar....
I liked the "Amy" one too but, the "Onslaught" made me feel a little....well....I think Nightshade said it best, disturbed.


All of them were good, the "Amy" one got to me though. This might get long....... sorry if its very winded.

When i was young, late elementary school, through early high school, I thought i was beautiful, I really really did....... yet others around me didn't. I was ostracised, picked on mercilessly, boys would laugh at me or physically recoil.

I would look at myself in mirrors all the time, wondering what it was that was so "ugly" to them. I was tall (not over tall though) and slender (wish i was now!) with pale china doll skin, tiny lips, almond shaped green eyes, and long mostly straight honey blonde hair. Really, in my head i thought i was a stunning girl........ adults told me so, my father told me so, my sister's told me so. But in the outside world of school/ friends, no one told me so, they told me I was ugly.

When highschool hit, I couldn't get dates, i took basically the first boy (waaaaaaay older than me and out of school) that would give me attention. He never told me I was pretty, ever. And still at school, the same, just ignored or no attention at all, or friends telling me what i should do with myself to make myself look "better".

By this time I believed it, and often still do. The film "amy" got to me for two reasons. I can't seem to "shake" that feeling of back then that i'm just nto all that pretty......... but.....

In eleventh grade, a new boy came to school from across country, having just moved here. He showed me immediate interest...... when i asked him why he said, "Don't you know? Your beautiful".

I'm married now, I have two daughters, and both look like "mini - me's"...... seriously, they are like my dopplegangers. I look at them and think they are sooooo lovely, but STILL cant think "I" am pretty. I'm always too fat, too wrinkly, too this too that, not enough of that, its rediculous.

Back to the Amy film. A couple of weeks ago while having coffee with my husband, I asked him out of the blue "if you could change one thing about me, what would it be?".

His answer: "The fact you dont see how beautiful you are".

Doh!

[flapjack]

Thanks for sharing that. I am average looking IMO but thin, and sometimes I feel like other women dont even give me a chance because of it, like Im the enemy or something just for having genetics that make me smaller.I had a real hard time in highschool with girls calling me anorexic and saying that I threw up after lunch.I actually would drink a milkshake everyday hoping to gain some weight and eating as much junk food as I could.It makes me feel bad , because Im a nice person and am accepting of people, and then I sometimes make it worse because Im kindof shy and introverted so they get the impression that Im a snob too.Usually I can win other women over once they talk to me, but gosh they have to give me the chance first.Men are retarted and I could care less about them, and have never had any interest in competing with other women for their attention.

But anyways I never would have said anything about that for fear of seeming full of myself or something so thanks . You are very cool and beautiful person.




Seconding all of this as the vast majority of it applies to me as well.


:cheese:

[snowbear]

I'd seen one of the videos, but not the others. Thank you for sharing!

[Nynaeve]

Thats probably true I dont watch alot of Television.Umm smaller chested would be a nice way of putting it?Someone should tell all the teenage boys that.

Haha. I can imagine all the teenage boys sitting in rooms with people explaining to them why it's nicer to say smaller-chested. ;)

[Nat242]

These films are all amazing - Onslaught is downright terrifying.

I have to admit though, I'm pretty cynical about a company that claims to promote natural beauty and being content with oneself, yet sells cellulite cream :shrug:

-- Natalie

[Lixie]

I hadn't seen Amy or Onslaught, thank you for sharing those.

Natalie, Unilever sells Fair and Lovely (http://unilever.com.sg/ourbrands/personalcare/fairandlovely.asp) skin lightening products too.

[Indigo Girl]

Thank you for sharing these videos, I hadn't seen them before.

Alaskanheart and flapjack, my experience has been pretty much the same as well.

[MemSahib]

That Dove is out to sell their own "beauty" products is supreme irony, for sure, but I still appreciate their message and think these are well done. My personal stance is to use the videos as I see fit and buy Dove products only if I find one which particularly works for me. These do not send me to the counters searching for Dove, which is what their creators are hoping, I'm sure.

In the meantime, the message? Don't get caught up in the media's vision of womanhood. I CAN exist — quite well, thank you — apart from a gorgeous body or even gorgeous hair.

[Hypnotica]

The "Onslaught" one is really, really good.

[DiyaC]

Beautiful videos. Just beautiful.

[Neorah]

I would rather that an ad campaign try to sell me products by boosting my self-esteem than by ripping it down anyday. That said, I still have no intention of stocking up on Dove products... But I do hope that they encourage a trend towards a different kind of women-targeted advertising. And I do quite enjoy their commercials and ad campaigns, for the most part.

[Periwinkle]

Those were really good. Thanks so much for posting them.

[Alaskanheart]

Haha. I can imagine all the teenage boys sitting in rooms with people explaining to them why it's nicer to say smaller-chested. ;)

Yeah that is an interesting visual and a funny one too...Im not exactly sure how they would deal with making new rymes to make fun of smaller chested girls.

"Roses are red violets are black why is ______'s chest as small as her back?"hmmm, just doesn't have the same effect on me as the original version.:phehe

[Nynaeve]

Yeah that is an interesting visual and a funny one too...Im not exactly sure how they would deal with making new rymes to make fun of smaller chested girls.

"Roses are red violets are black why is ______'s chest as small as her back?"hmmm, just doesn't have the same effect on me as the original version.:phehe

Hahaha. I can just imagine them confusing themselves over it too. Nice one. :)

[Michiru]

Er, I actually thought the "Amy" one was the most boring. I have seen the evolution before and every time I see it I wonder why I can't model.

I will agree that looks mater on how other females treat you. When I get over 130lbs I get a lot of fat on my face. It seemed like right after that more people were willing to talk to me and be nice. Before I was pretty much ignored. It's only when I look bad that others are willing to not see me as some sort of competition.

I did like the hair one.

[MemSahib]

I will agree that looks mater on how other females treat you. When I get over 130lbs I get a lot of fat on my face. It seemed like right after that more people were willing to talk to me and be nice. Before I was pretty much ignored. It's only when I look bad that others are willing to not see me as some sort of competition.One of my daughters has said the same things, Michiru. When slim, she is really exceptionally pretty, although unconventional in looks. (She doesn't look bad anytime, you understand!) She gained weight with her first child and never lost it all. She told me she prefers being heavier because people, women in particular, treat her better. I have wondered if being married for several years and having three children would change the way other women view her — you know, maybe as out of the competition? It is a sad world when we women bite at each other that way.

Funny, I posted that link because of the hair clip but...

I imagine there are some LHCers whose hair has been tortured (sorry, no other word comes to mind) like that girl's when I read these "What all have you done to your hair?" threads.

[CaliRose]

I like the background music for Amy. The hair one was eeeeeek! (It made me run and get some oil for my ends.) The one with all the ads was just so true. There are so many skewed messages all around.

[talula_fairie]

I've seen that before and still think it is awesome.

[Ryzen]

The Hair one and the Evolution one is very interesting - shredding the ugly truth about 'beauty'.

Like said before 'Onslaught' was very disturbing, and I can relate growing up (especially those darn teenage years) how the media affected me and everyone around my age. Society is very sad sometimes...

But most of all...the 'Amy' film must of hit home the most...I lost quite a few men because of my low self-esteem, thus leading to trust issues. I know now of course, that all of those men weren't right for me to begin with (or else I would still be with them :p), but over the past year or two I've become to realize that theres more to beauty than just looks - most of it is confidence/attitude. I'm not the prettiest girl in the world, nor would I want to be...but I accepted myself as me, and only me...only I will have these eyes, this skin, this hair, these lips, etc. and I've come to appreciate that, and hopefully someone will too!

[Starr]

Everyone wants to be beautiful -- except the people who really are beautiful. Some just want to look ordinary so they won't get so much unwanted attention.

When I was in university there was a girl here on an exchange from Australia. This girl was a beauty -- knock 'em dead gorgeous. I would watch guys' heads snap around when she walked by and they'd either stare (the shy ones) or they'd run up and do all sorts of ridiculous things to get her attention. Before I met this girl I thought stories like that were just exaggerations. Nope. It happened around her. A lot.

She also had brains and an awesome personality to boot. Several women just hated her out of an envy reflex.

Anyway, she and I got to be good friends (probably because I was one of the few women who was amused instead of jealous by all the antics from the opposite sex). :drama:

As time went on I started noticing that all this male attention was taking a toll on her. Sure, she could date whomever she wanted and she enjoyed that, but she also had to deal with all the besotted guys she didn't want to date, and there were a lot more of those hanging around. Even some of the guys she dated couldn't seem to see past her face and body.

I mentioned that I'd noticed she seemed stressed out by the attention sometimes, and she got this look in her eyes like a trapped animal and said, "You have no idea." We had a long talk about exactly what it was like for her to look like she did.

After that I was much more content being one of the "ordinary" girls.


I'm so glad you posted this Wavelength! There are two sides to every coin.


Onslaught was so disturbing because it's so disgustingly true. . . and Amy was incredibly sweet.

[Lize]

Thank you for posting that link. That was amusing yet very true, and it's tragic at the same time. I think we all are affected in one way or another by the beauty industry. I sure don't want Hollywood hair. :rolleyes:

[Naluin]

I will agree that looks mater on how other females treat you. When I get over 130lbs I get a lot of fat on my face. It seemed like right after that more people were willing to talk to me and be nice. Before I was pretty much ignored. It's only when I look bad that others are willing to not see me as some sort of competition.


I have a similar experience. Women I don't know tend to talk to me only when they're selling something. Random men passing me on the street will talk to me, however. Especially if the weather is warm and I'm not wearing a bulky overcoat. In fact, a man I was passing on the street on my way to work today told me that my hair looked nice. :p

I don't have it as bad as Wavelength's friend, though. I haven't noticed men doing anything ridiculous to get my attention, unless whistling or honking at me counts as ridiculous. You know, maybe I should count those things as ridiculous. :hmm:

The "Amy" video reminds me of my BF. Years before we started dating, I called myself fat in jest and he was genuinely horrified at the notion. I always thought that was sweet.

Can't say that I understand what all the fuss is about, though. In my case, it wasn't the beauty industry that made me less inclined to see myself as beautiful; it was my family. I always felt plain compared to my gorgeous mother and beautiful grandmother.:rolleyes:

[JCFantasy23]

I can't find the Hollywood Hair video anywhere on the site. Did they take it down?

I watched Onslaught, which hit a trigger. Disturbing because it's so true, but basically ignored. We all think it but don't concentrate on it actively enough with group effort in society, if this makes sense. Evolution was interesting, what a transformation. Amy was sweet, I agree. Sometimes the simplest scenes carry the most impact.

[LovingLife]

I think they're really sweet. I mean okay dove is advertising thier own products and it will benefit them. But imagine how many others it will benefit, from people who didn't know about airbrushing to people who just had t:D:Dhier day made. I know I did!

[jesamyn]

I missed seeing the Hollywood Hair video on their site, but I think this is it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HVBEVesnik

[marikamt]

I really liked the evolution one... although it made me sad too...... they (industry) have really sold women and young girls a bill of goods that no one can ever measure up too.......

[Medievalmaniac]

OK, that first one seriously made me cry, and then of course there was the second one, too. I know how much it hurt not to be considered beautiful or even passable as a young girl/teenager (ugly duckling syndrome)...I hate to think my daughters could suffer that way, too. They're so gloriously beautiful right now just as they are. I wish they could hold on to their self-confidence and happiness and never experience this. :(

[Medievalmaniac]

I will agree that looks mater on how other females treat you. When I get over 130lbs I get a lot of fat on my face. It seemed like right after that more people were willing to talk to me and be nice. Before I was pretty much ignored. It's only when I look bad that others are willing to not see me as some sort of competition.

It took me well into my adult years to understand that this was what I was dealing with growing up. I look at pictures of myself back then now and I see a really pretty girl - no fashion sense, obviously, but a really pretty girl. Back then, it would be impossible for me to explain to you all how horribly ugly and disfigured I thought I must be, because all I did was get teased and tortured. Now I look at yearbook pictures, and I see that the most popular girls were pretty, sure, but they weren't "gorgeous" - they just held so much power and control from such a nearly age with everyone else, and kind of used that to stay on top.

As an adult woman, I can't tell you how many times my "friends" have betrayed me or gone behind my back and talked about me or myriad other situations. But now I understand that I am a threat to many of them not necessarily for my looks, but rather for the whole package - I'm a confident, successful, bright, hard-working and respected woman who doesn't follow the rules...big scary for most of the people I know. And, like Michiru, women were nicest to me when I was pregnant and weighed 70 lbs more than I do now. Throughout both my pregnancies and for the 4-5 months after, I noticed a really big change in how women spoke to me and looked at me. They were just...nicer.

I've grown accustomed to all of this, but it still bothers me to no end, because I am a pretty easygoing girl and I am genuinely fond of people overall. I'm also a live-and-let-live sort and I am really just a happy camper...I wish everyone could be, and it bothers me that others want to take some of my happiness away and bring me down just because they aren't happy...go, be happy already! It's not that hard!!

These videos definitely express why things are the way they are for women in our society today.

[Medievalmaniac]

Seconding all of this as the vast majority of it applies to me as well.


:cheese:

And thirding, also. :o

[marikamt]

One of my daughters has said the same things, Michiru. When slim, she is really exceptionally pretty, although unconventional in looks. (She doesn't look bad anytime, you understand!) She gained weight with her first child and never lost it all. She told me she prefers being heavier because people, women in particular, treat her better. I have wondered if being married for several years and having three children would change the way other women view her — you know, maybe as out of the competition? It is a sad world when we women bite at each other that way.



I, too, think it is really sad how women (not all, but many) treat each other.... I (like many of you who posted) have experienced this too...... I don't have a lot of girlfriends (my sister, mom and maybe 1 or 2 others) and yet I get along great w/ guys.... obviously, this is an issue now that I am married... DH is not quite so comfortable w/ male friends. I think that is why I like LHC... you get "girlfriends" (maybe not really close ones, but people you can "girl talk" with) and less competition/ snarkiness... although I wish this could happen more in RL.....

[alys]

i cried when i watched it

[LittleOrca]

Thanks for sharing that. I am average looking IMO but thin, and sometimes I feel like other women dont even give me a chance because of it, like Im the enemy or something just for having genetics that make me smaller.I had a real hard time in highschool with girls calling me anorexic and saying that I threw up after lunch.I actually would drink a milkshake everyday hoping to gain some weight and eating as much junk food as I could.It makes me feel bad , because Im a nice person and am accepting of people, and then I sometimes make it worse because Im kindof shy and introverted so they get the impression that Im a snob too.Usually I can win other women over once they talk to me, but gosh they have to give me the chance first.Men are retarted and I could care less about them, and have never had any interest in competing with other women for their attention.

Thin women didn't bother me growing up, everyone is different. It was the BITCHY "Omg-I-Broke-A-Nail-The-World-Is-Over!" thin women that I wanted to trip in the hallway while wearing their stiletto heals. :twisted:

Thanks for sharing the videos! I had seen the previous three, but not the Hollywood hair one. There are some family members I think I need to show it to. *coughsisterandauntcough* :D