THE PAIN OF PRETTY

Audrey Hepburn once said “the beauty of a women is not in facial mode but reflected in her soul” yet today the truth remains hidden under false fillers, fake pictures, and superficial standards.

At just thirteen years old a girl scrolls through her phone, relentlessly comparing herself to edited versions of airbrushed perfection. By fourteen, 63% of girls have googled at least once “how to lose weight fast” and the sad reality is that most of those girls are not fat but healthy. Why do we hate our bodies for looking like bodies? An even more heartbreaking reality is that by 16 ,49% of these girls will have developed an eating disorder. And a further 28% of these girls will have voluntarily starved themselves to the point of death. When did schoolgirls start counting ribs instead of numbers? When did the number on a scale matter more than the one on a test? When did we start carrying the weight of our weight with shame?

56% of girls will not leave the house without makeup- not because they enjoy it but because we as society are terrified of what people will say without it and this is expected. And why do we as woman hate our faces? Simply because they look like faces! With texture, with lines, with realness. Smile lines, once signs of joy, are now targets with fillers. freckles are concealed, and skin is smoothed until it becomes leather. Plastic surgery has become the expectation. Lines and lines of stunning girls line up outside practices waiting to pay for their skin to be reshaped, cut open and replaced. Who knew that girls would rather rip their face off until it's not theirs anymore. Beauty has become a mask – worn not out of pride but fear

And I will be honest with you, I feel it too. There have been days where I have looked at myself in the mirror not with confidence but disgust, I have held back tears because I did not think that I fit into the impossible standard labelled “good enough” I have delayed plans, missed moments, and panicked over a spot. I have looked at my bare face and thought “nobody can see me like this” not because anyone told me to feel that way, but because the world showed me I should.

But this obsession with perfection is not born its sold. Sold by beauty industries that profit from our pain. Sold by influencers whose flawless lives are filtered and fake. Sold by apps that decide what's beautiful and what is not. Every ad, every scoll,every like reinforces the same cruel message you are not enough and you? You start to believe it, not because it's true but because its everywhere.

These girls Arnt vain they're victims. Victims of a system that values appearance over authenticity. Profit over people, image over identity. And while companies cash in, young minds pay the price. With their confidence, their charisma and often, their mental health. city. Profit over people, image over identity. And while companies cash in, young minds pay the price. With their confidence, their charisma and often, their mental health.

It is time we said enough. Enough to filter that blur reality. Enough of products that promise perfection at the cost of self-worth. Enough to shame girls simply for being human.

True beauty is not in flawless skin or sculpted cheekbones, it is in laughter, in kindness, in courage it is in being real in a world that is constantly tempting you to be fake So let's change the conversation. Let's teach young minds to look in the mirror and see worth not flaws let's remind them that they do not need to be edited to be enough.

They already are.