Don't sweat the small stuff!

So apparently there’s a botox treatment to prevent excessive sweating. Really people? So now women are not allowed to sweat either? We have been mani-pedied, plucked, peeled, lasered, waxed, exfoliated, facialed, dyed, scrubbed and spray-tanned into life-sized Barbie dolls and now we’re not allowed to sweat? And I’m not talking about people with an actual medical condition, I’m talking about people who want to eliminate pit-stains under their arms…heaven forbid should the general public know that you have functioning sweat glands. Come on ladies!

Now, I’m not saying that I’m not guilty of my own array of primping and preening. I’ve lasered my bikini area, an experience second only to a Chinese torture camp. But there is a line…and I think it’s drawn when we start to prevent our body from performing natural functions…like sweating, or frowning.

Here’s a nice little barometer for the ridiculous…my grandmother from the village: a woman plunged in poverty from birth, mother of 6 children, survivor of two wars…now, picture telling her that you want to inject a foreign substance into your body so you don’t get wrinkles or so you don’t sweat. Are you picturing the look on her face? You probably can’t because she’s no longer listening to your nonsense; she’s already gotten up, left the room and gone to deal with the real-life issues of her day.

Now, I’m nervous about aging too, because lets face it, we live in a very superficial society and “pretty” is a very useful asset, whether it’s used for getting free drinks or promotions. But imagine how nice it would be to live in a world where we weren’t defined by out looks…

Well, when it comes to the preening parade, I draw the line at arm-hair. You know, the light fluff on your forearm. I missed the memo when it became unacceptable for women to have ANY visible body hair, including their arms. I’ve given up legs, bikini and underarms…it’s expensive and it hurts like hell. But I draw the line at arms. And aside from being a baby about the pain, I found a far more significant reason for my little boycott, my own baby: my little 5-year old god-daughter.

I can unbiasedly say that she is one of the most beautiful children on earth. She is also a hairy little kid; hairy little arms and legs, much like me; a natural by-product of being Greek, and she gets teased at school about the hair on her arms. The other nasty little girls call her a boy. When she told me this, I looked at her and asked her “Do you think I look like a boy?”, she shook her head, “And is your Nona (Greek for Godmother) not the most beautiful woman ever?” (Kids are susceptible to brainwashing), she grinned and nodded. I then presented my very hairy arms to her. Nothing wrong with hairy arms. And that was the end of that.

Step back ladies, look at the bigger picture, look at yourselves, ALL of yourselves. You are the most exquisite creatures, mind, body and soul. Look after yourselves and try to set a good example for the little girls who look up to you. Lets do away with our standards of superficiality and inject our heads with knowledge, interesting memories, wild experiences and unconditional love…not botox.

(And that’s all my rah-rah for today!)