"Beauty is pain"?

Growing up with my sister, I have learned a lot. One day she told me (in the most sisterly loving way possible with her), "Melissa, you have bushy eyebrows."

Seventh grade me believes her. And I foolishly let her experiment on my face. (All the girls out there with older sisters know what I'm talking about.)

I flinched every five seconds as she plucked my "bushy" eyebrows. "Melissa, will you stop flinching!?" And I told her, "But it hurts!!"

And you know what she told me? "Beauty is pain, Melissa."

My exact reaction to "Why is beauty pain?"

Some time later (aka five minutes later)....

Today's version of beauty is warped. Society tells young girls that, in order to be considered beautiful, they need to: look a certain way, weigh a certain amount but definitely not more than that, dress a certain way, make-up needs to look a certain way, act a certain way.

That is a lot to put on an eight-year-old girl. It's likely that she'll grow up believing she might not be enough.

She'll grow up not knowing that she is beautiful just the way she is. (Bruno Mars song reference unintended.)

And that's just terribly sad. Really. It is.

Here are a few of the images that came up when I "Google Image" searched "beauty":

Now, you might be like, "but Melissa all this stuff makes me feel beautiful."

And my reaction? AWESOME. YOU DO YOU, GURL. All I hope for you is to realize that you are still beautiful without all that "stuff."

You got pimples? So do I. And so do "45 percent of women ages 21 to 30, 26 percent of women ages 31 to 40, and 12 percent of women ages 41 to 50", according to the study, conducted by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital" detailed in this NYT article.

You got moles? So do I. So do most celebrities. Some are even recognized for their iconic moles. Need proof?

You got facial hair? So do I. And so does everyone (guys included!). It's nothing to be ashamed of.

You got a fat/cellulite? So do I. And you know what? It's healthy! (On the flipside, too much fat is a possible risk to your own health and should be talked over with your doctor at your own discretion.)

Everyone has visual flaws. Some are more obvious than others. And it's okay if you want to cover them (just keep in mind, you are still beautiful without cover); it doesn't make you vain to feel good about the way you look.

Beauty is what you believe it is.

Beauty is feeling confident and proud about the way you look.

Beauty is YOU, being the awesome person that you are.

And now to address the male population, same goes to you. While I can't comment too much because you know, I'm a girl, I will say this much: you are amazing the way you are, too.