As children, we wore only what our parents or guardians chose for us to wear. They were the ones that picked out our clothes at the store and they were the ones that coordinated our outfits every morning. But as we got older, we gained a lot more freedom when it came to our fashion choices, and many of us strayed from "traditional" beauty. We chose to represent ourselves in a way that makes us feel beautiful, even if others don't understand or disagree with it.
It is incredibly hard to stay confident when you know others are constantly judging you for what you look like on the outside. But what people don't understand is that there is not one set standard for beauty. Beauty means something different for every individual. For some it means looking like a princess, while for others it may mean looking like a rock star. So how can we possibly declare that someone is universally beautiful or ugly? What seems ugly to you may be overwhelmingly beautiful to someone else.
Something that is well known to alternative beauties are body modifications, also known as "body mods". Now all a body mod is, is the unnatural changing of something on your body. So just getting your ears pierced is considered to be a body mod. With that, many of us have been getting body mods since we were babies. But alternative beauties tend to like the ones that aren't as commonly seen. This could mean anything from getting your septum pierced to shaping your ears to look like elf ears. Because these things aren't as common as breast implants, they are frowned upon in society, and those who sport them are often heavily judged. If you have any "abnormal" body mods, you will eventually develop a pretty thick skin. Some people in this world just have no filter and will easily share whatever rude comment comes to their mind. So be prepared to get a lot of sh*t from ignorant and rude people after your stretch your ears or pierce your eyebrow.
With alternative beauty, for most people, comes music. Many alternative beauties are inspired by music and base they way they look around it. Because of this, many of my style icons are male alternative and punk musicians. It sounds totally weird, but that is what inspires me. When I decided to get my nose pierced, I picked which nostril to pierce based upon which nostril the lead singer of my favorite band had pieced. For female inspiration, I turned to YouTube. There are so many awesome alternative beauty gurus out there now! They are the ones that will show you just how to rock an all black outfit in the summertime, and how to make sure your tattoo heals correctly.
Alternative beauties also tend to get written off by others pretty easily as well. People tend to think that they really know who we are just by looking at us. Many of the assumptions include that we do drugs, we are alcoholics, we are unfriendly, we worship Satan, etc. Most of the time, those assumptions are so far from the truth. I am a straight edge, sweet, christian girl. I did drug and alcohol prevention programs in high school and work at Methodist Church sleep away camp during my summers. I don't just go home and smoke marijuana every day. It still baffles me that because of something as so simple as a nose ring, people think that I am a completely different person than who I really am.
There is so much more I could say about alternative beauty. Anyway, keep dying your hair those bright, unnatural colors, and don't feel bad about your piercings. These things help to represent yourself more accurately. Don't ever conform to society's beauty standards, just give in to your own.
