Revealing Katie: Finding Your True Beauty On Your Teens

Hair and Makeup by Kada from Bombay Beauty Loft. Styling by Something 2 Wear Boutique

Katie arrived to her session accompanied by her mother Glenna. When I saw Glenna I couldn't stop my eyes from looking at her beautiful ginger hair paired with the perfect red lipstick and the cat eyed black glasses she was wearing. All this, mixed with her personality made me feel like I was in front of a powerful woman that came out of a Fitzgerald book and that she could be interpreted by Meryl Streep if they ever made movie of it. Yes, she is that amazing.

Katie on the other hand, is on the quiet side. You can tell she plans every word carefully before she speaks which I like to call wise. Learning to control your tongue to think before you speak does not come easily for most of us, specially as teenagers but she nails it. She does not rush but she's not slow. She is eloquent and proper. She is definitely smart and has a lovely laugh; no doubt on that!

I identified a lot with her because I saw me in her when I was her age. She describes herself as: 

Charismatic, Optimistic, Empathetic and shy. I am very confident in who I am, I just don't show it as much. I am very artistic and imaginative".

To which, by getting to know her, I absolutely agree.

When Glenna mentioned how much she wanted Katie to see and believe how beautiful she is, my moms words came back to me: "you've always been beautiful; it was time you started seeing it yourself that way too". 

At the reveal Katie, her mom and family were speechless for a while, just taking it all in. Then her family couldn't stop reassuring Katie that she was captured in the same way the see her. Absolutely beautiful!

From my side, I can only say one thing:

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Why Aging IS Ok. I mean it.

Hair and Makeup by Kada Issa (Bombay Beauty Loft)

In modern times, we are thought that old is not good. You should avoid getting old at any expense. There's also multiple options to avoid looking old: beauty products, plastic surgeries, botox, facials, are just a few of an almost infinite pile of what's call now an industry. Yes, there's a trend now about being beautiful at 40, 50 and up but is fake! Yes it is. Look at the photos of celebrities stating "beautiful at (insert over 40 age here)". Do they look like they aged gracefully, froze in time or had surgery? Let's be honest here, these people are cheered on the fact that they STILL LOOK YOUNG at their age. 

But aging in the earlier civilizations and for many, many centuries, was considered a great deal. Age (wrinkles and grey hair) was considered equally proportional to wisdom. The older you would be, the more important you would become for the community. In ancient Israel for example, the elderly would seat at the city gates and people would come to them for guidance on solving situations, big or small, and to help on solving quarrels. Why? Because they had a lifetime experience to know better. They had lived what the younger ones haven't yet. People wanted to learn from them and they were respected.

At some point we were taught that aging was wrong and obsolete. And as women we bought and swallow the whole thing entirely. We buy beauty products to slow the pass of time, to erase the wrinkles, to hide our aging. I personally haven't bought into that completely. I DO use beauty products but more for caring for my skin than anything else. I'm 32. Yes, I'm still young and I might not be stressed out about wrinkles yet, but I honestly don't see them as a curse. It will eventually happen and I'm hoping to wear them all (and my grey hair) proudly instead of succumbing into the lies.

My great grandmother, my grandmother and my mom (for some of her time) fought/fight endlessly against aging. I would see them spending big lengths of time in front of their magnifying mirrors pulling strand by strand of grey hair off their scalps, spending lots of money on beauty products (specially the anti-wrinkles products) and let's not even count the hours at a hair salon dying their hair. My grandma even had a surgery to stretch the skin of her forehead so she could look younger (she thinks we didn't notice the whole thing but oh we sure did!). We all know better than to dare ask their age. After years of living under the same trend, my mom decided it was time to stop. She still dyes her hair (mostly to be playful with colours) but she leaves her grey strands out of it because she wants to show them. She doesn't see her wrinkles with worry but happiness (check out My Wrinkles "Dictionary" post) and she doesn't feel embarrassed anymore about her bifocal glasses when she wears them.

She is leading by example at our house and we're very happy to see this change. She's empowering herself through the beauty of her aging self. That's why my 50+ sessions are important to me; I want to empower mature women through the beauty God gave them and the beauty that has been drawn onto them by the wisdom learned through their experiences. 

I did this session of my mother because of that. Because I see beauty all over her and because (her knowing it or not) she brings light with her smile, everywhere she goes. I love you mami!

Hair and Makeup by Kada Issa (Bombay Beauty Loft)