Stop trying to look like someone you're not
Krabbe K. Piting, Contributor, Jakarta
The latest imported beauty obsession is body hair, and having the slightest tuft is frowned upon. Although excess body hair has never been deemed attractive (except in the 1970s when a particular Indonesian bombshell frolicked across movie screens with unshaven armpits), today's standard is much more ruthless.
As any American will tell you, a well-groomed lady is expected to be as hairless as a Chihuahua.
Thus, beauty salons offering waxing service, including the infamous bikini wax, have been mushrooming across the city. Ouch!
Indonesians have a penchant for looking like their Western counterparts. Especially since every media now is selling the Western beauty ideal: the thin blond goddess with wide blue eyes, fair skin and pert nose.
Even with the trend of "character" and multiracial models in the fashion industry, it is seen as a fad, while the "classic" look will endure. Hence, everywhere you look, you are bound to encounter ads selling whitening products that guarantee "fair skin in just weeks".
Women now have garish bleached blond hair, or colored contact lenses. It is not uncommon to come across ladies with all three: blond hair, fair skin and blue contacts. Probably had their nose done, too.
One word sums them up: plastic. Ladies, no matter what, nobody will ever mistake you for Cameron Diaz or any other California beach babe. A client once wore gray contacts to a meeting but, instead of resembling a bule (Westerner) as is probably her wont, she ended up looking like she had cataracts.
Some people think that by having a fair skin, they can pull off different looks, including Scandinavian. They can't.
I have also seen people at malls who must have gone tweezer happy with their barely-there brows. Some even drew odd shapes in place of their brows. They look like extras from Star Trek wandering onto the wrong set, not at all glamorous.
Even funnier is when some stylish Indonesians grudgingly yearn for tanned skin, because eet ees zo fashionable. Deep down, of course, they still prefer fair skin and complain out loud to the other fashionistas that it is hard for their skin to develop a tan -- they're naturally pale! Honey, most Indonesians are tanned at birth, and even the fair-skinned ones have yellow undertones. Aryans we're not.
Look, we all know what happens when somebody tried to look like something they're not. Paging Michael Jackson!
Looking at these misguided attempts might be amusing, but at times it is both painful and sad. It is amazing what people go through in the pursuit of the so-called perfect face and body.
Sure, experimenting with different looks can be fun. Just don't take it too seriously. These people become gullible to unscrupulous manufacturers and individuals claiming to have certain prowess to "slim your thighs without injections or drugs!" "enlarge your chest without surgery!" and "have fairer skin!"
A self-proclaimed holy man boasted a client roster of celebrities whom he said he helped achieve their current looks, allegedly without surgery. Many beauty salons offer cheap silicone shots without medical supervision, resulting in deformed body parts (nose, chin, breasts). Some sell whitening or slimming products that have been banned in other countries because of dangerous ingredients.
It's not that I condone people to walk around looking like Chewbacca as an antidote to this mess. Both ends of the spectrum are a case for sore eyes, in my opinion.
I am not going to offer any solution to this madness. I am not even going to repeat the tired line about being beautiful on the inside. Just this: Before you subject yourself to another session of bikini wax or fry your hair with powerful bleach, remind yourself of that other hairless, wide-eyed, fair-skinned being mentioned earlier in this article. He, too, doesn't think he looks odd. Enough said.