By Theresa
With today’s emphasis on beauty and youth, is it any surprise that some strange beauty practices have emerged? I suppose “strange” is relative—in some cultures, these beauty trends are perfectly normal. Many beauty trends are deeply rooted in cultural beliefs and the healing powers of organic materials.
My first encounter with a so-called “weird” beauty practice was in eighth grade. A Filipina girlfriend confessed that she recently got her period. Her mother told her that in order to have a clear complexion a girl should rub her first “blood” onto her face. My friend reluctantly complied. She never had a pimple; her sister who did not follow this practice was not so lucky.
By Theresa
As a child my parents enrolled me in swimming lessons. A natural swimmer I was not—the chlorine stung my eyes and my asthma made it difficult to hold my breath for long periods of time. Somehow the timing of my swimming lessons happened to coincide with a cold or flu of sorts; I failed each level numerous times.
By the time I was around 11 or 12 years old, I was head and shoulders above the other students in the class, and the weakest swimmer to boot. It was humiliating. Needless to say, I convinced my parents to let me quit swimming lessons even though my swimming skills were fair at best. I could do a mean back float, tread water for about 10 seconds and swim about 2 meters.
