Somewhere out there, there is a teenage girl who is ashamed of her chubby cheeks and is debating whether she needs to lower her cortisol levels or start saving for buccal fat removal, and I want to grab her and shake those thoughts out of her head.
I’ve always had a fatter face. When I was starting puberty, I began to eagerly await the day I’d lose my chubby cheeks and develop a sharp jawline. I was convinced that by the time I was in high school, I’d be all sharp angles.
When I was 17, I bought a jade roller and began to preach about the importance of facial massages. Looking back, I don’t think it actually did anything other than temporarily resolve an insecurity. I would freeze my jade roller overnight and use it before school, absolutely convinced that everyone noticed the difference.
Scientifically, we need fat in our cheeks. It keeps our skin from sagging in our youth, and eventually, as we get older, we tend to lose not only the fat in our cheeks, but also the elasticity in our skin. It’s completely fine and normal and part of the human life cycle.
Society tells us a different story. I will admit that I have fallen victim to Tik Tok wellness culture. For the new year, I had resolved to practice wellness in my daily life. I bought vitamins for glowy skin and a stainless steel gua sha. I drank an exorbitant amount of water everyday. I knew that at a certain point, I had invented the necessity of these habits, but nonetheless I committed. Needless to say, it did absolutely nothing, and by March, I had accepted that there was probably no reason for me to commit that much.
I think that we often forget that humans are animals, and being an animal isn’t clean and polished. We’re holding ourselves to an impossible standard and inventing solutions to invented problems. Less than 100 years ago, we were fighting polio, and now we’re trying to normalize twice daily lymphatic massages in an effort to appear lean.
I don’t think wellness culture is inherently toxic, but at a certain point, it is ridiculous. There is no real reason to sleep wearing gloves of Vaseline. Live healthily, but also live happily!
love you always,
malaika <3
Leave a Reply