Guest guest Posted November 23, 2002 Report Share Posted November 23, 2002 I knew Demi never got rid of her implants for good. She did what they all do--just replaced them. Argh! Patty http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/living/1037788479285630.xml FIND A BUSINESS » OR Search By Biz Name, Location INSIDELiving» The Plain Dealer» Consumer» Cooking» Family & Pets» Health & Fitness» Home & Garden» Love & Dating» Religion» Style» Travel» Weddings» Welcome to Cleveland SPEAK UP! » Consumer/Shopping» Crafts» Home Improvement» Lighten Up!» Nutrition» Shape Up!» Support» Travel» Wedding Planner » More Forums » Log On to ChatXtra! NEWSLETTERS » Sign up for the weekly What's New Update » More Newsletters » Looking for a car? FROM OUR ADVERTISERS >> BMW - Ultimate Driving Machine >> Win a ½ carat or ¼ carat total weight 3 diamond pendant! >> 2003 Wedding Showcase - Pre-Register and enter to win a free vacation! » Advertise With Us » More From The Plain DealerLife News Women step up beauty routines to keep up with stars Wednesday, November 20, 2002 Lee Curtis dared to do it, and before her, so did Oprah. They had the guts to show what celebrities look like "before" a team of professional assistants transformed them into the "after" - that is, the near-perfect goddesses we see on magazine covers and at awards shows. But what about the rest of us? Think of the ever-growing list of beauty treatments that average, noncelebrity women endure. Treatments that did not exist 20 years ago that today, in some circles, have become de rigueur. Two or three decades ago, women went to the beauty salon for a cut, color, maybe a perm and, on special occasions, a manicure. Now, they make regular visits to the salon/day spa for everything from the haircut and hourslong foil-highlight treatment, to a glycolic peel, facial waxing, body exfoliating, bronzing and a pedicure. And, oh, let's not forget, the bikini wax. Followed, perhaps, by a stop at the dermatologist for a Botox shot or a collagen injection in the lips, and then there's a visit to the dentist for a teeth- bleaching treatment, because, after all, everyone else's teeth are so much whiter than they used to be. It's exhausting to think about what's been added to the "must do" list for beauty, let alone finding the time and money with which to do it. And many people think they know whom to blame. "The media has created this," says Beachwood psychiatrist Judith Hirshman. "You see younger and younger, more perfect-looking women on ads, magazines and television. "There are unrealistic expectations for stars and models, let alone the rest of us, who don't have personal trainers and dermatologists and plastic surgeons and makeup artists on hand, or the time and money for spa treatments." Then, too, Hirshman says, there is the added pressure that women should look younger than their age, and some treatments purport to accomplish that. Of course, it might be a little harder on actresses and models than the rest of us, especially once they hit 40. London's Daily Mail reported last week that Demi , who is 40 and returning to the big screen in the 'Charlie's Angels' sequel, spent an estimated $380,000 on cosmetic surgery and other personal treatments, including a breast operation to replace her implants with smaller ones, liposuction on her stomach, buttocks and thighs, collagen for her lips and porcelain veneers for her teeth. Lee Curtis is 43. Once best-known for her killer body, she has decided she's had enough with the artifice, especially since she's recently written a book on self-esteem for children. For the October issue of More magazine, she posed for a "before" picture that showed what she looked like in her underwear and without makeup. She looked normal, with a little pudge around the middle and a plain face; she looked very unlike the Lee Curtis we're used to seeing, especially the image we saw during her bedpost-striptease dance in "True Lies." About a year ago, Oprah Winfrey did the same thing in her magazine: She ran photographs of what she looked like when she showed up for a cover photo shoot, sans makeup and hair styling. (Bleary and blotchy, and I applaud her for the courage to run those photos.) The story told of all the work, by more than a dozen people, that went into readying her for the glowing photograph that would grace the cover of her O magazine. During a TV interview, Curtis talked about the grateful feedback she has received since posing for her revealing photographs (which, by the way, got More its highest newsstand sales ever). She kept being stopped by people on the street who thanked her. "Every commercial, every magazine, every TV show, movie, there are nothing but beautifully coifed, fabulously thin, toned people," she told interviewer Shriver. "And I think that constant reminder that they [noncelebrities] aren't, that there's something wrong with them, is the reason people are high-fiving me in stores." OK, so now we know how much goes into making celebrities look good. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of airbrushing, or as it's now known, "PhotoShopping." Take a look at any magazine cover for this telltale artificial look, but especially the latest issue of More, with Cybill Shepherd on the cover. Inside the magazine, she talks about not having had plastic surgery, but in all the photos, her image is of absurd computerized perfection. Such idealized images are foisted on us dozens of times a day. It isn't surprising to hear what a new study at the University of Missouri-Columbia reveals: It takes little more than one minute for ordinary women to start feeling depressed after looking at an image of a flawless model. Laurie Mintz, a researcher at the university, took 91 women between the ages of 18 and 31 and divided them into two groups. One was shown ads featuring products on models, the other shown the same products without models. Within one to three minutes, women looking at the models reported getting depressed. At The Plain Dealer we decided to do our own test. We found a model, between size 10 and 12, instead of the usual size 6 or 8. And, like Curtis, we shot her before a team of experts went to work on her, and then shot her afterward to show the difference that professionals can make (and do make, in the case of the celebrity images you see every day). Our model certainly looks different in her before and after photos. What do you think? Inundated as we are with photographs of people who have expert help, is it any wonder that we feel pressure to make ourselves look better? Certainly, there are so many more things that we can do and buy than ever before. Joyce Monachino, 52, of Shaker Heights, knows all too well. "A few years ago, all you did was wash your face, put on a little swipe of lipstick and you were out the door," she says. "Now, you feel you have to do more and more - it's almost a full-time job. Anyone my age who says they don't work at it is lying." Hirshman agrees. "In the 1950s and '60s, beauty was about using a little cold cream, some rouge, loose powder and lipstick," she says. "The very idea of a bikini wax would have been Felliniesque." Now, she says, for many women, they've become common, especially as summer or a tropical vacation approaches. Monachino, who owns an office-supply firm, says she hardly has time for manicures, and getting a pedicure in the winter is "hell," what with waiting for the toenails to dry. Even though she frequently attends benefits and other parties, there are other things Monachino would rather be doing than getting beauty treatments. She just returned from a trip to Las Vegas, where she and her daughter stayed at the Bellagio. "It had a beautiful spa, but I wanted to spend my time on a hike through the red-rock canyons, so that's what we did," she says. Hirshman says she wonders how busy women find time for manicures, pedicures, facials, waxing and so on. "When will it stop?" she says. The pressure starts with men, and with the idea of attracting men, she says. Of course, most men have no clue about what goes into women's pursuit of beauty. Chaz Henline, owner of the Salon and Spa in Rocky River and Westlake, puts it this way: "Men don't know - unless they read women's magazines, they'd have no idea. And I don't think many women tell the guys all the things they are having done." Hirshman says the perceived need for so many beauty treatments is perpetuated by women as well as men. "Women see other women doing this and they think, 'This is now the standard,' " she says. "We need to get to a place where the judgment of others doesn't make that much of a difference - and where we work on the inside, not just the outside." Theiss is The Plain Dealer's fashion editor. Contact Theiss at: etheiss@..., 216-999-4542 » Send This Page | » Print This Page MORE LIFE » BROOKLYN HEIGHTS » Desserts, diversions, light delights » Mission to educate moves tons of books More Stories | 14-Day Archive | Complete Index MORE FROM THE PLAIN DEALER Today's News | The Plain Dealer Links & Archives About Us | User Agreement | Privacy Policy | Help/Feedback | Advertise With Us© 2002 cleveland.com. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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