The Monster in the Mirror

When women come to see me for a style, colour or makeup appointment they come for many reasons; it may be that they are changing job and need to know what to wear, it may be that their body has changed after losing or gaining weight or having a baby, or it may simply be that they fancy treating themselves to a stylish pampering session. However, there is one trait that seems to run common amongst many of them: a mortal dread of looking in the mirror.

What are you afraid of seeing?

In fact, it's not been unknown for women to actually break down when they realise that in a style session they are going to spend reasonable amount of time looking at their body in a mirror. I have even had one occasion of an anxiety attack when the client found out she was going to spend the whole makeup lesson sat in front of one. It absolutely breaks my heart.

But do you know another common thread running through all of these women? After the session, after they've spent an hour or so really looking at themselves, they see that there's nothing to be afraid of. There is no monster in the mirror, just them.

Most women spend so much of their lives rushing round that we very rarely have time to actually stop and look at ourselves in the mirror. Yes, we have a quick look whilst we throw makeup at our faces in the morning, a cursory glance to make sure we don't have our skirt tucked in our knickers as we walk out of the ladies, and I think that maybe it's the not looking that helps us build up this mirror monster in our heads. After a while we become convinced that all we're going to see is acne, a wonky nose, someone who's grossly overweight or horribly thin, and it builds and builds until we're terrified to look.

Well, I'm telling you now, there is no mirror monster. Please take just 5 minutes to really look at yourself in the mirror today. When it's just you in the mirror, why not give yourself a smile?