014. Beauty

I was watching Oprah the other day and there was this very interesting episode about how beauty was perceived differently in different parts of the world. 

I think ultimately, it is true when one says, beauty is in the eyes of its beholder. In addition, it is also true that our perception of beauty is very much based on what others in society think is beautiful. Take an example of tanned skin, in Asia woman try and achieve as fair skin as possible, while in the Western countries people seek tanned skin and would go to extreme lengths to achieve it.

Personally I thought this episode was really fun to watch and rather enlightening. Lets see if I can remember a few of the different interesting definition of beauty and facts from different parts of the world. 

• Mauritania (a.k.a The Islamic State of Mauritania)
  

Mauritania (from Wikipedia)

I suppose we could start with the most interesting one. Mauritania (no, not Mauritius). First of all, when they introduced Mauritania, I could not help but wonder where in the world in Mauritania. In my naivety, I honestly did not know Mauritania existed. Then again, there are a lot more countries in this world, which I certainly do not know the location of. Anyways, Mauritania is a country in Northwest Africa and its capital is Nouakchott. Other than that, I did not even know that this country had a coup d'état not so long ago, in 2008! 

Why did I not know of this?

Anyways, as I was saying their perception of beauty is most definitely interesting one, according to them beauty for women is woman who is fatter, has stretch marks, and a divorcée! Now that is definitely something. According to a women they interviewed, some of the most desired women are those who are divorced, few times over and happen to be larger!. Ah, I see hope at the end of the tunnel. :)

I think the point of them showcasing this country was that it is true how again ultimately, beauty is subjective and is in the eyes of the beholders.

• Hair extensions

I don't know but I think this image is slightly disturbing (from Google) 

Hair extensions are now some of the new rage this days and they discussed if anyone ever thought where the hair comes from. And apparently about 25% of the hair comes from India. Not only that, some of the hair that they use are usually those that comes from devotees who sacrificed their hair for religious purposes and then sold to companies who then I assume cleans and dye and repair hairs to be then sold. I think according to Oprah, the temple makes about 18 million a year from all the hairs sold. Now, thats a lot of money!

I suppose this is something questionably morally. Considering the devoteé probably do not know where all their hair goes after this. But I'll not discuss more about that now :)

In all honesty, I really don't understand how can one put someone else's hair on their head and not feel slightly weirded out by it. I understand that it is probably clean and all, but still. I cannot seem to come to grasps the whole idea of it. The idea of carrying someone else's hair... 

I suppose this is easy to say now as I have long hair myself, and need no extensions for now. :)

* I finally got around to watching Twilight! Got to say, its not all that good, but definitely one of those awwww movies again.

** As I was typing this blog, I am also watching The Weakest Link on BBC Entertainment, and guess what! its the first time that I have seen the contestants reach the 1000 pounds mark! :)

*** I was going to put up some pictures from Johanne's camera which she left at my place but there is no way of getting the pictures out...

****After what, 2 years of having this Macbook, I only now realize where this symbol ' was! All those times wasted corrected can´t when I could have just used can't! *smacks head*