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WELL-BEING - SKIN-DEEP AND DEEPER |
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Self-esteem
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Confucius once said, "true quality of life comes from a lasting harmony between the body and the mind". The skin is our body's living envelope; it expresses our every joy, sadness, stress or fear. Indeed all our reactions and emotions are expressed via the skin. Others perceive us through this outermost layer. And we perceive ourselves through it when we look in the mirror. The "Moi-peau" or "skin-ego" is a physical and feeling part of us, through which we come into contact with nature and other living beings, and endure the action of the elements. It is also a means of exercising power over others, of captivating them, influencing their impressions and judgement, and of conquering them. The "moi-peau" or "skin-ego" theory takes bodily surfaces as the primary organ underlying the genesis and structure of the self. Our perception of our body influences whether and how we accept our identity. This positive relationship with the body, which is a true driving force of life, in fact shapes our relationship with others.
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Applying a cream
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Different colour Foundation
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By taking care of their skin, allows individuals to adjust, to protect and defend themselves, to express feelings and communicate, to have fun, and to be active. Each of these functions can have a bearing on the way others perceive us, but also - first and foremost - they influence the relationship we have with ourselves. Cosmetics play a prime role - and a vital one - in this relationship. They reach the innermost parts of the self. Paul Valéry expressed it eloquently, when he said, "Nothing is deeper than the skin". Cosmetics do more than embellish the outside. It also stimulates what is within. Cosmetics help people overcome inferiority complexes, and break free from depressive tendancies.
Proof of the beneficial effect of facial make-up comes from work carried out by a Japanese research team, with the help of people with facial pigmented spots. After these marks had been concealed by make-up, the subjects were invited to look at themselves in a mirror. With the result that the excitement of seeing their unblemished faces produced a scientifically measurable boost to their immune system. In other words, simply improving their looks strengthened their natural defences. In fact, this experiment does little more than provide exciting evidence of something otherwise commonly accepted We have all experienced, or witnessed, the havoc extreme emotional stress or hurt feelings can wreak on the nervous system, immune system (allergies) or sleeping patterns. If chronic, this stress may disturb hormonal activity, and even trigger the development of a tumour.
Conversely, the "positive stress", stemming from better self-acceptance, can boost an individual. A day in the sun influences the psyche and invigorates the entire body. Likewise, hygiene, make-up and personal care products have been proven to build up our own self-image and the image others perceive and accordingly reflect back. Beauty care products play a role in reconciling us with ourselves, and with others. Caring for the body contributes to personal stability and self-confidence, the driving forces behind integration into society.
Appearance plays a major role in our developed societies. In a fiercely-competitive and stressful world, all too ready to dismiss, snub, marginalize or even exclude those whose countenance fails to radiate vitality, energy and good health, cosmetics are taking on an increasingly noticeable social role. Life in society is perceived more and more as an ongoing process of emulation and competition, in which the image we project is central - be it in a professional, emotional or general social context. Society has problems accepting the erosion of the body. Protecting it and keeping it in good condition, and staying this erosion process, have therefore become the overriding goals of a ceaseless struggle.
Longer life expectancy has placed exaggerated emphasis on physical appearance, making it the key to good relationships between generations. Young children are even more sensitive to this than adults. Caring for personal appearance has thus become vital to avoid isolation - after all, you're as old as you feel.
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Lipsticks
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In the words of Professor Louis Dubertret, from the Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris, "The art of handling your self-image can take on a great deal of importance in the healthcare field. Cosmetics specially developed for older people - not to rejuvenate them, but just allow them to remain attractive - have relevance for healthcare. We have all seen the correlation between self-neglect, depression, de-socialisation, and loss of intellectual and emotional capacities in the elderly". Hospital staff knows all too well how much washing and shaving is vital to restoring good health. At the initiative of cosmetic companies, beauticians have carried out a similar and highly effective programme among cancer and psychiatric patients. The English Red Cross has included cosmetology and make-up in hospital care programmes to improve patients' physical well being and boost their self-esteem. The Look good, feel better programme that the cosmetics industry has been running in the USA for ten years now, and in England over more recent years, involves providing beauty-care treatment to patients undergoing heavy chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The self-confidence resulting from the attentive application of make-up has been found to have a powerful effect on resistance to the treatment, and accelerate recovery. There is something about seeing yourself better that helps you feel better.
In the Tours Medical School, a course in beauty care specialising in the humanitarian and social aspects of the work is also devoted to improving patients' healing processes by the use of make-up. The psychological effects of make-up were also tested on senile dementia sufferers who had lost control of their sphincter muscles. Three months into the experiment, a third of them no longer needed nappies, simply because make-up was being attentively applied every day, and this had enabled them to recover their human dignity.
People in every civilisation have used products to care for and embellish their skin, and protect it from being attacked by the elements - which naturally leads us to conclude that this is a primordial need. We also know that some make-up used by the Egyptians was able to provide protection against certain infections.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as physical, mental and social well-being. The many benefits that personal care, embellishing, protecting and perfuming products bring can make a very significant contribution to health. Again, in Professor Dubertret's words, "Cleansing, softening, moisturising and strengthening the body most external layer is important for health. If you don't believe that, just look at a child suffering from atopic eczema, with its rough skin, itching, red and cracked-up cheeks, and its dry and porous horny layer of epidermis. Healing that child can be as simple as applying a cosmetic to the skin. Only doing that alters cellular and molecular responses in the dermis and epidermis".
The time we dedicate to our skin not only plays a part in building harmony between the body and the mind. It also takes part in building our self-respect and the respect of others. The way we see ourselves affects the way others see us. Which is why quality of life starts here, since essentially, men and women exist in the eyes of others.
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