Obsession with perfection

My drawer of lotions, toners, soaps, hair creams, etc.

The reality is that women are imperfect. We have stretch lines, baggy eyes, uneven skin tone, wrinkles, freckles, acne, large pores, dark eyes... and that's just our face. Their are entire aisles dedicated to relieving us women of our imperfections. Once we relieve our selves of our stained canvases we must then begin to paint -eye shadow, blush, foundation, mascara, lip gloss, lipstick, concealer... And once we've got our face looking presentable we must move on to our hair. Flat iron? Curls? Waves? Don't worry every thing you could imagine yourself to be the beauty industry has created -perhaps that's because they have created everything we could imagine ourselves to be. Unfortunately I am just another consumer, with some reflections, but still just another consumer. Searching for the right products to help me reach perfection.
My biggest rebellion against the beauty industry was to go natural but now that they have a number of products geared to my natural hair I still end up in the aisle looking for products to help it reach perfection -curly fro? wavy? straight-ish? Whatever I want, they have, because they have created all my beauty desires. Last month alone I probably spent over 300 dollars on beauty supplies. My perricone products where the bulk of that cost. I don't know when I decided that spending 100 dollars on lotion was OK. But in another sense I'm proud of myself for finding a regimen that works and sticking to it. But obviously the idea of giving in to "the industry"doesn't sit well. A part of me never wanted to believe that advertising actually worked. But a few days ago I had the scary realization that Perricone advertises on a majority of the sites that I frequent. It hit me how scary and evasive advertising can be in the decision making process. But then again I can tell myself maybe they have the best advertising because they have the best products and if it works who cares if it cost 500 dollars as long as you have the money to spend. And then again I reach a conflict -their are people starving! Not just in Africa or some other far away place but in the streets of Bedstuy and Timesquare. 100 dollars could buy 10 meal for 10 people. 100 dollars could be better donated to Islamic Relief.
Its a conflict of being rich, of course I'm not 'rich' but I certaintly, in theory, have money to throw around. Its the parallels of being American. Wealth isn't -ideally, handed to anyone, everyone has to work for their share so everyone feels as though they deserve the money they have. As logically as this is and as sound as the reasoning seems you'd be hard pressed to find that Africans work any less then Americans. One must say that it is God's divine will that we are wealthy. And too is his will to command us to give in charity. So why not "obsess" over a pure heart, clean intentions and a sound judgement, good deeds and a character that wants what God wants. Maybe because its easy to spend time and money on the perfect image then to go deep inside and spend time on our hearts.

The sanctitude of solitude: Heres a place to stay no questions asked

Wouldn't it be great if there was a place you could go a stay for a few days maybe a few weeks no questions asked. You could just go there and regroup, get your mind off some things. You would come in to the room check and it would be filled with books and art. You could have a small room to yourself only with the essentials you need and nothing more. Noone would hasle you or ask you for anything
Everyone would smile but not say much meals would be serve. There would all kinds of people there to help you relax like a masseuse, a therapist, a doctor, a religious authority, a herbalist etc. And whenever you needed there help you would just smile and nod and they'd give you exactly what you need because they already knew. And when you where ready to leave you would just leave no questions asked. And you could go back to you mate or children, work or school feeling recuperated and ready to begin again