On Why I Take Selfies, And 3 More Beauty Things I'm Not Apologizing For

Do you ever get nervous about clicking "publish" on a blog post? That's me today. I was tagged by Vero Says to talk about those beauty things I won't apologize for any longer. It started off light-hearted but got a little serious. I have butterflies over posting this. Here goes:

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1--My Beauty Collection--I love looking at your shoes, bags, watches, etc, but I have no desire to collect them. More nail polish and eyeshadow palettes than I'll ever use? Yes, come to Mama.

2--Not Filling in My Brows--Slowly, but surely, the world is leaving the over-plucked brows behind and is starting to fill them in. But I rarely do it--sometimes for photos, but I just don't like the look on me. I think they're full enough already!

3--Washing My Hair Weekly--Sounds gross, right? I hear it ALL the time. But I have the driest, frizziest hair known to (wo)man. I have no idea where I get this hair from, but I know it gets worse if I wash it more than twice a week. Trust me on this.

4--Selfies--These have such a negative connotation. You must be conceited if you post them, right? I lose followers whenever I post a pic of myself. But I don't see it as conceited when I post them. I see it as a victory:

From about 5th grade through now, people have felt the need in person (and online) to tell me how unattractive I am. And up until recently, I believed them. I've always been very shy and introverted due to my lack of looks. If you're quiet, maybe no one will notice you, or make fun of you. I've even bent over backwards to be excessively nice to people who didn't deserve my friendship, in the hopes of having friends, because ugly people don't have friends and are forever alone. I didn't want that to be me.

For the first year of my blog I didn't post pictures of myself, because who would take beauty advice from an ugly girl? Even one who really knows what she's talking about? Well, I was finally called out on it by a former blogger and she was right: I had to post pictures of myself. I had to prove I was real. I had to reveal more of myself, which is still really hard, but a necessity in growing a blog.

But over the past few months, the latter part of last year, I just decided to stop thinking that way. I'll never be attractive to everyone. Impossible. Even though I know I am great person, there will still be people I've never met who hate me and my blog (I'll never understand that). I'll still have drunken strangers yell out how unattractive I am or call me fat. I'll still have old ladies at Target tell me I need a nose job (true story). I'll still have anonymous trolls tell me I'm the grossest, ugliest creature with a bad blog. It stings less every time.

Are there things I would change? Absolutely. Even the girl you'd deem "most beautiful" could find a flaw in herself. But today, I'm proud of myself. I'm 37. I'm silly. I talk in accents or sing for no reason. I'm great with kids. I dance while I'm driving. I lost 40 pounds (so far!) this past year. I'm really nice, loving, and very patient. And I'm pretty. I'm finally pretty.

And that's why I take selfies.