Why appearances matter
Posted on March 03, 2008Filed: Beauty
The skin is not a simple inert covering of the body but a sensitive dynamic boundary and is an important organ of social and sexual contact. Body image, which is deeply rooted within the culture of any given social group, is profoundly affected by the appearance of the skin and its associated structures. The appearance of skin plays a vital role in any given society. Our overall appearance is what we present to the world, but we see each other first in bits and pieces. We are biologically programmed to notice a person’s mouth. Why? Because the teeth can hurt us, they bite! This is an early protective mechanism, developed long before we could speak, to identify friend from foe. Today we smile to assure the person we meet that we are friendly, our teeth are not in a biting position.
Next we look at the eyes to make sure the smile is real. A lower face smile is a fake smile. If the eyes do not light up with a smile, we are put on alert that perhaps this person is not hostile, but is not friendly either. After checking the eyes we look at the skin of the face, then the hair on the head and finally the rest of the body is given a quick once over. All this is done in microseconds and for two reasons. The first is for protection, and the second is for reproduction. We shall decide in a matter of seconds whether or not that person will be a sexual, or non-sexual partner purely from appearance sake. If you have already made a life long commitment to a mate and yet find the other person attractive, your higher brain center will say to you, “Back off, this is a non-mate”. If you do not heed this instruction immediately you have set yourself up for trouble. But you already know that.
The need for approval is the need for acceptance, for humans are not designed to live alone. To live alone, without daily human contact and without love, is a slow, destructive process except for a relatively few people who are solitary types. The need to be attractive is an inborn sexual mechanism that stays with us for life. As noted above, every animal has some sexually attractive feature, be it bright feathers or a lion’s mane, it is always there. Humans have developed very subtle sexual attraction mechanisms, but our skin is one of the most important of all
The attractive person gets the best job in most instances, gets the most attractive mate and usually makes the most money. Countless books have been written on the subject of human appearance. One should employ great emphasis on skin care and how your skin plays a key role in sexual attraction. The role that sex hormones have in maintaining a strong functional body and the need for hormone replacement should be emphasized as well.
