How important is Good Looks?

What according to you is more important is it good looks or a dynamic personality? If you say that looks does not matter to you and that you are least bothered the way you look  when you are attending a party you are the biggest liar. Don’t tell me that you don’t suck in your cheeks and your tummy, toss your hair from one side to other before going to a party. We form our first opinion about a person from the physical appearance. So looking good is all about feeling good.

Looking good has become the law of nature for both men and women around the world. People are biased towards good looking people. In most cases good looking people get more attention than not so good looking people. Good looks become a reason for people to get positive attention from others and this increases the confidence of a person. It looks like that the entire society is pressured to look good.

The growing obsession with good looks is becoming an inseparable part of our life. Be it the corporate world or the entertainment industry everybody is paying a lot more attention to good looking and well turned out people. Being well dressed and presentable is very important for me too and before I am going out for any social or official do I make it a point to look as presentable as possible and since I don’t want to make a laughing sample of myself.

From a very young age especially in today’s new generation  being fat was a thing of shame amongst the kids. My six year old son hates eating puris. He says he does not enjoy it. Well I say he is conscious about putting on weight. In fact the other day he told me, “Mama I want to look healthy and not fat and being fat is not healthy. My friends are going to tease me if I am fat.” It is difficult for mothers to keep them away from junk food. It is far easier to tell them that junk food is going to make them fat and that is the way we can stop them from consuming empty calories.

When I was in Russia I had noticed that women there spend more than half of their income in looking good and staying well groomed.  So now when exactly does this focus on physical appearance begins? It is mostly the family and the upbringing which focuses on good looks.  Rajani Dinghra, a home-maker from Mumbai says, “Looks are what greets us first before anything else. But we should not confuse it with good grooming. While looks are not a matter of choice, I think being well groomed definitely is. My thumbs-up for the guys with clipped nails, facial hair and who dress up as per the occasion.”

Psychologist Dr. Pranjali Basu says, “The obsession with good looks starts from peer pressure or a need to impress the opposite sex. Sometimes women who get cheated in their marriage or love life get obsessed about the way they look to win their lover back. There are some women who are even scared of aging and try to hide their age with layers of make-up.” 

Well, regarding aging I have a friend of mine who claims to be thirty-five and her age is the same for the last three years. She does not understand that age is written all over the face. She tries all possible silly things to get the attention of men. According to me the trick is to age gracefully. If you have a charming personality and you are well groomed, you will have high self-esteem and will be able to carry off anything with elan.

“After all we are visual beings and good looks does make the first impression. But beyond that it is all about intelligence, behavior, presentation, soft skills. I am from north India and there fair means good looking. The bias starts from birth. Parents  are worried about finding a match for their ‘not so fair’ daughter. Milk baths, haldi chandan are a must for dark kids out there. Nobody cares about anything else be it education, figure. But the girl has to be fair,” says Dr. Swati Mishra from Vizag.

To impress others you don’t need to starve yourself. You can choose to develop an identity of your own, enjoy the way you look and dress up the way you are comfortable in. Remember we are educated people, with independent thoughts and ideas and with a healthy bank balance we don’t need others attention. Identify and focus on your strengths and there is absolutely no need to run the rats race of looking the way people want you to look. Most importantly be yourself and make a place for your self in your own world.