This is me, naked.

This is me, without any makeup, any concealer, mascara or  eye shadow.    This is me,  without so much as a face cream.

This is not me the way people know me.  In fact, it took years for my husband to even see this “me”.  But thanks to a new facebook trend, I found the courage to show the world this “real me”.

Mari Restinetti Started the group “The Naked Face” on Friday but didn’t anticipate it going viral this fast.  As I write, the group is now 1461 1470 members strong.  Browsing group pictures, you find women of all walks of life, young and old, all there for the same reason:  to embrace their natural beauty the way God intended it to be.  Naked.

The group is a  spin off of a “Neknomination” type game, where women dare friends to post a picture without makeup, after posting one of themselves.  “My good friend Diana Koshman had posted on her facebook nominating friends to post no makeup/no filter photos of themselves and I thought it was a great idea,” said Restinetti, “I participated by posting a photo of myself and nominating some friends. I was inspired to create a group (The Naked Face) hoping it would encourage women to do the same. I created the group on Friday afternoon and the members doubled by the end of the day. I was proud about that. I was totally shocked how much it grew over the weekend.”

The group is meant to be a safe place where no criticism of any sort is allowed.  And in the process, it is teaching spectators unexpected and unintended lessons.

Nolan Levac, an 11 year old boy, asked his mom about “The Naked Face” page after stumbling across it.   His mom explained stereotypes and how it is sometimes very hard for women to go out in public without makeup.  Nolan understood.  He got how unnatural it can feel to some of us to go out barred-face.  He equated the act of wearing makeup for a boy to NOT wearing makeup for a girl.  To show his support to The Naked Face initiative, he took a picture of himself wearing makeup  and was brave enough to post his Naked and Not Naked Faces online, just like the rest of us did.   What a great lesson to have learned!

I asked Restinetti what she thought would come out of her group.  She answered:  “I believe what will come out of it is happening right now. Women being kind to women and embracing our natural beauty. This too will probably faze out like most facebook trends, but hopefully the message will always be strong in the hearts and minds of all the women who have and will participate. I don’t believe that makeup is “bad” or “fake”. It can be fun to play around with and enhance what we have. However, we should never be ashamed of our raw beauty.”

All of us women are beautiful, naturally beautiful! It is nice to see beauty, the way it is meant to be, not the way society portrays it. All of us are different, all of us are unique, all of us are beautiful in our own way. Chances are, someone sees your face in the morning, that naked face,  be it a husband, a mother, a son or a daughter, and to them, the naked face they see is the most beautiful, comforting, precious thing in the world. To them, this naked face means everything! Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

Visit The Naked Face on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/751370581574672/