How to Keep Beautiful Forever
Reflecting on The Beauty Industry by Aldous Hexley
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), an English novelist and critic, best known for his
dystopian novel Brave New World (1931). Besides novels he published travel books,
histories, poems, plays, and essays on philosophy, arts, sociology, religion and morals.
Huxley's first novel, Crome Yellow (1921), a witty criticism of society, appeared in
1921. Huxley's style, a combination of brilliant dialogue, cynicism, and social
criticism, made him one of the most fashionable literary figures of the decade. In eight
years he published a dozen books, among them Point Counter Point (1928) and Do
What You Will (1929). In the1930s Huxley was deeply concerned with the Peace
Pledge Union. He moved in 1937 with the guru-figure Gerald Heard to the United
States, believing that the Californian climate would help his eyesight, a constant
burden. After this turning point in his life, Huxley abandoned pure fictional writing
and chose the essay as the vehicle for expressing his ideas.
The beauty industry never declines. It is full of vitality, rising and flourishing.
And it seems to be a common sense that there is no better compliment than “you look
beautiful”. Not only do female suffer from it, male are also involved. The society pays
most attention to the beautiful people. Thus there’s no wonder in why David Beckham
is so popular worldwide, and why as a football player, he needs his fingernail
embellished.
I long for becoming more beautiful since I was a little girl. When mom was
outside, I would sneak into her room, secretly put on her fashionable dress and
high-heeled shoes, then I was definitely beautiful in a girl’s eyes. And when in high
school, I bought myself lipsticks and makeup powder, to be more attractive and to get
more compliment. But soon I found myself absolutely mistaken. Not a single person
made any compliment about my makeup, which was both money-consuming and
time-consuming. Instead, some friends and teachers were caring for my physical
situation. “Are you feeling uncomfortable?” “You look unhealthy, I guess you need
physical exercise.” It had been a long long time before I got to know the reason of
their concern. I appeared to be whitewashed, ruddled, and the soft and living face was
covered up. That is to say, makeup never makes me more beautiful. And when I grew
older, I found those cosmetics harmful to one’s skin, more terribly speaking, it even
causes cancer. Therefore, according to my own experience, cosmetics are not only
useless, but also pointless.
However, the beauty industry is improving, besides its advertisements on surgery
and makeup, there are more and more new ways to become beautiful. Healthy diet
and physical exercise are two examples. As we all know, one may become slim in
body-shape and lustrous in skin through these two ways of becoming beautiful.
Coarse food grain (e.g. maize) and organic greens are more and more popular in every
household. Manual wheat grinder sells well, for the machine not only encourages one
to eat healthy food, and offers a joyful physical exercise of making food by oneself.
Outer beauty is not enough, for the modern society also calls for inner beauty. I
am not advertising, but golf is really an excellent sport which combines the two
perfectly. On one hand, golf is not a bit intense or violent, thus it is suitable for people
from 3-year-old to 80. But do not look down upon it, for it requires a lot to play well
and it is the same health-friendly as any other sports. On the other hand, as a kind of
“noble sport”, a golf player should acknowledge all kinds of politeness, proper
behaviour and appropriate language. In another words, if you want to be beautiful in
all aspects, golf is a better choice rather than surgery. Surgery may fail, but golf
mightn’t.
Yoga is also a good choice, for it requires nothing except a mat, and it also has
no age limit. The yoga discipline teaches one to cleanse one’s mind, to calm down,
and not to be disturbed by anything. A yoga practicer usually lives a long life, and has
few diseases. Yoga keeps one healthy physically, and, mentally.
Beauty should proceeds with health, this is the only way to keep beautiful
forever.