Tease Tips – Lessons in life, love and the art of tease

By Michelle L’amour

Beauty is Truth.

We all think of something different when we hear the word beauty. Maybe it’s a person, a place, or a thing. When you really think about your idea of beauty, what pulls you to that? For me, it is truth. Honesty.

I grew up with alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that attacks the hair follicles. This has been a struggle for me since I was 6 years old. When it happened to me in junior high and high school, I was so devastated. I got made fun of a lot, and it hurt. I tried to hide it as best I could but I was really dealing with just patches of hair. Regardless, I would spend hours in the mirror trying to comb my hair just right so I could spray the crap out of it so I could feel comfortable. When the wind blew, my anxiety would sky rocket! If the wind blows, that means my hair is going to separate and everyone is going to know!

In this time, although it was extremely difficult, I became what I am today. It was then that I became obsessed with beauty and what that meant. I would spend hours in the mirror posing and trying to move my body in ways that I thought were beautiful. I would sit up close to the mirror and look into my eyes and work my face in ways that I felt beautiful. I needed something. I had to find it in myself. I wasn’t big with the boys during this time so I wasn’t getting the external validation, but I knew that I had something special. I just felt that they couldn’t see it. I developed a motto, that “if you look twice, you won’t look away”. That has informed everything you know about me.

We tend to think of beauty as the perfect makeup, the perfect hair, an impeccable sense of fashion, style and grace. These things are not bad, but they are not beauty. They are skills that anyone can acquire. I believe the skills are only enhanced by true beauty.

Live honestly, thoughtfully and with vulnerability and your beauty will shine bright. To have light, you must first make a spark.