Lifestyle

Good Greek girl gone bad?

How much effort do those TOWIE girls put into look flawless? Their style might not be to everyone’s taste but you can’t fault them for their skills with a make-up brush and what’s more, their parents are all for it, telling their princesses how ‘REEM’ they look. It warms my heart and I’m not taking the preverbal ‘Mick’ either. Trust me, when you grow up as I did, NHS specs and every inch of skin covered for fear that you might get pregnant just by showing a hint of leg; you would be singing their praises too. It was all very confusing for most Greek girls; we came from the Island of Love, Aphrodite was our Goddess of lust, love and beauty and we weren’t even aloud to shave our legs!

What strikes me is how much time and money is spent into adding more hair, we spent our time trying to get rid of it. ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ is a realistic depiction of a woman’s awkward transformation from ugly duckling to beautiful swan. And it was awkward, the looks you’d get when your facial hair gradually starts to disappear and people nodding at your dad saying, “You better watch her”, as if we were about to jump on a pole and do a turn at a family barbecue. Oh the shame!

Covering our bodies was one thing, but we had to keep our mouths closed too! Have an opinion? The holy water would come out and the priest was called in to rid us of the demon that was ourselves. It’s all refreshingly different now and a woman who can hold a conversation, be independent and retain her femininity all at the same time is talked about in a very different way. Mouths are open in awe not shock at this new generation of Greek girls encouraged to express their thoughts freely.

As strict as it was then and oppressive, most of us can see the funny side now and can admit that even though we couldn’t see it then, parts of that stifling upbringing did us a favour. We grew into women at a snail’s pace, there was no rush to grow up too quickly and experience things we weren’t ready for. Why did we want to look like we were in our 30’s when in our 30’s we want to be 18 again?  Why did we want to wear high heels to appear taller than our four foot nothing selves when much later you find out how tall you can really stand?

Learning slowly is best, everything has a right time; pushing for things to happen before they are meant to will lead to confusion when they are not what you imagined them to be. It all falls into place eventually it always does and Aphrodite becomes your middle name.

Eureka! We are now free to wax and pluck to our hearts’ content, emancipation in the form of Epilation! No pain no gain but that’s life…a Greek girls’ life.

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