A few years ago, I was your typical office-worker: stressed out, uneven energy, overweight, and inconsistent complexion. Now I'm just your typical 28-year old urban hunter-gatherer on a quest to be healthy, and having a few adventures along the way. See my full bio.
I was talking with one of my roommates about women last year (as we do), and he pointed out that nice skin is an often over-looked, but incredibly attractive quality. I completely agree -- skin quality is an under-appreciated indicator of good health.
Women know it, which is why they use make-up and eye-liner to trick men into thinking that they're younger and healthier than they actually are. Men, you need to learn how to see past these deceptions and assess her true youth and health.
The larger problem is that as a culture, we've grown accustomed to people with somewhat splotchy, broken-out, heavily made up skin. And if a girl does have nice skin, it's assumed to be genetic. Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline. But are those the only two paths to healthy skin? Genetics or make-up?
Of course not.
There's a third alternative: she takes care of her health. People with nice skin have that "glow". It's where you look at them and think, "She fertile. Make babies. Talk her. Get number."
As for examples, it's hard to find pictures of women online who 1) have good skin, 2) aren't wearing tons of make-up, and 3) aren't airbrushed. So I've chosen a couple pictures of Denise Minger over at Raw Food SOS. I don't know if she's wearing any make-up in these pictures, but I remember seeing her in person and thinking that she had the glow.
My friend Aleta is another person with beautiful skin, though she didn't used to. She's of an older generation than I am. I don't have a picture of her, but she looks 10 years younger than she actually is. She eats a super high fat paleo diet (and has leaned out the more fat she eats). She is aging beautifully. I mean that. If I were her husband, I would be a very happy man.
I sometimes get the "glow". When I went on Colbert two years ago, they sent me to the make-up chair, and the lady said, "Oh, you have such nice skin, I don't even need to do anything for you." She only put a bit of powder (or something) on my forehead to make sure there wasn't any glare.
I lose the glow too, depending on my lifestyle. Recently, I haven't been sleeping enough or working out enough.
My skin always feels amazing while I'm fasting. I can touch my face with my fingers -- something you're not supposed to do, according to the conventional wisdom -- but I can feel that I'm not going to break out from it. If you have unhealthy, weak skin, it probably doesn't help to touch your face. But if touching healthy skin with your hands caused break-outs, then skin quality wouldn't be a very strong indicator of good health. It would be an indicator that you didn't touch your face.
Men, just to be perfectly clear: you want to wake up next to a woman who looks great without make-up (and knock-out with it), and who, as she ages, looks ten years younger than she actually is. So look for a woman who cares enough about her health that she ends up with the glow. (And if she cares about health, that probably means you should too.)
Thanks to ADR for the thought.
Comments
Have you ever considered
Have you ever considered writing an ebook or guest authoring on other
websites? I have a blog based on the same topics you discuss
and would love to have you share some stories/information. I know my readers would appreciate your work.
If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me an e mail.
I totally agree with you John
I totally agree with you John and it's nice to have a man notice things like that - but as an occasionally make-up wearing woman, I can definitively say that in the first picture, Denise is DEFINITELY wearing eye makeup and lip colour, probably blush and possibly light foundation. It's expertly applied and she certainly knows how to use it. In the second picture she's still wearing a small amount of eye makeup and some lip gloss. It's hard to tell because it's slightly over-exposed, but I don't think she's wearing anything else.Men who are interested in natural health should get a quick tutorial from a woman who knows how to use makeup well. It's often hard to tell "healthy glow" from "superb makeup job" if you've no idea what to look for (and if you live in a city like New York where, in my experience traveling there for business, EVERYONE wears makeup.) It's also worth a trip to places like Seattle, Vancouver or Victoria, where fewer women wear makeup, and those who do generally wear less. (Unless you're in the suburbs. Were I so inclined, there are a PILE of sociology papers that could come out of a study on proximity to a city centre as a predictor of amount of cosmetics used in women aged 15-65.)
Check this video out And
Check this video out And Minger responded
Oh, lord. So I just Googled
Oh, lord. So I just Googled Denise Minger. And it is a double-edged sword. On the one side, she is pretty hot, has sick abs. Oh, and of course, above my primal brain, I notice that she's funny and smart. On the other side, it appears that she has pissed off Durianrider of 30bananasaday fame quite royally. He has a few of his awesome videos where he screams in that wonderful Australian accent of his about how 'w0t d1z b buLLsh1t v3g4nz 1z b3tt3r c0z 1 s4y th3y 1z n th3r3 b n0th1n' j00 c4n d0 4b0ut 1t c0z 1m v3g4n n 1m b3tt3r th4n j00 1z j00 stup1d p00py br41n m34t 34t3r w444444h'. Brilliant argument, really. His use of logic and reason is unmatched. Oh, wait, actually, as he would say, 'n0 1t 1snt h3 b 4rgu1n' fr0m n 3m0t10n4L st4ndp01nt n0t fr0m @ sc13nt1f1c 0n3 n b w1LL1n' 2 l13 2 m4k3 h1z sw0rn 3n3m13z l00k b4d'.
I too have noticed how much
I too have noticed how much better my skin seems when I fast. I ate like crap this past thanksgiving and noticed immediately that I started to break out.
After reading some anecdotes
After reading some anecdotes of Richard the Controversial over at freetheanimal.com, I stopped wearing deodorant, using soap, shampoo and even shaving cream. No chemicals of the sort touch my skin. And it has never looked better. I've stopped breaking out (because of stopping dairy intake, too, of course). I no longer have dandruff. No itching. I used to get nasty gunk behind my ears, and would scrub that area religiously and relentlessly with very astringent cleaners daily. Stopped doing that, no more gunk. Convential wisdom states I should be 'crunchy,' but my skin looks amazing, I smell great (one of my classmates said I smell like a dewy forest, wanted to know what cologne I use, that was a fun conversation) and all of the symptoms that skin products ARE SUPPOSED to take care of have ultimately ceased. I've also been sleeping on the floor, per some of the posts on this site, but that's for another time. The point is: people haven't developed 'healthy, beautiful skin' in the last fifty years or however long modern cosmetics has been around because of modern cosmetics; if anything, modern cosmetics has made our skin worse.
Chris,I hate cologne on men,
Chris,I hate cologne on men, actually! Granted, you're probably not another gay dude, but as a man I prefer another man's scent. All cologne does is irritate my sinuses! When i say I prefer natural scent, I mean that of a guy with regular daily hygiene practices; not someone who washes infrequently. Actually though, I think a guy's scent is best after a long day. It's very masculine. Or after a hard workout. Again, not the BO of somone who already showers irregulalrly and then works out hard on top of that! As for deodorant, I don't use it either. I do use salt crystals on my pits though. I find that I still smell like me, but without the funk that my accumulate throughout a long, physically active day. (I've been told by people that i actually smell good after a hard workout or after martial arts classes.)
Richard wears deodorant. Old
Richard wears deodorant. Old Spice, in fact.You may, in fact NOTstick, but please be sure. If I have to sit next to some stinky man or woman who's kidding him or herself ONE MORE TIME I'm going to go ballistic. ...not really, but I'm not going to be the one to humor them, either.That being said, I don't use shampoo, but I do wash some my pits with much more than just water.
stink, not stick. But, let's
stink, not stick. But, let's hope you do neither...
Rahsaan, first things first:
Rahsaan, first things first: salt crystals, you say? Tell me more. From there: I have read that the smell of male sweat activates pleasure centers (or something to that effect) in the female brain; of course, this sweat is not the grungy kind from never bathing, but like you are saying, after a workout or a long day. I suppose the smell suggests masculinity on an evolutionary level. As a treehugging hippie, I keep my showers very short: I take two, maybe three a week, and they are never more than three minutes. Yet I never stink. Perhaps my regular swimming has something to do with it: there is always a faint, chlorinated smell about my person, and people seem to like that, it reminds them of summer I suppose, much to their surprise. People always make assumptions when they hear about the Paleo changes I've made to my life: they assume I'm going to stink, but I'm the only one in any group that ever seems to smell like anything human, they assume I'm going to be in pain from sleeping on the floor, but I'm the only one that isn't hobbling or complaining about back pain, they assume I'm going to have bad skin and diarrhea because I eat so much meat, but I'm the only one that has that 'glow' and whose BMs are regular. And finally, they assume I'm going to chastise them at every turn for not being like me, and yet it is I that is always answering questions or shooting their missles (which they shot first) out of the sky.
What about sun exposure?
What about sun exposure? With respect to aging, one's pigmentation relative to one's latitude will have a big effect if you go out in the sun often. What's your take on sunscreen? Going au naturelle is great for vitamin D production and a tan, but the common wisdom is that it will also lead to wrinkly, leathery skin when you're old enoough to not care about seeming fertile anymore. Is there any research or anecdotes regarding diet's effect on preserving skin even with a good amount of sun exposure?Re: skin, I am female and just about never wash my face with soap, although I do use a make-up remover when I wear make-up, and do castor oil cleansing maybe once a week or so. I also touch my face a lot and my skin clarity and tone seems entirely dependent on menstrual cycle - it's like clockwork. During some phases of my cycle my skin is as pretty as can be, but during others I develop acne. I eat a high fat, psuedo Primal diet in the vein of Melisssa McEwan. not sure what kind of experimentation I need to do to get those hormones under control, but I've tried stricter Primal before for a few months with no big difference and am kind of burnt out on it at this point...I also agree that hair is a great indicator, and more than skin, hair is a *long-term* indicator of past health. Having long, lustrous hair is indicative that you've enjoyed good health for at least the past few years.Lastly, what is up with your commenting software? I can't figure out how to get it to do the paragraph breaks I want, and it automatically makes the first sentence the title? It's pretty annoying.
did i just read that you have
did i just read that you have a huge cave crush on denise minger and want to make babies with her??? ...the gene pool would be so blessed!!
haha I thought the same
haha I thought the same thing! John has a crush on Denise for sure! The other guy is right though, who wouldnt? :)
Well who doesn't have crush
Well who doesn't have crush on her? :)
I have a huge crush on her,
I have a huge crush on her, and I'm a happily married woman.
In a similar vein, I'm
In a similar vein, I'm especially attracted to healthy hair. Looking at hair health is also a quick way to weed out vegetarians and vegans (especially useful when dating in a college town).
True.! Clear, even-toned
True.! Clear, even-toned skin, bright eyes and lustrous hair all are how I select sexual partners. Even though I'm selecting men and not women. And nice, straight teeth! If the teeth are the pits, then we can't proceed! Dead serious! John, made-up or maked-up? Okay. I won't police grammar today.
you're right -- "make-up'ed"
you're right -- "make-up'ed" is an abomination to the english language. will correct.
While I agree that teeth are
While I agree that teeth are part of the immediate attraction, it's also more misleading. First of all, many of us have had our teeth corrected. Second, while skin and hair are better indicators of current health, teeth are indicators of the person's nutritional status when they were younger and still developing.
Alex, valid point. That
Alex, valid point. That being said.... teeth are indicative of your current habits. For instance I have a very pretty friend who snacks on junk food all day and she now has a cavity problem. At her last check-up, she had like 10 caries. No joke. That's not sexy or cute ... at all! :-)