What Makes Her A Natural Beauty?

Platinum blonde and the fake n’ bake are a thing of the past. This rang true to me during a recent visit to Vancouver Island, where hippie-chic, au-natural beauty is the norm. In a city where most would tell you that a male:female ratio of 1:7 makes for a highly competitive dating market, its reassuring to see that indeed less is more. Less makeup, less product, less pressure to be anything but the natural beauty that they are.

Today’s women are celebrated not just for the natural look but for the embodying beauty holistically. And men, though we certainly do not need their approval, are just as happy as we are to ditch the superficial exterior created by chemical based cleansers and lost hours with straighteners for essential oil extracts and natural-curl comebacks. Even more, for some men, natural beauty lies not in mineral makeup and algae mascara as the natural beauty industry may have us believe, but rather – according to the handsome young man seated next to me in this café - natural beauty is “that which is there when your looks fade away.” The glowing goddess beside him reiterates that natural beauty is the “natural glow that we women exude when we are able to define ourselves and simply be real”.

The city of Victoria, B.C. proudly houses many naturally beautiful faces and spaces. Women wander with Pacific Ocean infused locks and sulfate free skin – shining amidst the gloomy backdrop that is West coast weather. One natural beauty explains

“I moved to Victoria because I felt I could be me here. Everything is more natural. When you bike to work and head to yoga at lunch, you don’t worry so much about uncomfortable shoes and eye liner. You usually get rained on anyway and end up looking worse. We have some of the lowest cancer rates here in B.C. and one of the healthiest populations. Natural beauty just works..."

With endless options for natural clothing stores, natural skincare stores, natural health food stores and even natural jobs, its not surprising to me that the women on Vancouver Island are paving the way for women everywhere to uncover their pores and unearth the beauty within.

*Ashley