My sister, Sonja Regena, me (age 10) and Mom at a family reunion.
A LEGACY OF BEAUTY A
s a blogger, I write articles that shine a spotlight on women trailblazers for Christ. I interview them by first asking a few core questions about beauty. Why? Because I know that many young girls and women struggle with both self-respect and self-love.¹ (Unilever’s Dove did 2 studies that support this.) Believe it or not, those are major barriers that prevent them from exceling. I’ve learned and understand that when a woman looks good, she feels good and gains added confidence to excel. As I see women trailblazers making strides (especially for Christ) I’m often intrigued and want to hear the backstory of how they got to where they are. However, I thought it’s only fair that I also give my readers insight about my life. Let’s start by discussing how my childhood environment laid the foundation for my view on what is beauty. My mother was a licensed cosmetologist and she concentrated on hair care. The reason I say this is because a lot of people may not know that while in school, student cosmetologists are also taught the basics in other areas. They’re taught basic skin care, make-up artistry and nail care. But like a doctor who may specialize in a certain field of medicine, a cosmetologist can take extra training to specialize in an area like aesthetics for skin care or hair coloring as a colorist. My sister and I saw our mother do others’ hair, but we also saw her take care of herself. We saw her take care of her hair and groom herself. That grooming involved tweezing her eyebrows, under arm and leg hair removal, manicures and pedicures. Seeing her groom herself became the standard for my sister and me. We adopted the practice of grooming ourselves because we watched our mother do it. I had many trials and errors learning
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Women Who Rock Nashville
By Amila Rolita
how to cut and style my hair. My goodness! It was so funny – disastrous even – when I was in high school, the things I did to my hair. I experimented with hair color and everything. I was also excited to tweeze my eyebrows for the first time. But, boy did it hurt! When I was a little girl, sometimes my mother would have me put a very thick medical dictionary on top of my head. That thing felt like it weighed a ton. Then, I had to walk from one end of the living room or kitchen to the other. When I reached the other end, I had to carefully turn around and come back. The point was for me to walk keeping the book straight. When I’d turn to come back, I had to do it carefully without the book falling off my head. That was my mother’s way to teach me how to walk gracefully and to improve my posture. Back then I was tomboyish. I liked hanging out and competing with the boys on my block. We would race, climb on top of garages, play softball and volleyball. We played so many games. I had so much fun hanging out with them. So, when my mom had me walking with a book on my head I thought, “What the heck? Why do I have to do this?” It wasn’t until I hit puberty and started to mature, that I began to appreciate the times that my mother taught me those things. She was and remains my foundation of beauty-care (self-care). Little did I know that I would grow to have an interest in and study cosmetology, as well as, aesthetics. Nevertheless, my mother also taught me many principles about beauty. One that stands out to me is “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.” Everyone has their viewpoint of what beauty looks like to them. What looks beautiful to one person may not look beautiful to someone else. Basically, that’s what that saying means. I’m so grateful
