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I am not the industry

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Souris
Heather Ross, the 17-year-old daughter of
Maureen Campbell of Dingwells Mills and
Aaron Ross in Vietnam, believes that
beauty is a reflection of how you feel about
yourself, not what the beauty industry tells
young people they should look like. She is
using a Facebook group to encourage
other young people to embrace their true
beauty.

Guardian photo by Mary MacKay

BY MARY MACKAY
The Guardian
November 5, 2008

One P.E.I. teen is using a Facebook group to encourage other young people to ignore what the beauty industry tells them and embrace the beautiful people that they are.

It is a battle of beauty against the beast.

One Prince Edward Island teenager is fighting the beauty industry by helping young people to embrace their true magnificence, with all its quirks and quarks.

Heather Ross, 17, of Dingwells Mills, near Fortune, has created a Beauty vs. Industry group on Facebook asking young people to share what makes them who they are.

It can be good, bad or a mix of both, but first and foremost it has to be real, not what the beauty industry implies that they should be with its intensely advertised messages.

And it seems that Heather’s Beauty vs. Industry Facebook group has struck a chord with young people. In little more than a week, membership is almost 300 and the personal picture profiles, featuring the good, the bad and the beautiful in each person, have nearly topped the 40 mark.

“The thing is every time I come back it’s just grown a little!’’ says Heather, who is a Grade 12 student at Souris Regional High School.

"It makes me so excited, not because it's like 'Oh look at how good I am at making people join my group', it's not about that. It's girls and guys who recognize themselves as beautiful and also it's learning to love yourself.''

The idea started when Heather made her own refreshing profile for Facebook during the Christmas holidays.

"I just made it because I thought how I really like who I am and other people like who I am. And I thought about people telling me I'm beautiful but it's not because I have tanned skin, blonde hair and a double D cup or anything. It's something different," she says in her straightforward manner.

"And so I thought about the contrast about what's beautiful and what the industry says is beautiful and expects from beauty."

She bandied the idea of a Facebook group with her friend, Olivia Skagos, who lives in British Columbia.

With her friend onboard, Heather created the Beauty vs. Industry group about a week ago with their profiles to start with. She invited her friends to join and make a profile of themselves.

"I said, 'You know I think you're beautiful and I don't think it matters what the industry thinks. So if you think you're beautiful you should join and make a profile so that others can see how beautiful they are'."

Others quickly mirrored Heather's honest and humorous approach to her profile.

"Writing it is just a fun experience in itself and I want other people to feel that too. Because just making that little thing, even if you don't show it to anybody you're still writing it out and you're happy with yourself and that's what I like."

Heather happily thumbs through some of the latest profile additions, including one from Elora that reads: "My socks don't match. My shoes are Payless, not Prada but I am happy. I've got people who love me. I'll speak my mind and wear two different socks if I feel like it. I'll play in the rain because I'm not afraid to get my hair wet. I'm happy just the way I am. I am me, NOT the industry."

The format that Heather used as a layout for her own profile — a photo which is a backdrop to the written content — has also become a basic template for others who then take it off in their own direction.

"What I really enjoy is that people aren't being timid about what they are writing," says Heather.

"And they are just saying what makes them them and those are the things (that) are wonderful."

Look for Heather Ross's Facebook group at www.facebook.com. Search for Beauty vs. Industry. It is at present located on the second page of the group listings.

Copyright
Waldron H. Leard

ekpei.ca

Dingwell's Mills

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