The #individualbeautymovement was born to make a difference at the source by tracing back to the root of a problem in more ways than one. Created to encourage self love and acceptance by abolishing limiting beliefs and redefine what beauty is, the Individual Beauty Movement was a personal journey for me.
My story is life long, and one that feels like a broken record. The lemons to lemonade of stories.
I grew up a very sick child, suffering from a multitude of life altering allergies, yet too young to go down the ‘medical desensitisation’ route. This forced my mother, Jenny, to look at how we can better understand, nourish and optimise our bodies to hopefully give me some sort of life back. Between the ages of 3 to 16 my diet changed and I was poked and prodded by every Eastern and alternative practitioner which healed my anaphylaxis.
Years later I then went on to work alongside a Naturopath and Raw Chef to better my health and LEARN! But my love for self care came young. I use to love accompanying mum to her beauty appointments. Too young to enter a day spa one day, I was gifted a book full of recipes to create your own beauty products. My love for connecting with others and learning about what made them feel good became a passion.
I opened House of Maxx Holistic Skin Clinic in 2015 at the age of 22. A skin clinic that would look at skin concerns and trace that symptom back to a root cause that then sees dietary, lifestyle and stress management suggestions and referrals to TCM and Naturopathy for testing and supplementation on the clients skin care prescription. The goal was to educate and empower others to understand and appreciate the functions of our body and how we are constantly telling ourselves how to better look after oneself through symptoms.
Values and action have always been strongly emphasized around community, innovation, education, inclusivity, sustainability and empowerment. But this meant taking a closer look at the ‘WHY’ of the beauty industry and once again delving deep into the root cause of body dysmorphia and the patriarchal oppression and exploitation of women.
Women can’t win in this world. We are too loud or too quiet. A slut or a prude. Too fat or too thin. Overdone or let go. And we have an obsession with being ageless. Why and who is to blame for this? Well the full answer would change the trajectory of this blog but in short; women are still fighting for equality within a patriarchy. Our value largely coming down to how sexually appealing we are to men, how restrained we are, marriage, beauty and children.
I have worked in the beauty industry since I was fourteen and it became apparent to me how this industry not only capitalised off insecurities but created them to sell the ‘solution’. I didn’t want to operate that way so I created a brand and movement around my values to educate people on what I call ‘beauty marketing BS’. Our skin, bodies and faces have been burnt, squeezed, demonised, hated and ridiculed to fit a standard so irrelevant to its purpose. Our bodies are our home, our skin protects us from the outside world and is a mirror of our health.
So let’s celebrate those amazing ‘flaws’ that keep us alive.”
The industry has recently been under spotlight for the lack of diversity and the ‘exclusiveness’ of beauty. Brands being boycotted over racist remarks from CEO’s and only catering to the white woman. But societal pressures to be attractive isnt exclusive to women either. Men have been ignoring their skin conditions due to homophobic stigma. Oh the dark rabbit hole of the beauty industry goes deep.
The current ‘western beauty standard’ is to be white in colour with ethnic features. Skinny with curves but ONLY in the right places. Tanned but not too dark. Ultra feminine or ultra masculine. Flawless skin with the inability to scar, bruise or discolour. I believe this needs to change and the emphasis of our value not be about our appearance.
The Individual Beauty Movement aims to empower you to love your individuality and educate you on skin health and its function.
In a world of editing apps, filters and marketing it was important to me that this photoshoot be free from makeup, hair styling or retouching. It was instead celebrating how magnificent the human form is; every scar, stretch mark, freckle, condition or bit of texture.
I AM CALLING FOR AND ENCOURAGING YOU ALL TO GET INVOLVED. HERE IS HOW!
This campaign was created purely to make a difference for those that these unrealistic standards deeply effect. So we are asking for your HELP TO SPREAD THE MESSAGE!
Individual Beauty Movement is encouraging EVERYONE to stop editing and filtering their faces and bodies. One way we can take back our power is by pushing back.
Next time you go to upload a photo to social media, leave it unedited, hashtag #individualbeautymovement and tag @house.of.maxx so we can see you and most importantly HELP CELEBRATE YOU.
The point is our internal shouldn’t be measured by our appearance and it takes this generation to have awareness around that and then start implementing change. It’s counterproductive to shame those who are only a product of social conditioning, we must have compassion and awareness.
