Beauty Is Pain
In the Nacirema society, some succeed with this ritual and some don't. As a member of this complex and peculiar society, you are expected to participate in some way or judgement is probable. You must give a gift to be a part of the Nacirema ritual of the face. Some gifts may be heavier while some lighter. You must be cautious of the many steps in the ritual regularly practiced every rising of the sun or consequences may follow. Hopefully each night you cleanse yourself of the waxes, oils, pigments, preservatives, and paints from the previous ritual, or else health risks may arise. This ceremony will increase your chances for eye infections, and if not removed properly, will increase your chances for sores and inflamed sebaceous glands on the face.
Once you have cleansed yourself, you are prepared for the next day’s ritual. This practice is focused solely towards females, in fact, if you are a male and perform this ritual you may be publicly humiliating yourself. First, you begin by choosing the perfect pigment of liquid for your complexion. This pigment is used to perfect the skin and hide your insecurities. Picking the wrong shade for your face will cause embarrassment. Next, you have the option to apply dark shades of powder into the deep hollows of the cheeks to enhance the bones in your face. Then, powder can be applied on top of all of the products. These powders can be found in almost every color imaginable and application is so revered that templates depicting how to go through it are commonplace.
After the powder has set, the next step is to take a sharply pointed stick dipped or filled with pigments and drag it across the rim of their eyes to trace their oculus with dark colors. This practice can be extremely dangerous, having a lance so close to one’s optical lense, and requires a steady hand. They then move onto their next rather perplexing step where a woman must use a magic wand with fibers attached all around the end and dip it into a thick, dark mixture of metal powders, waxes, and oils. The Nacirema people then open their mouths and widen their eyes in concentration as they carefully brush all of the cilia lining their organs of sight; coating them with the sticky black material. It is very common for this wand to make contact with the eye causing excruciating pain and discomfort. This part of the face ritual is the most like an art form requiring women to apply the heavy, sticky mixture with great care to ensure there is not too much of the concoction applied and that it is smeared evenly across all of the cilia or face being shamed by their community.
Next, moving on to the mouth. In Nacirema, standing out among the rest of its people in the right way is crucial. Shades of pinks, reds, and even deep brown and black can be applied to the lips. The colors vary from as red as blood to as black as coal. They add character to your ritual and identify you. Lastly, one should take their pony-hair brush and apply more red powder tints to the sides of the face almost giving an embarrassed look or as if another Nacirema has pinched the cheeks of the one performing the ritual. This wraps up the Nacirema crucial face ritual for women. Stay tuned for more tips and information regarding the Nacirema culture.
