Many women think of the old adage, “beauty is pain” everyday. A friend recently told STYLE about a trip she took to Abuja. While making her way down the narrow steps of a prestigious five-star hotel, one night, wearing six inches pump heels, she lost her footing and landed wrong-side-up, flashing her red thong to a crowd rivaling that of a WWW wrestling match. The fall required twenty stitches on her forehead and going for physiotherapy. Though she still grimaces when recounting the episode, she hasn’t sworn off high heels yet.
High heels may be the most glaring example of a treacherous fashion trend, they certainly don’t stand alone. Oversized earrings, trending choker neck-piece, squeezing into breath-constricting skinny jeans, big bags, high collar shirts, waist trainer, make-ups made with dangerous chemicals, and so on, are all potential perils. Here are some fashion trends that could lead to maiming, discomfort and even death.
Choker neckpiece-This statement neckpiece that is taking the fashion scene by storm, as the name suggests, has the possibility of choking or strangulatiing you!
Oversized earrings- When you are combing or brushing your hair, you can inadvertently catch the earrings in the teeth of the comb or brush and tear your earlobe.
Lipsticks- cadmium, a metal found in the majority of lipsticks, is known to cause cancer and is found in many breast cancer biopsies.
High heels- It is important to note that high heels restrict one’s ability to run if caught in a dangerous situation. It can also cause foot pain, bone and nerve damage, restricted blood circulation and damaged tendons.
Stiff high collar shirts- While most of the fashion trends on this list were reserved for women, the stiff high collar shirts are trending for men. If not careful, these tight collars could cause asphyxiation.
Waist trainer- waist trainers make the hips look curvy and voluptuous due to its extreme waist cinching result. It is important to note that in addition to restricting movement, waist trainers can cause indigestion, constipation, frequent fainting from difficulty breathing and even internal bleeding.
Fashionable big bags- you might be eating healthy and working out regularly but, the unlikely trigger for your health problems could be your choice of over-sized handbags. These stylish bags, of course, look glamorous but in reality, can cause severe damages to muscles and joints.
Skinny jeans- If your jean is so tight that you have to lie on the bed and take a deep breath just to zip up, it could affect your muscles and nerve fibers in the leg.
Being a beauty queen has transformed my life —Miss Western Nigeria
About the Miss Western beauty pageant
It is a new beauty pageant aimed at bringing Yoruba people together. I contested because I wanted to be part of the process of uniting the Yoruba race. Though I didn’t believe I could win because I didn’t know much about competition, I decided to give it a trial.
My experience so far
It has been easy and at the same time not too easy. I have had to interact with a lot of people and I have done some things that I could not do before. For instance, I am at present working on cervical cancer, I am not a medical student but I have to work with medical personnel, so as to know more about the disease so I can educate people about it. I chose to work on cervical cancer because the awareness for this type of cancer is not as much as that of breast cancer. So, I am working on it so that people can know more about it.
What I have done so far
We have shared bills, but we still have to do some campaigns so we have sent letters to some people for support. We are still expecting their response so as to move on to the next step.
How being a beauty queen has transformed my life
It has changed my way of life; the way I relate with people in public has changed. Before, everybody was not my friend but now everybody is my friend.
What I hope to achieve at the end of my tenure
At the end of my tenure, I want a lot of people to know about Miss Western Nigeria because it is a new beauty pageant. Also, I want people to have known more about cervical cancer.
On the allegation that you have to sleep with the organisers before you can emerge the winner
Actually that was my belief too when I was growing up but when I got to camp nothing of such ever happened; the pageant went the normal way it should. The organisers were friendly; they took us like their children and educated us.
Advice to young people
Life is all about trial so always give something a trial.
and then