We talk a lot about bodies, both here online and in person at the shop. We try to be mindful, however, with the language we use on the subject. Discussions of “beauty” and being/feeling “beautiful” in the context of body image, acceptance, and self-love makes me uncomfortable. Like, really uncomfortable. We avoid that phrasing at Grail pretty much entirely. Why? Do we believe there’s something wrong with feeling beautiful? Is it a bad thing to want?

Nope! Your feelings and desires are entirely your own. No one has the right to dictate the “correct” relationship for you to have with your own body. But it’s not our place, from a customer service perspective or from a plain old human-to-human perspective, to presuppose what beauty means to you individually or to assume that beauty is a goal. Furthermore, putting “beauty” at the forefront of the body image conversation just reinforces the gross notion that a woman’s physical appearance is her most important quality, even to herself.

We want you to be kind to yourself, to value yourself, to believe that the person you are is inherently worthy. Beauty is not a necessary piece of that puzzle at all.