What makes a woman feel beautiful? Is it praise from others? I don’t think so. You can give a woman a new look–different than what she’s used to and out of her comfort zone–and you can tell her she’s beautiful all night, but she still won’t believe you!! So what makes a woman feel beautiful?

Some of us feel more beautiful by “doing” things to ourselves.

Many of us feel the need to modify what we have by tweaking, plucking and enhancing ourselves. Some women do this daily and take hours, getting ready, because they feel they have to change themselves in order to fit in. Others don’t care how they look. They may take a quick look in the mirror, maybe brush their teeth and comb their hair, then go out without another thought about their looks for the rest of the day. What makes us all so different? When do some of us decide we need to start changing, modifying and revamping ourselves?

The teenage years seem to be when girls start to become aware of how they look. I’ve seen beautiful, natural blondes decide to color their hair BLACK. Why do they think they need to change their color? Most women spend a lot of money, trying to get the same “purchased” hair color every six weeks. I know I do! Other women accept their gray and still look amazing. So is it the feedback we get from others, or the pressure from society or magazines that influence us? It’s probably all of the above.

When I was a teenager, I swam five and a-half hours a day, in the morning and after school. I didn’t spend a lot of time on my looks. I was lucky to get my thick hair dry in time for school. I didn’t worry about my looks, and didn’t really care, but I was still discovered at 18 and sent to New York to be a model. What changed? Nothing. I still looked the same when I didn’t have my hair and makeup done.

Once in New York, I started to feel the pressure to look good. I watched and listened to the best in the business and learned from their different opinions. I learned that even though one make up artist would make me up one way, another would make changes the very same day, for another shoot, and have a different opinion about what looked best on me. It made me realize I looked good a lot of different ways. I felt more comfortable trying new things and exploring new looks.

Do you think change can be a good thing? What if you venture out and try something new and different? Maybe it’s just a change in your lipstick color or something more drastic like cutting your hair. What if you change something about your looks and see if your friends and family comment, but more importantly, what if it makes you feel better about yourself?