Many people use the words “pretty” and “beautiful” interchangeably and therefore in the wrong contexts.

The dictionary defines beauty as : “That quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or spirit.” On the other hand, it defines “ pretty” as: “Being attractive in a delicate way without being truly beautiful.”

These two words mean different things because prettiness is just one of the aspects of beauty, which is even not a necessary aspect. When we examine both definitions, we see that about 95 percent of women have lost their beauty, but most of them are pretty. The beauty of a woman relies on inner and moral qualities like decency, originality, self - respect, consciousness and so on. Most women nowadays can identify with none of these qualities, but they think they are beautiful.

Women of the 21st century cannot match with the definition of decency. They mistake fashion for indecency. Women think looking good or being fashionable means exposing intimate parts of the body. Any woman who dresses indecently will never be respected or taken serious. Dressing is a very important piece of identification. That explains why various professions have their various uniforms or dressing codes that identify with them.

Prostitution as a profession has its own dressing code which is indecency. What should a woman then expect to be called when she dresses like one.

There is a saying which goes thus; “dress to be addressed.” One can still dress decently and look good. Indecent dressing simply makes a woman look cheap, and easy to get.

Another quality that a beautiful woman should have is “originality.” Unfortunately, this quality is extinct. Most women have taken it upon themselves to challenge God by deforming His creation in the name of “make up.” Almost everything on a woman’s body is artificial, for example; hair(mesh), nails, eyelashes, eye contact and so on.

Some put these things in a much exaggerated manner that they tend to look like caricatures. Another phenomenon that has enveloped the women folk is the tendency to “bleach”, that is to change their complexion from dark to fair, or fair to fairer, with the aid of very harsh body lotions and other chemicals which are dangerous to human skin.

These have many negative effects on the women. It renders them as spotted as a football, with black and white spots making them look like stage clowns. This spots occur because some malignant parts of the body do not respond to these chemicals, thereby keeping their original colour or complexion.

After all, nature cannot be cheated. Also, these chemicals and lotions make their skin so soft and fragile, leaving them with only about 50 percent chance to survive a surgery, or to heal from a wound.

Women think that beauty is colour. They forget that “black is beauty”, and one of the characteristics of a true African woman is her dark colour. A beautiful woman should try to be natural. If she has to “make up”, she should do so to impress and not to disgust.

Another quality a beautiful woman should possess is self-respect/consciousness. Nowadays, women do not respect themselves. Girls, like women, are the same. They respond to or interact with any man that comes their way without having a second thought. This explains why we can find a married woman cheating on her husband, or two women/girls fighting over a man.

Materialism is the brain behind this lack of self-respect and consciousness. Women are very materialistic and money-minded. They can be with any and many men at a time provided they are capable of providing them with money and other flashy things they need.

A beautiful woman should learn to be firm and have a personality. People and their appearances or possessions should not influence her thinking and behaviour. Materialistic women are easily derailed.

If women try to be truly beautiful, men will be positively influenced too and the world will be a better place. Women always ask themselves why men cheat on their wives, or why boys date many girls at a time. The reason is simple. They are looking for a beautiful woman, not a pretty one.

If a man cheats, it is because he has not found a reason not to. He has not yet seen that one woman who is beautiful, so he can cling to. A man told The Post: “All women are the same. The same desires, the same troubles and the same deeds. I have not yet seen a special and different woman, so I am still searching.”

Women should be wise. A man cannot be expected to marry a woman whose desires are above his means, or a woman whose dressing style and past life will reflect ill of him. As it is said: “as you make your bed, so shall you lie on it.” One can only reap what he or she sows. Women should be careful so as not to reap shame and regret.

*The writer is a UB Journalism Student on internship