I don’t use the word ‘boss’ lightly.
But 27-year-old Alaha Karimi, a New York woman who shared an image of herself applying impressive amounts of makeup while in labour, is a boss.
Karimi gave birth to a baby girl just over a month ago, and shared this image with her 94,000 followers on Instagram:
I LOVE this woman. I just love her SO much. I love that she didn’t try to go for a natural look. I love that she’s wearing glittery eyeshadow. I love that she’s wearing fake eyelashes. But most of all I love how she just OWNS it.
“Yes, I went full glam lol and I’ll post more pics later of me doing my makeup DURING Labor and pausing for the severe contractions lol,” she wrote. “And yes, I wore my @hudabeauty @shophudabeauty mink lashes in “SOPHIA” since it was appropriate lol.”
Predictably, some users weren’t too happy about Alaha’s priorities. “Damn she’s vain. Why would you want to put lipstick all on the baby, or did you even kiss him or her?,” asked one user, clearly very, very concerned for the wellbeing of the baby, and not being judgey AT ALL.
“Poor kid you don’t deserve to be a mom,” wrote another angry person who presumably is the official arbiter of who does and who does not get to be a parent.
As can be expected (because she’s a BOSS) Alaha responded with sass AND some further product placement. “lol I actually kissed her a lot! Thanks to my transfer proof, waterproof @jeffreestarcosmetics liquid lipsticks! Nothing vain about getting my mind off the contractions by doing something I love–applying makeup. That being said, stop being so judgmental, from the looks of your picture, you look old enough to be my mom lol!”
In her original post, Alaha promised to “post more pics later of me doing my makeup DURING Labor and pausing for the severe contractions lol,”, and of course, she delivered.
“Three weeks ago at this time I was finishing up my makeup and getting ready for my princess to make her appearance,” she wrote. “I was pausing during contractions and picking up where I left off once the contractions passed.”
It’s not everyday you see the words ‘makeup’ and ‘contractions’ within the same paragraph. But Karimi didn’t want to come off completely makeup-obsessed, so she continued, “I only packed some of my favorite products in my hospital bag.”
For those of us who were wondering what makeup we should bring to the hospital when we go into labour, don’t worry, Alaha has you covered. She’s tagged THIRTEEN separate products that helped her achieve the coveted ‘I’m-in-labour-but-still-want-to-be-pretty’ look.
It was at this point that people started to realise the extent to which Alaha is an absolute boss. “Goals of life,” wrote one user. “This will be me soon,” said another. The posts have since been turned into a viral meme, to hopefully bring joy to even more people’s lives:
The reason I love Alaha is because she simply did what she needed to do to get through her labour.
She told Today, “I was Googling ways to overcome the pain, because it was just unbearable, and one of the suggestions was to put on some music and do something you love — so that’s what I did.”
In terms of advice for other women, Alaha says, “If makeup is your thing, do that.”
“But if knitting is your thing, then do that — make a sweater! Do something that will distract you from the pains of labor. It’s a crazy time, and now, I don’t think of the pain. I look at the photos and I laugh. And I’m kind of proud of myself because I know I was able to make it through the pain and still enjoy myself.”
She says that the criticism that she was compromising her baby’s health was ridiculous, because “in reality, anyone who’s been through labour knows that it’s just a waiting game. There was nothing I could do.”
Alaha isn’t the only person in recent memory to discuss applying makeup for her birth. In one episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians Kourtney’s water breaks, and her first instinct is to have a shower and put some makeup on. When Scott asks her why she’s bothering, she calmly responds, “so I look nice for the photos.”
Fair enough.
Ultimately, the way you deal with your own labour is entirely personal. And being willing to own that, without second guessing yourself, makes you an absolute boss.