You can ask any of my friends about my love of makeup. I've always been the girl who had to wear makeup whenever I left the house. I have more makeup at once than any person should own over their entire lifetime. My love of makeup has been since my youth, since the age of 13 I've only left the house with a full face of makeup on. Half of this habit was established because of my terrible acne, while the other half was my conformity to the social construct of wearing makeup. Which turned into my love and obsession with my makeup. In the past year my skin has cleared significantly, however over that same period of time I lost half the hair in my right eyebrow. To be completely honest, I looked like a Bond villain. Because of the hair loss I became even more dependent on my makeup, I didn't feel like a women without it. I compensated for my missing eyebrow with my makeup. So going into my week without makeup I was concerned mainly with my eyebrow and if I would look okay.
The first day I didn't wear makeup was the most nervous I have ever been. I was concerned about my eyebrow, I had never shown up to any class without it filled in. When I got to class, no one noticed anything. Not my eyebrow, not my bare skin; absolutely nothing was negatively noticed. The only comments I received were positive. One girl told me that I looked glowy, while another told me that my skin looked flawless. I wasn't expecting this at all.
Tuesdays are always horrible for me. I have four classes, one of which is a three hour long night class. The thing that got me through the day was the fact that I got to sleep in an hour longer than usual; I had finished my homework for my classes the night before and I didn't need to put on makeup to go to school. I woke up 15 minutes before I usually leave for class, it was amazing.
Wednesday I had a presentation for my Shakespeare on Film class, my under eye circles were a little more pronounced and shadowy than usual and I had used a hydrating mask the night before that had made me breakout a little. I didn't let these little things bother me, as soon as I left my room I forgot that I wasn't wearing makeup. Once again no one commented on my lack of makeup, and by this point I doubted that they even knew the difference.
Thursday I woke up and rolled out of bed, showered, then went to class. I had managed to condense my morning routine to 20 minute with a shower. I would say this was my greatest achievement of the week. Still no one commented on my eyebrows, which in my mind is pretty astonishing considering that they are different shades. I babysat for a family for the first time and the older daughter though I was so cool for not wearing makeup, so I felt pretty good after that.
On Fridays I don't have classes, so I worked on my homework in the library and ran a few errands. I had joked about going to a party without makeup the entire week and it was even funnier than I had imagined it being. Both my friend and I wore pajamas and no make up to a party, no one said anything and I still received a "hey you up" text later that night while I was asleep. So I would call that a win.
By Saturday and Sunday I had become so used to not wearing makeup that I didn't even notice or really care that I wasn't wearing makeup.
The week I spent not wearing makeup will most likely define my life. It showed me that I didn't need perfectly done makeup to feel good about myself and to make and retain friends. I learned this week that I am more than my face, more than my newly grown eyebrow, and more than people's judgements. Before I was a girl who only wore makeup, now I am not. Now I am a girl who doesn't need makeup to make her happy.
