It's no secret that the cosmetic industry has been booming with a huge rise in online advertising over the past few years. It has become so accessible for anyone with just about any social media account to see ads promoting cosmetic products on a variety of well known models and actresses. "Want lips like Kylie Jenner? Here's her new lip kit!" "Dying to have skin like Vanessa Hudgens? Try Neutrogena." Even Ellen Degeneres is a Covergirl! Many of these models are women that girls see often in the media, follow on Instagram and Twitter and look up to as personal role models in their own lives.
With makeup being constantly endorsed everywhere you look these days, it has become more of a norm for women and girls to want to wear it. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it has created a lot of controversy and led to a bit of a double standard in society.
A few years ago, in my senior year of high school, I student-taught a 2nd grade class for one of my courses that focused on child psychology. For the first few weeks of teaching, I dressed up and put more effort into my appearance than I usually did for high school. One day I was running late and didn't have time to put any makeup on. Almost right away one of my young students spoke up and said I looked a bit different that day. I explained that I didn't have makeup on my face. Thankfully, I got the response I was hoping for. "What's makeup?" And even better yet, she followed it up with, "I like you better this way." From that day on I made a point to not wear any makeup when I student taught. I thought about how easy it was back in early elementary school when nobody cared what you wore or how you looked. I wanted to be a role model and keep these kids from rushing into adulthood like I feel so many kids are doing today.
Not only is there pressure from society to wear makeup and "cover those problem areas/blemishes etc.," but on the other side there are people criticizing girls for wearing makeup and "covering their natural beauty." So which is correct? The answer is neither. Women shouldn't be pressured either way into thinking they look better with or without makeup. We should be able to look the way we choose to look each day and be supported and respected for whichever decision we make, because it is a personal decision.
Makeup is fun! So much so that some people even choose it as a profession. It can be used to create many unique and beautiful looks. Cosmetics can even be looked at as an art form with naked faces as the blank canvases. Some "beauty gurus" have found fame on YouTube from their makeup tutorials and have generated millions of followers. Some have even gotten so popular that they are able to make a decent living off of YouTube alone!
Girls should not be discouraged from wearing makeup if it is something that they like to do. They should never feel obligated to hide their natural beauty, but so long as they love themselves and feel confident with or without a bare face, there is no harm is getting "glammed up" just because.
What our society needs to focus on instead is building each other up for our unique looks and preaching positivity rather than tearing each other down out of our own insecurity. We must stop linking makeup to celebrities suggesting that if girls want to be beautiful, like a celebrity, they need a certain product to do so. We need to remind one another that, makeup or no makeup, the only person we should want to be at the end of the day is the person we already are. After all, this is the way God made us and it is so important that we learn to respect and love ourselves before taking on critiques from those around us.
So ladies, put your makeup brushes in the air and wave them like you just don't care what people think, because you shouldn't.
