Everyday we tell girls that the way they look isn't good enough. We tell them everyday that their natural faces are not enough. They need be to modified.
This probably isn't how you describe the concept of makeup to yourself, to be honest this isn't how I would describe it day to day, but I've always had a thought or two every once in awhile about what I'm actually doing. What we're actually doing.
So here’s the argument I've heard over and over again, "If you don't like it, don't wear it." "No one is forcing you to wear makeup." This is one hundred percent true. No one is actually forcing anyone to wear makeup. But it's not that simple.
I wear makeup far less now in college from class to class than I did in high school. In high school, I'd try to wear a little bit everyday. But sometimes you miss your alarm and wake up late. Sometimes you don't want to wake up an extra 45 minutes early, to set aside time to throw a bunch of gunk all over your face. Do you know what I was so sick of hearing?
"Are you sick?" "Wow, you look really tired."
People got so used to seeing you made up and every feature of your face at its most exemplified, that when you stopped for a day, they thought you were actually ill. Your checks weren't as rosy, your eyelashes not as long, maybe some blemishes here or there were showing, so you must be under the weather. One time after I responded to a girl asking me if I was sick with a short "no," she replied with something along the lines of
"Don't worry, I look awful when I'm tired too."
That one stuck with me. I was in tenth grade.
I wasn't tired. It was just my natural face that day. My natural skin, my natural lips, my natural eyes.
“Awful.”
I've had adult women in my life tell me upon getting ready that I wasn't wearing enough makeup to go about my day and make a good impression. It’s wasn’t out of menace, it was never a comment meant to hurt me, but it was a comment meant to help me because sadly enough, in many circumstances it’s true. But why is the way my face looks a judge of my character? Why does that measure my performance level? Why does covering up my face in the morning make me look more professional? Is my natural face really that unsettling? My future boss might think I'm not put together if I don’t wear makeup? My future clients might be turned off from the quality of my complexion?
It's not that I hate makeup. It can be really fun. I enjoy walking into an Ulta or a Sephora and going gaga over the array of colors and products. But its because I know makeup, I feel better while wearing it. If I'm not wearing makeup, my confidence is at least shot in half. And sometimes while wearing it, it's barely there. If I'm going somewhere out of the ordinary or above grocery shopping attire, I need to be wearing it. If not, I just won't feel good about myself. When I don't wear makeup to class, I'm consciously thinking about who might see me walking around campus. I'm thinking about who might ridicule me in their head or think I'm a mess because I didn't have time this morning to get all dolled up. I feel inferior to the girls that are wearing makeup that day. I feel I am of lesser value compared to them. And I can’t help it, because 90% of them are wearing it.
Going back to my comment about enjoying looking at products in store, one experience I had after walking into a Sephora was not so pleasant but rather eye opening. Upon seeing a shade of blush holding the title, "Super Orgasm," followed by another named "Deep Throat," then another “Sex Appeal,” and a mascara called "Perversion," all I could think think about were the little girls that walk into those stores with their mothers that want to be just like them. Maybe I just couldn't help but think about it considering the fact that I was surrounded by young girls anywhere from my guess of five to seventeen, that were there at that moment wondering around the store. Perhaps their mother was there picking up some "Better Than Sex" waterproof mascara, or they were old enough to venture in alone or with some friends. I really started to question what we're teaching women to value and why everything is so body based for them. For us. And not to mention hyper-sexualized.
When a young girl wakes up in the morning to get ready for school, or a woman gets up to prepare for work, her first thought isn't what she's going to accomplish that day. Her first thought is the appearance of her body. That is what matters most the moment that she wakes up.
*The term “we” in this article can be used subjectively or all inclusively, considering society, the beauty industry, the media, and any other contributing factors that come to mind. I don't think I could possibly cover them all so I've kept this article informal.
*I do not believe that makeup exists exclusively for one gender however I am writing to express some ideas about the social norms that have been centered solely around one specific gender in particular when it comes to wearing makeup.
