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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Told to wear make-up as part of beauty therapy course

23 replies

DarcyBee · 13/09/2011 20:49

I am wondering whether AIBU to think this is pretty outrageous.

I did a beauty therapy course last year and we were told part of the course was that we had to wear make-up in order to look pretty and presentable. I do wear foundation and mascara but that's about it, I think some people look worse with make-up than without! I could understand this request if it were a make-up course...... AIBU?

OP posts:

hadagutsfull · 13/09/2011 20:55

Erm I don't understand why you are asking now if the course was last year??

But yes, I think YABU - par for the course I would say (no pun intended!)

AgentZigzag · 13/09/2011 20:56

Were you really told to wear it to look pretty?

Original poster

DarcyBee · 13/09/2011 20:57

Yes we were, pretty & presentable! I'm asking as I wasn't on MN last year & still wonder about it even though it was a year ago

OP posts:

lesley33 · 13/09/2011 20:59

I don't agree with the principle behind it i.e. you have to wear make up to look presentable. But tbh its pretty much the attitude I would expect on a beauty therapy course.

glitterkitten · 13/09/2011 20:59

Well I wouldn't want to pay for beauty advice from someone who looked ungroomed. You are an advert for your own services. Makes perfect sense to me. If you object to "prettification" you're surely in the wrong profession?!

squeakytoy · 13/09/2011 20:59

In fairness, surely on a beauty therapy course, you would expect make up to be part of it?

Original poster

DarcyBee · 13/09/2011 21:02

No there wasn't make up. I think one of the main problems was that the young girls on the course would come in caked in make-up and I saw this as being actively encouraged by being told you needed to wear make up to be on the course, it wasn;t a good look and did little for their self esteem.

OP posts:

meditrina · 13/09/2011 21:02

Did they have parallel and equally detailed instructions for any men on the course (grooming standards, fingernails) etc?

Nanny0gg · 13/09/2011 21:03

My neice had to always wear make-up when she trained and worked as hairdresser.

Goes with the industry.

Original poster

DarcyBee · 13/09/2011 21:04

Yes for men about general cleanliness, no about the make-up. I do think you can look well groomed and professional without make-up.

OP posts:

squeakytoy · 13/09/2011 21:06

But surely most girls who want to go on a beauty course, go on it because they have an interest in beauty, and make up ..

hadagutsfull · 13/09/2011 21:08

I understand why you are asking now then Darcy but I still think that in the beauty industry you would be expected to be well groomed, which includes make up. It's part of the package. If I go for a treatment (not often enough, sadly!) I would think it odd if the beautician wasn't made up TBH.

DoMeDon · 13/09/2011 21:09

YABU to think it's outrageous. A bit old fashioned maybe but typical of the industry.

FWIW I would prefer the women I work with to wear make up and insisted on it when I was a boss. I think everyone can improve on what they have. I am keen to take scissors to one male colleagues locks.

LesserOfTwoWeevils · 13/09/2011 21:10

I was working yesterday with a professional makeup artist who wasn't wearing a single scrap of makeup, had perfect skin and was the prettiest, neatest person I've seen for years.

slavetofilofax · 13/09/2011 21:10

NVQ's are about preparing people to do a specific job, and it will be expected, when applying for job and working in the beauty industry, that 'a light day make up' will be worn.

I did the course as something to do for the sake of it when I left school and had no idea what to do, and make up was part of the course then.

I think you can look well groomed and professional without make up, but you don't look like a beauty therapist without make up.

I really can't see what your problem is with it. If you don't like wearing make up you really shouldn't be in the beauty industry.

Original poster

DarcyBee · 13/09/2011 21:12

Hmmm yes I suppose, perhaps I was just feeling disgruntled because I don't like being told I have no choice in the matter... I do wear make-up out of choice but like having the choice!

OP posts:

thefirstMrsDeVere · 13/09/2011 21:12

I dont think you should have to wear full make up in that horribly visable way that has become fashionable.

Well groomed, clean and with natural make up would make me think someone knew what she was doing tbh.

I was in Selfridges last week and I was looking at the Minerals Makeup stuff. A young girl came up to me and asked me if I was interested. I said I had tried mineral stuff and it felt heavy and I thought the colours were a bit orangy ( I am a huge make up fan and have been wearing it for decades). She said 'well we all wear it and its fine'. I looked up and saw a pretty girl with a face the colour of a jaffa and that air brushed mask look and two eyes that looked like spiders had sat on her eyelids.

SHE thought that was normal.

The world has gone bonkers (and I was a teenager in the 80s so am no stranger to slap)

fluffles · 13/09/2011 21:13

i don't think it should be expected to wear make up - for example if a beauty therapist has natural glowing skin then that's a fantastic advert for her work imo.

i would not take a facial from somebody an inch thick in foundation.. i would wonder what they were covering up.

i would say that clear skin (or, if spotty then very well covered), groomed eyebrows and no moustache (on a woman) would be the expectations of a beauty therapist in our society - not necessarily makeup.

Mrswhiskerson · 13/09/2011 21:17

Looking the part is part of the job , it should be more about looking groomed and polished than pretty ifyswim

I used to work for a couple of cosmetic houses as a makeup artist and had to have full makeup at all times perfectly done but I loved it and the best showcase for my product and skills is myself, same with hairdressers and beauty therapists

glitterkitten · 13/09/2011 21:17

OP, well applied subtle make up shows far more skill than the orange trowel type. As has been said by another poster ( sorry I forgot your name!) I wouldn't take advice from anyone inch thick in make up either!

celticlassie · 13/09/2011 21:23

When I was a holiday rep we were told to wear make up. On the employee handbook it said: "Remember, mascara and lipstick take only a little time but make the world of difference."(!) It was ages ago, but really stuck in my mind.

fluffles · 13/09/2011 22:09

that's funny celticlassie because in some areas reps are always fresh-faced - skiing in particular, most ski reps we've had are tanned and clean but never have more than a touch of lip balm and mascara.

[skiing is the only holiday i do with 'reps' so i'm sure other types of holiday are different]

Spuddybean · 13/09/2011 22:46

When i was 20 i worked as a receptionist at a beauty salon. I always wore foundation which matched my skin, light eye make up, mascara, natural colour blusher and lipstick. But my manager kept having the therapists make me over (i had already done a nvq in make up application - so i knew what i was doing) as she said i wasn't wearing any make up. (just because i wasn't orange!). And then 'giving' me products far too dark for my pale skin but taking the money for them out of my wages.

The manager also said my hair was untidy (it was long and layered), despite being washed and blow dried every day. She just didn't like it -even when i tied it back. 2 days after i had spent £80 on a cut i wanted, she booked me in with her hairdresser for a bob (what she had).

I went into work and she announced she had instructed the hairdresser exactly how she wanted it cut. I said absolutely no way. The next day i was fired as i 'wasn't fitting in'!!

She was shot dead quite soon after that by her best friend. Unrelated of course, but all very surreal. She wasn't very nice.

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