AIBU to wear makeup to work everyday?

[Nicebucket]

Ok, bear with me! I know it's a silly question but I'm curious to hear your opinions on this.

I wear makeup five to six days a week. I'm very particular about getting it off and I follow a good skincare routine once I'm back home, but I do wear it to work and for special occasions on weekends.

A friend of mine, who has perfect skin, criticised me today and said that I'm ruining my skin, causing it to age and darken. The conversation with her has really terrified me and I'm seriously worried about this now.

Do you agree that wearing makeup everyday is very bad for the skin? How many of you wear makeup to work everyday? Have you found that it has affected your skin badly?

And how much of it do you tend to have on on a daily basis? I wear light foundation, under eye concealer, eyeliner, blush, mascara and lip balm. If I have time I'll do a nice eye makeup, mostly because it's fun!

I have never had the best skin- it's sensitive to environmental changes so tends to go blotchy or spotty in the sun, wind etc. I also have slight pigmentation, so I just feel more confident and groomed with some coverage on. Does that seem unreasonable?

YANBU do what you are happy with!

And if it helps, my skin is terrible and I couldn't tell you the last time I wore makeup! (And I look older than I am too!!)

Unless you can prove its pore blocking you're talking rubbish

if it makes you break out in spots you ARE allergic. That's not hard.

compare ingredient lists, too: most of it is all the same. Slap-makers don't put percentages on the ingredient lists otherwise it might be obvious how much of it is good old dihydrogen monoxide. Mind the babble.

dunno though, haven't worn it in decades.

as repeatedly stated, I don't care if people wear it or not, I make no judgements about it unless endless fiddling with it affects me (have had to work with women who do this rather than pull their weight - fortunately the job environment was such that water was handy...). I won't make any remarks about it and I certainly don't tell people they look ill, because that's very rude. Whether they are made up or not.

I don't wear foundation but I wear eye make up such as eye liner, mascara etc, lip balm and concealer if I have any spots. As long as you have a really good skincare regime and remove makeup properly you will be fine.

Your friend is talking a load of crap.
I wear makeup everyday and have great skin.
The only time I get a breakout is just before my period, or when I am stressed.

Thanks everyone! All your replies make me feel so much more confident and better about wearing makeup.

My friends comments came at a time when I have already been having some unexplained skin issues- whitening of just the eyelids, white brow hair etc. vitiligo and acne run in my family so that made me even more paranoid.

I realise that scientifically makeup cannot cause an auto immune disorder like vitiligo, but I'm so terrified I might be getting it that I started to feel guilty and look for things to blame it on.

The problem with makeup is aging your skin, is that age is also aging your skin. You're going to get wrinkles either way. Might as well look good as you do.

I think that when someone where's makeup one day and then none the other it sends out signals.

The day when they have makeup on they tend to be in a 'positive' mood.

The day they don't have makeup on they are in a 'negative mood'.

This is all fine when your not in work/at the weekend, but when you have this approach in work I don't think it's very professional. My DS has a member of staff in his school like this and I always look at her to see what mood she's in. When she has got 'no makeup on' I tend to see her smoking more on her dinner (I live quite near the school)

I also have a colleague like this and you can have her mood from if she has got makeup on or not.

I don't think you can generalise based on two people you know jo.

I'm an occasional make up wearer. It depends on all sorts of things like if I'm going swimming straight after work, whether I had lie in or not and if the bathroom mirror is steamed up from having a long shower. I would guess that the vast majority of occasional make up wearers are the same-it just depends on nothing in particular.

Also, why would not wearing make up when you're feeling bad be a problem? Surely the issue is them being grumpy at work, not whether they have a full face on or not.

I suppose I'm talking about the kind of profession they are in. It sends out the wrong signals to young children. One day they have a face full of bright makeup, the next day they look very 'grey' and different. I don't think the children would know it was 'just makeup' that was the change. Some people look completely different with makeup on and off. I know I probably do.

All the things that you have mentioned above are things if 'the day starting out differently in a kind of negative way...therefore you didn't put makeup on. It's hard to explain. Yes not everyone is in a 'negative mood' on no makeup days, but I do think having no makeup days when your in work send out signals if you also tend to wear makeup often at work. If you need to have a no makeup day because your skins bad then fine, but like I said, in other circumstances it just sends a message that your not at your best that day if you normally do wear makeup.

I never wear make up and my skin is fine (and I have no envy or even real interest in my friends or acquaintances make up, it's not something of enormous relevance to me, I'd probably only notice if it was very heavy or interesting in some way). I slightly wonder about all the people who have said that they always wear make up and have lovely skin - why wear make up then? Surely it's to cover your skin, and if it's lovely then no need to cover?

The cosmetics industry generally use really really poor study methodology for the 'scientific' part of their claims. Very small study sizes, over reliance on self reporting, very short follow up etc. They also have a tendency to make large claims. In this they aren't alone (health food and supplements industries are also terrible). However I would take any claims made for a proprietary product with a huge grain of salt. Oh and watch for 'independent' studies done by foundations etc - often they are directly funded by the industry.

I'd also not dismiss the possibility of harm caused by using products every day. Sure they will have been tested, but often not on people and not over very long timelines. Sometimes it takes years of use before it is discovered that something might have a side effect. However in this case I doubt very much that the OP's friend is making an informed judgement about risk, just giving her personal (unwanted and unhelpful) opinion.

I don't agree that any those things are negative. I like going swimming after work and I wouldn't want to take my make up off at the gym. I also very much like lie ins and long showers. I don't like wearing make up every day (although it is totally fine if people want to).

I'm surprised you think children notice whether someone has make up on. In all my experience working with kids ages 2-18 I can honestly say my lessons are no different when I have make up on to not. What matters and what they respond to is positivity and enthusiasm. The issue is with these people being miserable, not whether they have make up on. A negative downcast person will still be negative and downcast even if they are wearing blusher.

Nooka - I enjoy wearing makeup. I may not
'need' it, but it makes me feel good.

nooka I wear it because I like the way it looks. Foundation takes my skin from good skin to flawless, and I don't want lipstick and eyeliner to look natural anyway. Not everyone wears makeup to hide, some people like a specific style

I don't believe wearing make-up harms your skin, unless you're allergic to it. It might if you never took it off, but I've always been told that wearing foundation actually helps to protect your skin from sun damage and is thus a good thing. (Unfortunately I don't actually like foundation on me, but I nearly always wear an SPF tinted moisturiser and powder.)

I also work with children and I've found them to be very aware of changes in make-up. I don't wear massive amounts of make-up but I think it makes quite a difference whether I'm wearing eye make-up, especially mascara, as my eyelashes are very light in colour. On two occasions when I was in a real hurry and wasn't wearing any make-up, Year 5 boys have commented (one said "Mrs Woodlouse, you're not wearing any make-up!" as soon as I walked into the room, the other said I looked as if I'd just woken up), and a Year 3 girl once sussed that I wasn't wearing any mascara ("the stuff you use to make your eyelashes darker"), which was a genuine mistake on my part - I was wearing everything else and must have just been sidetracked before I put mascara on. The same girl also told me, when she was in year 6, that I was wearing too much blusher, but I wasn't wearing any blusher at all and I think she was just being deliberately annoying!

You're taking the makeup off properly & most foundations have SPF in, so are in some respects anti-ageing, so your friend is incorrect.

Children definatly notice makeup. I have so many examples too.

Especially on somebody that wears quite alot of makeup and then the next absolutely nothing.

I really wish I was one of them people tho that CAN get away with no makeup days. I only wear small amounts if natural looking makeup but I still look like 'bugs life' when I don't have any on my eyes. Plus my skin is illuminouse white. I go nearly see through! What I would give for at lease SOME dark patches under my eyes at least, for a bit of colour!

Even if they notice it (which isn't my experience) I do not accept that it it actually makes any difference to them whatsoever. I wear glasses sometimes and contacts other days. That makes a much bigger change to my appearance and noone would reasonably say it affects the kids.

It sounds like you think all people working with children should wear make up all the time so the children aren't confused which is just daft. Do you really want teachers to feel under pressure to choose either to wear make up all the time or not at all? That's the natural consequence of what you've said about it being unprofessional not to wear make up if you're having an off day.

Nope. I just think they should make a choice.

Makeup everyday as part of a 'uniform'
No make up everyday.

It's a little different if your makeup look is of the description 'natural' as it may not be as noticeable if you hav'nt got any on. But if your somebody that wears thick heavy makeup then to appear in work with no makeup is something that I think is abit much.

I wear makeup for work every day.

I use a primer, light foundation (Boots Intelligent one) and eyeshadow.

I don't wear lipstick as it makes my lips dry and doesn't suit me

I have very good skin, very rarely get spots and as long as I wash it off at night it doesn't block my pores.

Funny enough, OH gets lots of spots on his back, but doesn't wear makeup on it, so that kind of ruins that theory!

Children may notice make up , but it's a bit of an adult interpretation to say that children will assume that if their teacher isn't wearing make up it's because there is a problem/she can't be bothered/doesn't want to be there. They may just think that Miss's eyelashes are paler and nothing more.

I don't look 'grey' without makeup, I just look like a person without make up (similar in that way to the 50% of the population who never generally wear make up).

I do understand that many women wear make up, and many women absolutely enjoy making themselves up, especially those who use make up as a form of art. I don't much like those who think that not wearing make up is unprofessional (but only for women naturally).

I should have been a bit more explicit about the skin thing maybe, as I was thinking about foundation really. I guess I've only talked to people who think that their skin is imperfect and are wearing foundation to cover things up. Certainly it has been suggested that I would surely prefer to cover up my freckles (nope, I like them) or hide my wrinkles (sorry, like them too).

Nope. I just think they should make a choice.
Makeup everyday as part of a 'uniform'
No make up everyday.

Can you not see that you are effectively insisting that some women always wear make up to work? If they're working on a make up counter fair enough but we are talking about people who work with children.

How do you think it would go down if someone tried to insist male primary school teachers were all clean shaven so the children didn't notice any difference in their facial appearance? I think you are being ridiculous.

Why does it matter if people look different every day? Even if you wear makeup daily you could have a red lip one day followed by a nude lip followed by a smokey eye.

Unless you're saying people should wear the same makeup? Does that apply to clothes as well, and shoes?

I don't think children get "confused". But they notice and, because they are children, don't hesitate to point it out. Personally I would rather not have to deal with that sort of distraction but I'm not saying everyone should feel the same.

I think my makeup is protecting my skin, it has spf (means I never tan of course but oh well ) and as long as you take it off every night and let your skin breathe then it's all good (I think!)