to not wear makeup to work?

[TheSunflower]

I am starting a graduate job in January. I don't normally wear makeup. Am I sabotaging myself if I do not wear makeup?

Or should I wear makeup?

It is a corporate job.

Dear God, feminism has a long way to go if women are STILL being pressurised to plaster their faces with chemical shit in order to be “acceptable” in the workplace!
My generation fought this toxic misogynist crap back in the 1970’s.
I was a hospital doctor for 36 years and never wore make up once.
I spent a lot of time getting female patients to remove their make up in the anaesthetic room, so they didn’t suffer corneal abrasions from their mascara - it was depressing how many of them were upset at the mere thought of even being seen unconscious without it! Sexist culture had done a real number on their self esteem.

I recruit graduates into corporate roles and it wouldn't cross my mind to think of they wear make up or not. It is on no way essential in my mind to paint your face. I'm a person who wears make up every single day to work and would never dream of going in without it- but that's my issue and I couldn't care less what others do.

Do whatever makes you comfortable, and by that I mean have a think of you would be happy being the only non make up wearer in an office, or would you feel well prepped to deliver a big presentation with a massive spot on your face, I'm guessing your answer will be yes as you have managed to get thought your life successfully without it but it's something to consider.

Nice to look nice though, innit?

No, it’s nice to BE nice, something it seems you have no experience of. Prick.

Cherries
I know a man who has had terrible acne all his life he is doing very well for himself without wearing make up. I also have a female friend who manages finances for the rich (and a few famous) She has never worn make up either.
Somebodys skin should have no bearing on thier ability to do thier job. You should be challenging this in your workplace for both male and female workers not encouraging it.

@ScottyTeapot as they get older?
OP is starting a grad job, so I'm assuming she's in her early 20s....

It would be interesting to see what jobs those who claim women not wearing makeup look unprofessional or unkempt do. In my experience (many years in industry, now in academia), most women wear little or no makeup in the places I have worked. It would be seen as unprofessional to turn up in a full face of slap (i.e. the over made up, un-natural look that seems to be popular today).

I know some roles require makeup but they tend to be non-professional roles (I'm using the dictionary definition of professional - working in a paid role that requires long training or a formal qualification). Other roles, it has become the norm to wear makeup and would be a bit difficult to go against the trend.

thers may think you're lazy and a bit odd. Soz.
That is their problem not mine

If you work in an environment where you feel you have to wear make up I think you can probably safely assume that the culture doesn't respect women as professionals.

Absolutley. I have never worked anywhere where women are asked to wear make up or high heels or any of that rubbish. If I had found myself in that sort of job, I would definitely not have stayed. Even when younger and less bolshey self could not have lived with the perccived unfairness of it when compared to the expecttions of men in terms of presentation/appearance. Nowadays as an old gimmer I just would laugh in the face of anyone telling me that make up or high heels are required for me to look professional

Wear make up if you want to and can be bothered. I have worn make up lots in the past but only if I felt like it not because I felt I had to in order to be taken seriously - I mean really? How ridiculous does that sound? 'A woman needs to wear make-up to be taken seriously at work' Really think about what that means in the context of the fact that that sentence would NEVER be said about a man.

Don't get me started on the jobs where women are required to wear heels!!

I cringe thinking back to using makeup in my 20s. My foundation was a couple of shades darker than my skin & I put in on while half asleep, so I had a fetching foundation line along my jaw 🙈

When I first met my husband, he used to give me a lift to work and never mentioned it bless him (it didn’t put him off lol) though we joke about it years later. As a PP said about her partner, my DH says he prefers me without makeup which is lovely. I do like to wear a bit of mascara as my eyes are quite small, but as I’ve got older I’m much happier going make up free.

Do whatever makes you feel more comfortable.

If this is something like accountancy, law, banking, consulting - then what you deliver in terms of work will count much more and many of the big firms have very transparent and reasonable feedback and appraisal systems.

I'm a guy who has worked at big accountancy firm and never had any suggestion from female colleagues (some of whom are now amongst my closest friends) that there is a push on make up or that this impacts bonuses or similar. Some wear it, some wear none, some wear a little.

As long as you are dressed/maintain hair appropriately in line with dress code then go for it. All power to you.

I'm not in business world, but in health and care field professional job. Few of our highly qualified women / managers wear make up includng myself. We have quite a few younger women who wear a lot of makeup. But occasionally turn up with none on and look so different!

Meh, wear what you want as long as you are clean and tidy.

I've recently started wearing make.up sometimes as my teenage DD1 die a make over eon me, so it literally takes 4 mins. But of concealer around eyes, powder brush of mineral magic face powder (evens skin tones, lighter than foundation), contour brush on cheeks, flick of mascara, and some light brown brow powder to neaten my (blonde) eyebrows. I look crisper as a r

Controversial opinion here, but I think no make up makes you look like you can't be arsed to groom yourself, or make an effort for anyone else. No, it means I can't be arsed to make the effort for superficial people who judge others solely on their appearance.

Whoops website went mad then ane accidentally saved it for.me before I'd finished, so excuse typos ...

... as a result. I like it but I don't need to wear it.for.work and I'd be shocked if a boss ever suggested to any of the women that they did! S/he'd be taken down by a huge outcry!

Another one here (senior professional) who thinks you should just be comfortable in your own skin - either with or without makeup, whichever you choose. Not wearing makeup will not make you seem unprofessional but wearing badly applied makeup won’t help your image. In a corporate role so long as you look well presented the lack or otherwise of makeup will not make a jot of difference. Make sure you have a well fitting suit and shoes you are comfortable walking around with clients in. Good luck and congratulations.

I have a professional job, I wear makeup myself but I have colleagues that don't and no one really notices. I wear it because I am very pale and have blonde eyelashes, and if I don't people ask me if I'm ill, which annoys me! I like wearing makeup, but I would never judge anyone that didn't, it's personal choice.

If you’re not used to wearing make up, you (probably) won’t be as good at applying it as regular wearers (although looking at some regular wearers...) and are more likely to touch your face and accidentally smudge it. I don’t know how some women can wear it everyday, it feels awful. And the recent contouring trend, what’s that about? You look all gaunt and hollow cheeked head on, then from the side you look like a toddler smeared you in Nutella!

Corporate. Never worn make-up. I do use moisturiser so my face doesn'the turn into lizard scales. And I have worn nail varnish in the past, in all sorts of colours. I stopped doing it a few years ago, no conscious decision.

Plenty of my female colleagues don't wear make-up. Some wear a hint of lipstick. Probably others wear more that I don'the notice. I can think of a couple who do wear noticeable make-up and look stunning, but I suspect they would also look amazing with no make-up. And I can think of one woman who wears make-up that is noticeable for the wrong reasons, with almost silvery streaks where she's trying to contour - just doesn't suit her skin tone, and makes her look slightly will. But she obviously feels better with it, else she wouldn't do it, and it doesn't stop her doing her work, which is the most important thing.

I do notice the man who appears not to own a hairbrush, and often has a tuft or two stuck up at the back where he's slept on it. The man who is a heavy smoker and has black teeth and yellow streaks on his shirt. Other male colleagues at the other end of the scale do use moisturiser (they talk about it), and one has handcream on his desk. We did have one gothy male colleague who wore black or purple nail varnish, and one manager seemed scandalised by that.

My conclusion is as long as you are clean with brushed hair, people won't mind either way. If you're clearly unkempt or smell of BO, that will count against you, particularly if you're a woman.

As for Ruth Goodman - the most public part of her career has been living and working as someone in particular periods of history. In most cases, if she'd worn any make-up, she'd have been directly going against the whole point of what she was working on.

+I know plenty of men who wear a bit of tinted moisturiser or shaving balms, so the men don't alter their appearance argument doesn't really stand up now.*

Men are never told they need to start wearing make up for work to look professional.

It’s a sexist double standard.

spent a lot of time getting female patients to remove their make up in the anaesthetic room, so they didn’t suffer corneal abrasions from their mascara - it was depressing how many of them were upset at the mere thought of even being seen unconscious without it! Sexist culture had done a real number on their self esteem.

Oh I remember well, in my early twenties going in for an operation and questioning the medics on what they meant by ‘no makeup’: the thought of going to hospital, sitting around in front of people and being seen without any concealer at all horrified me.

These days, now I’m older (thirties) I wear makeup because I enjoy it, I mean I genuinely love it, I spend a lot of time on it each morning and read reviews and try tutorials from YouTube and generally really enjoy the process of applying and wearing it. It feels like a way to be creative every day, deciding exactly how I want to look. I love the way I look with it, but I’m not longer ashamed of my natural face and feel no shame going to the shops bare faced. To be fair when I was younger it wasn’t so much that I felt stuff like eyeliner was necessary, it was purely the concealer to cover spots up. I didn’t have bad skin but I really felt so self conscious if spots or blemishes were visible. So the thought of loads of medics seeing my bare imperfect face made me cringe.

There’s a real difference I think between wearing makeup cos you enjoy it and wearing it because you feel extremely embarrassed without it, and I do think a lot of the nasty makeup-shaming comments (how many posts do we need where the commenter makes it clear how much derision they have for thick eyebrows or visible base makeup) fail to take into account that someone may really just love makeup as an art form but they may also be wearing it as a mask to hide how they look. And if someone feels that bad i’m glad they’ve found something that helps them feel okay about their appearance and face the day.

All of this ‘makeup should be natural’ is nonsense, makeup is whatever you want it to be. Natural looking, subtle, fun, bold, it’s all fine. Some people who don’t wear it or wear very little obviously feel extremely pleased with themselves and superior when they see another woman with a full face of makeup on and get a kick out of mocking their eyebrows or highlighter. It comes from a place of low self esteem, trying to tear somebody else down. It’s as clear as day.

This thread is depressing..

I never wear make up to work since I started as a graduate 4 years ago and there are plenty other women in my office who don't wear make up. Just like there are plenty who do. No one makes comment.

To be honest I rarely wear make up outside of work as well, and because I don't wear it day to day I would have absolutely no clue what to do and wouldn't want to start experimenting at work!

I dress appropriately and I'm always clean but this is my style and no one has ever pulled me up on 'not looking professional' and seeing so many people tell the OP she wouldn't look polished or professional, or no make up would make her appear lazy is so sad.

I'm not lazy or unprofessional - my work speaks for itself and I don't think not wearing make up has any influence on that. You don't need make up to work, wear it if you want, don't wear it if you don't but please don't listen to people who seem to have the opinion other people will care either way - your work performance is so much more important than how you look.

Whichever decision you make, I would start as you mean to go on. So if you plan not to wear it, don't turn up wearing any on the first day.
I usually wear makeup, one day I had slightly overslept so had time to do my hair but not my face (it was clean and moisturised but not made up). My boss SENT ME HOME because he said I couldn't be in the office looking like that

I usually wear makeup, one day I had slightly overslept so had time to do my hair but not my face (it was clean and moisturised but not made up). My boss SENT ME HOME because he said I couldn't be in the office looking like that

I hope you spoke to HR. That’s totally inappropriate.

I don’t wear make up very often, only if I’m going to a wedding or special event. The reason for this is mostly that I have never found a foundation to suit me yellowy skin tone (despite having been colour matched by the “professionals”). Mascara makes my eyes itch and lipstick just looks odd on me. I have no skill with makeup. My cousins all have great makeup skills - I just end up looking like a drag queen.

This thread is depressing. If people want to wear make up then that's their choice. However it does not make people better at their jobs and I wouldn't work for a company or manager that insisted I paint my face for them.

I should say I find this thread depressing as it is obvious some people still view 'professionalism' for women as whether they wear make up or not. Is it really 2018?