Going 'no makeup'

[LadyBlaBlah]

I know it's trivial and as feminists must think only of FGM however I'm getting fed up with the time, cost, effort and most of all the reasons why I wear make up.

I've been wearing it blindly since about aged 14 so it will weirdly be a big change, and my small act of rebellion against the p.

Anyone else a no makeup person?

I wear make-up daily, I enjoy wearing it, and look better when I use it. Even if I'm having a 'home alone' day, you'll still see me with mascara, blusher and lip gloss.

I wear it for ME - not for men, or society in general. If I was heading for a desert island, I'd take my Clinique with me.

kitchen, I don't wear my "date night" dresses to walk the dog, or makeup when I go out jogging. Even if you take out the "well that's not appropriate for the task" factor, I don't know, I guess I'm just not bothered about looking my best all the time .

I simply can't be arsed with it. I'll wear make up if I'm going out, but that's it. I still have tinted moisturiser from when I was about 15. I'm now 26.

'Not bothered about looking my best all the time'

-Exactly this for me, too. I wear make-up if I go out to a smart restaurant or to a party or a wedding, because for those sorts of occasions it is part of a 'costume', which would also include smart clothes and possibly heels- none of which I wear in ordinary day-to-day life. They are all things I don't particularly enjoy or make time for in my daily life, but which I quite enjoy doing for a special occasion. Just as my husband will wear smart clothes and shoes and groom his beard for such an occasion.

Several posters have talked about women they know who don't wear make-up who also happen to be naturally beautiful. As a (mostly) non-make-up wearer, I am not in that category. I have quite small eyes and thin lips and my skin is damaged through 20 years of acne and smoking. Sometimes I wish I had nicer skin, yes. Sometimes I wish I was naturally beautiful. But I just don't care enough to put make-up on every day. Other women feel differently and I understand and respect that.

I look better without it. Certainly don't look good with lips smeared with icky red stuff.

but, as always, each to their own.

not an issue of 'rebellion', not an issue of feminism. Just a trivial thing.

It's the shoe thing that bothers me the most. I refuse to wear shoes that are designed only for the purpose of displaying the female leg to its supposed best advantage, but that is actually very harmful and even dangerous to wear. And I've noticed that what was a glass slipper in the Disney 1950 Cinderella movie has become a glass stiletto in the 2015 version.

Someone once told a friend of mine who naturally looks a bit blonde and pneumatic she should alter her image to less suit the patriarchy ... she genuinely just looked like that. Breasts home grown, tan from a healthy outdoorsy lifestyle and long hair because she didn't cut it. Thing was we had serious student discussion about whether she should!

I'm a performer in terms of being into hobbies and interests that I like to dress to demonstrate. .. hence make up!

I work with a young woman, who is permanently caked with foundation, and thick make up, fake tan, fake nails and it makes me really sad! She is so lovely looking without all of that, and she obliterates her natural beauty with it. Oddly enough my Granddad used to say that to me when I was young, but I didn't believe him! I guess when you are young and vulnerable to advertising you are more likely to spend a fortune trying to look like everyone else.

I do wear makeup because I don't want to frighten people with my ugly mugg..heh heh

I love the fact that now it is "normal" to choose to wear or not wear make-up. Looking at articles in older magazines (50's/60's) if you weren't presenting a made-up face you were, "letting yourself go".

Personally, I like a slick of light plum coloured lipstick which makes me feel good, but that's about it every day. If I am going out, I will put make up on in the same way that I would put a smarter dress/top on.

great point, housemum. Here's to the option of practical dressing without being considered slobbish!

still have never seen anyone look better with it on. You see the occasional sleb doing no make up and the years just fall off. Sadly they seem to think they look worse.

I have to say that I think it is grotesque not to be groomed. You don't have to 'cake it on'. My full make up takes less than 10 minutes. I feel glamorous, put together and in control. And attractive, If you wear none and look like a mess, then you will be judged as and treated like one. I wonder how many of these 'natural' women have husbands who 'work late'?

I fail to see the link to feminism really. I view it the same as choosing what to wear each day, and base my decisions on what I think will make me feel good that day

I said much the same but apparently I don't really make my own mind up and I'm doing it due to societal expectations

Well the question is why so many women (and I include myself in this) feel good when they put makeup on their faces, and why relatively few men do. There must be something cultural guiding us otherwise we wouldn't all be using makeup in broadly similar ways (enhancing "good" features and/or disguising "flaws"). If as many men as women were doing the same then it wouldn't be a feminist issue (and Tbh I don't view more products being marketed at men and their "flaws" as progress really). We can talk about individual reasons for wearing makeup, but there must be external influences telling us what makes us look "better" otherwise women would be just as much putting blusher on their chins as on their cheeks.

and to Lolly, who apparently reads a lot of housewife manuals from 1951 and doesn't think much of men's integrity or other higher qualities.

Assuming that you don't usually dress like a slob, then I don't think the change of wearing a nicer outfit for a special occasion is as dramatic a difference as wearing (noticeable) makeup if you usually wear none.
It's interesting to read that there is something of an expectation to wear makeup at certain social occasions. I have a few friends who never wear makeup, and it's always a bit bizarre to see their wedding photos where they don't look anything like themselves because they are wearing full makeup.

I love makeup. I wear it most days and I truly believe that most women look better with a little bit of slap on. I think that one just looks a bit more groomed.
In fact, I know a few 'alpha' males who wear
makeup .

Chopper, men have other ways of 'putting on their faces'. In their case it may be a cutting edge tie or facial hair style or whitened/straight teeth or how tall they are, how expensive their suit or shirt are, or the cut of their suit. With casual wear, certain brands signify status, having it all together, making money -- for men the signifiers used tend to revolve around earnings which are equated to alpha-ness and being powerful. Cars are important signifiers for men too.

Where women put each individual element of the makeup isn't the same issue as why women use it and men don't. But still, a woman who seems on top of her makeup, doesn't look like a 4 year old daubed her, seems able to get her hair doing what she wants it to do, and generally conveys the image of being 'together' and in control of her appearance tends to exude the same vibe as the man in the pricey suit.

math I was being facetious with that comment really. But I never understand why people will say that they are completely immune to external influence when they do something that is generally culturally approved. It's not like it makes anyone stupid or easily influenced to do so, or that they haven't made an active decision, it just that acknowledges external influences do exist.

I don't agree that well-applied makeup on a woman's face gives her the same status markers as a man in a pricey suit

I look clean and tidy on a daily basis (clean nice-ish clothes, clean brushed hair that looks neat in the style I wear). I think it's very odd that someone else would look at me and think that I would look "better" if I wore an amount of make up they deemed appropriate. Let alone that they would think every women (or men as well?) would look "better". Whose opinion of "better"?

I have found that confidence and ability are just as useful as being "groomed" when it comes to first impressions.

I find the amount of 'tired' comments interesting. It's still deemed appropriate to comment on how a woman looks even if not wearing make-up, isn't it? I just asked my DH (yes I know, sample size of one) and he reckons he's never been told he looks tired except at the end of really long days when everyone's knackered.

So yes, I do think there's still some kind of pressure on women to look a certain way, fresh, pretty, attractive, presentable etc. that isn't on men. And so yes, it's a feminist issue. As Chopper says, maybe not always at a micro level, but certainly at a macro level.

I also think there's a difference between looking a 'mess' and simply not wearing make-up/heels/what have you.

I'm one of those grotesque natural women, btw. I also don't particularly judge myself by what my DH thinks of my appearance or fuckability.

No one has told me I would look better if I put on make up but I'm prepared to do the standard MN "do you mean to be so rude" line if and when they do.

(Perhaps they think me a lost cause!? )

I wear makeup to work every day, knowing full well that there's a certain amount of social coercion going on, but at least I'm aware of and can mull over that when I want to.

I quite like the ritual, tbh, and I like the way it looks. It does make me feel more work ready but there are plenty of women in my office who never wear makeup and I doubt any of us think twice about it. I usually don't wear any at weekends unless I'm going out.

I would hate to feel 'forced' into wearing make up, or inadequate for not wearing it. But equally I don't enjoy it when it's implied that I'm a slave to miserable Foucauldian regulative discourses because I do wear it (I work in a university, btw). It's kind of like the bra question. Slender Friends have told me that I really don't need a bra and I'd feel better about myself if I didn't wear it, as I'm effective 'shackled.' But my 32Fs are quite alright in a bra, thanks, they don't want freeing.

I know that if bras and makeup had never been invented I wouldn't need them or miss them. But they were invented, I've grown up in a society where they're common, I'm used to them and I like them. I understand why they're problematic but I've thought things through and made my choices.