Giving up makeup

[NoLoveofMine]

I'm not sure if this is worthy of a thread but wasn't sure where else to put it; quite understandable if it's not of too much interest though...

Having been thinking about this since another thread recently I think I'm going to stop using makeup. This shouldn't really be notable or worthy of announcement, but I was considering that it's something almost exclusively done by girls and women and why I feel the need to use it when I go out yet no boys I know would (even though the boys I'm friends with don't conform to acting in a "masculine" manner they'd still not). There are of course many girls and women who love using makeup - some of my friends are like this, they really enjoy the whole process of it and even see it as a topic to discuss with one another sometimes. However, I have no interest in it, don't watch tutorials, don't discuss it other than from this perspective, yet still use it, purely because I feel I "look better" with it on. Why should any woman or girl feel the need to alter her natural face in this way to look better? I should find nothing wrong with myself pre-makeup and see no need for it. Given this, I'm going to try to stop using it - not remarkable admittedly but I've just been thinking a fair bit recently about it and why I use it. I want to feel very happy with how I look without it, after all. At the moment it feels like I "want" to use it, but only because I think I look better afterwards, so feel better about myself when I have before going out for example, but this shouldn't be the case. I think this is different to wearing skirts/dresses which I often do or even hairstyle because this is something which involves altering/masking your natural face. I suppose this also applies to body hair removal; I shave my legs as well and must confess am not sure this is something I'll stop doing when I know my legs will be visible. I'd like it to be, but it's difficult to rid myself of the feeling that this is a desirable look.

Anyway that was quite possibly of little interest to anyone but myself but ah well, I have a lot of free periods on Fridays. I also didn't mean it to sound self-centred, was more because I was just writing down what I was thinking about myself.

I enjoyed my makeup free night socialising and received only support from friends and of course posters here! It's one step but hopefully this will be the start of me not feeling the need to apply it when going out. Off to bed now and I don't even have to remember to remove makeup which I usually forget to do anyway

Well done OP. It will save you so much time and money over the years if you don't bother with make up. Not to mention being better for the environment, better for your skin and confidence. And really - nobody will care! That's the amazing thing. It's laughably inconsequential, given all the advertising and pressure.

I read The Beauty Myth as a teenager, which set the stage for chucking it all out. Have had no problems with relationships, friendships, formal situations, work etc. Literally nobody has ever mentioned it.

It's now firmly bracketed with ironing bedclothes in my head. Good luck to anyone who has the time/money/inclination to be arsed, but I can't!

Just seen your update - well done! You're breaking free.

Thank you retreat! I've been meaning to read The Beauty Myth as well. This seems like a perfect time to do so. I hope that soon enough I'll also chuckle that I ever thought it was a big thing to stop wearing it!

I have to say that really no one is wearing makeup for themselves. It doesn't make sense at all as a claim. You can't see your own face!

That's not true though, is it? It probably was true in the past - certainly pre-industrialisation, where poorer women may not have seen their faces at all, except reflected in a pail of water or something. But these days, we are surrounded by mirrors - if I go into the loos at work, the wall above the basins is all mirror. There are plate glass windows everywhere, polished metals - and cameras everywhere. This is the selfie (hmm, phone autocorrected that to selfish...) generation - when I was a teenager, photos were on film, and you had to wait for them to be developed. Now it's instant, everywhere.

I grew up swimming several times a week, and I just couldn't be bothered to get into make-up and having it run down my face in the pool and spend time reapplying it, so I just never developed the habit.

We also didn't have a TV til I was 14, which I suspect may have also made some difference, fewer images of "perfect" women. But it also meant I was different anyway, as I never did see what everyone else watched last night, so I grew up feeling I didn't conform through no fault of my own, and clearly the world did not end, so nor will it if I don't conform in other ways.

I work in an area of IT where jeans and t-shirt is the norm, but even if I'm dressing up for an interview, I don't wear make-up. I do wear lip balm, because I am prone to chapped lips, and as I get older, I'm finding more need of moisturiser on my face. I have been through phases of wearing all sorts of nail polish, though not recently. I do get my eyebrows threaded about once a quarter with remedial tweezing in between. Never shaved my legs, but I do occasionally wax them for the masochistic pleasure of ripping the strips off. I have very fine leg hair, so unless you're really up close, you can't tell, and I wonder if my laissez-faire attitude to not bothering would be different if I were hirer. I do shave my armpits, but not so frequently these days, because my skin doesn't take as well to it as it once did.

I do sometimes notice me in the mirror and think I look as though I only had 4 hours sleep, but often that's because I did only have 4 hours sleep. I know that probably concealer or foundation or whatever would even out my skin tone and the thread veins (genetics), but I can't be bothered to learn, and however I looked, it wouldn't feel like me. Not dying my hair, either.

I'm sure there will be some people who judge me for how I look, but I expect they will live with it.

Haha, it's a good point, well made.

Do we think, then, this makeup/beauty stuff has intensified since the proliferation of images? It seems right (but I don't have data).

I don't have data either, but I think it has,. That doesn't mean it's because of it. I suspect it's not just coincidence though.

There are factors like changing social acceptability - you're no longer assumed to be an actress or prostitute if you use a bit of rouge, for example. Industrialisation meant more women had more spare money and time, and make-up is a small, cheap thing, so isn't a massive extravagance. Better mirrors and domestic lighting must be a factor. Then you get magazines telling you how to apply it, and these days, there are any number of YouTube videos and so on , showing you how to do contouring or perfect eyeliner or whatever.

Plus formulations have changed, which means you can do more with make-up, and it won't all smudge down your face at the first drop of rain or hot room. There's masses of investment by cosmetics companies into it all, researching materials and the chemistry of it all, and they need to sell the products to recoup the costs, so there's a lot of money in marketing, too. But it's also safer, no white lead or arsenic in face preparations these days.

I think photography and cinemaphotography is a big part of it. They're definitely less forgiving than a line drawing, but it also shows what is possible. You wouldn't try to look like a filmstar if you've never seen one. These days, you could find a ton of close-up images and probably a load of YouTube tutorials on how to achieve a particular look - you don't have to wait until it turns up in Jackie, you can find out right now.

And probably loads more stuff I haven't thought of.

Very interesting posts EBearhug and heartening to read of your happiness with how you look and not feeling the need to wear makeup etc!

This is an interesting link from Business Insider regarding the top ten companies in terms of advertisement spending. L'Oreal at 9 and Proctor and Gamble at the top spot.

uk.businessinsider.com/10-biggest-advertising-spenders-in-the-us-2015-7/#2-att-ad-spend-up-01-to-33-billion-att-was-also-ranked-in-the-top-biggest-b2b-marketers-last-year-alongside-microsoft-and-apple-according-to-adage-last-year-it-phased-out-its-long-running-its-not-complicated-campaign-in-favor-of-a-new-better-network-messaging-swapping-kid-brand-ambassadors-for-geeks-called-the-network-guys-9

I do think selfies, Snapchat etc have made a big difference. I bet rarely wear makeup but the one time I worry about it is when I'm on facetime or similar and see my face looking like it's being consumed by my under eye bags.

As an adult, I often feel I am past that age and just will have to deal with not being able to do make up.

I started wearing makeup when I was 26. Prior to that I just cleaned my face, but didn't feel confident enough to go and buy and wear makeup (my mother never wore makeup, so I didn't have that initial expectation) - the first day going into work with eyeliner on I was so nervous! I started small, and refined my style, until at peak I was wearing foundation/powder/blusher/eye makeup every day for work.

It's such a time-suck though, I am glad I never got to that stage where I couldn't leave the house without it.

And yes, it is a pity that it's the safe option for interviews etc. I certainly wouldn't judge someone coming in for interview with a normal face (or with a really madeup face, although that's more unusual in my line of work) - but I know that many would, and I can't risk it.

I think photography and cinemaphotography is a big part of it.

This is a good point - I remember the first time I saw a picture of myself wearing foundation - the difference it made was huge!

I couldn't wear it all the time though, a big part of self-acceptance for me was letting myself be photographed and not worrying about it (I am, and always have been, very overweight). Realising that everyone looks at pictures and sees things they don't like, but that when I look at pictures of other people I just see those people, I'm not thinking anything about them other than that, and my pictures can't be so different.

Can you imagine a mid 60s Hollywood female actor having a photo like this?

www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/09/michael-keaton-film-beetlejuice-batman-birdman-hadley-freeman

I wear it for myself as I see my face all the time, in mirrors, reflections, photos.. also like how it feels on my face. Some of us just genuinely like it, for ourselves. If I was the only one left on earth I would still wear it

So BillBrysonsBeard Would your first thoughts in an evacuation procedure, such as the millions of people in Florida and the Caribbean right now, be 'makeup' ?

No.. of course it wouldn't be my first thought. I haven't said it's the most important thing to me, not by a long chalk. No need to attack the make-up lovers

I'm not attacking, just asking

Personally my first thoughts in an evacuation would be; Cat in pet carrier, followed by handbag containing my make up purse, phone etc

Personally my first thoughts in an evacuation would be; Cat in pet carrier, followed by handbag containing my make up purse, phone etc

Interesting question. Cats definitely and then the wallet with driving licence/credit cards/debit cards- having proof of who you are would be useful if everything was destroyed, phone (because so much information is on it even if the network was down) and my jewellery.

On topic I wear foundation every day, dye my hair , occasionally lip stick but put on eye make up for special occasions.

I used to wear loads of black eye shadow,kohl, and mascara(a la Dusty Springfield/ Chrissie Hynde)

I gave up all makeup a couple of years ago for much the same reasons as you op. I hadn't been using it much for a while, just some fairly "natural" shades on special occasions. I chucked out my drawers full of makeup and have so much more space now!

That's great to hear valeinoyikbuno! I definitely want to get to that stage. It feels quite liberating to be giving it up, silly as that may sound! As I said this is because I was just doing it for no reason other than my own perception of what looked better due to societal influence, when boys wouldn't. Hopefully I'll be able to resist doing so now.