Lipstick what is the reason that women (the old fashioned type) wear it.

[Karensalright]

Just that really

It's a human thing - we like to decorate ourselves. Toddlers magic marker their faces. Humans used to smear mud, ochre, turmeric on their faces, tattoo them, stick feathers and leaves in their hair - for various reasons, all of them valid.

There are just women, thanks. There isnt a need for qualifiers like bio, cis, oldfashioned. Most of the species is heterosexual and attracting the attention of the opposite sex is fine. Wearing makeup is not some feminist sin.

No idea don't wear it no need

You don't have to wear a "full face of make up.*.
If you feel the need to, that's on you and your issues.

Not many men wear make-up though (unless they're pretending to be women). If it's a human thing why don't men do it too?

I don’t wear makeup much anymore, when I do it’s mainly so that others will find me more acceptable in some way.

When I was younger I played with it a bit - in the sense of expressing my feelings as talked about above. But I found it ineffective. I liked dying my hair and choosing clothes that (I thought!) were fairly individual. But makeup just seemed like a mask. So I wore it less.

When I was younger I wore it for work, different makeup depending on the situation. Then I moved somewhere where makeup was much less common and just stopped most of the time (except public speaking and committee work as I find it seems to help you be heard better). I also wear it when I go out to something dressy as it’s part of the whole getting dressed up that I quite like.

Edited: What I’m saying here is that for me it has been a mixture of enjoying decorating myself, practical considerations around presenting myself to get a desired reaction, and following (or bucking) social conventions.

It's the old fashioned kind vs drag, etc.

Same reasons why women wear contemporary colours 💋 lipsticks ...

Yeah, you know ....... (Down THERE) 🥺

It's not old fashioned to wear lipstick! 🤣

Why do you care what other women do?

Maybe we just like it.
Maybe other women like it too 🤷🏻‍♀️

But men have in the past, at different times.

Why is it sometimes in fashion for men to wear make up and sometimes seen as a big no no?

im also interested why it’s treated as a negative, make up artists are skilful, but make up itself is looked down upon as silly or indulgent. Fripperies. I haven’t got the answers to these questions, I’m more interested in why something associated with women is treated the way it is.

I like make up, I like clothing. I’m not a very artistic person, it’s the nearest I can get to doing something vaguely artsy and I like dress up.

There have been many periods of history where men wore make up as well. Is make up specifically different to other types of body adornment? In most species, the females are plain and the males brighter.

I don’t think wearing make up makes anyone less of a feminist. I think women feeling they need to wear make up is a feminist issue and I don’t think it’s a choice were make freely without societal pressure, though. See also hairless vulvas.

I think traditionally it is to look more attractive, typically to attract the opposite sex.

That's probably why I first began using makeup as a teenage. To look prettier and be more attractive to boys.

Now I wear it for that but also because I like, or perhaps have become conditioned to like, my face with it.

Interestingly for me during the pandemic I didnt wear makeup at all.

The human thing is sexual attractiveness. And each sex is sexually attracted to different traits in the other.

There are subconscious motivations for women to signal fertility to men, and men to signal virility to women. Both sexes use subtle clues to assess health and reproductive capacity in one another.

Make-up can be used by both sexes, especially in some tribes, but in many cultures it is predominantly women. It is used to enhance or hide certain facial features. For example, younger women have more estrogen (since they are at the peak of their sexual fertility) and their lips are fuller, naturally pink. As women get older and estrogen declines, collagen in skin reduces etc, lips become thinner and look dull. Lipstick can hide this and make it look plump. Even a little bit of lip gloss can make a woman's lips look nicer.

There have been studies that took pictures of women without makeup over the course of a month. When people looked at the pictures, they selected the ones where the women looked their best. And it was found this correlated with when the women's estrogen levels were at their highest point in the menstrual cycle. These changes on physiology are so subtle, yet humans can detect these clues without even consciously knowing why.

These days there's things like fillers and god knows what else. I'm not necessarily saying all these chemicals are inherently good, but they arise out of an underlying motivation that has evolved to signal health, fertility and youth.

Rosy cheeks are also prevalent in youth and can indicate good blood circulation. This reduces with age - hence blush is used to give that 'glow'.

In both sexes, general cleanliness indicates good levels of physical and mental health. Someone with greasy, limp hair... Oily, dull skin, very overweight or bad body odour etc is not appealing to either sex because it indicates some underlying physical health issues, or a mental health issue where they have lost interest in taking care of themselves.

Humans have used perfumes for millennia and these days we have antiperspirants too.

Men show off virility as part of their physical fitness. Men who are physically active like athletes or sporty types or who do physical jobs are healthy and have toned muscles etc. Plenty of women are attracted to this.
There was a video doing the rounds on social media recently of a bloke just chopping wood, and women were commenting how much they enjoy it. Lots of women (including myself) find certain men's arms and shoulders very attractive, and sometimes this more important than facial features.

It's obvious why high school or college girls stand around talking and giggling to their mates and checking out the cool boys running around the football pitch or basketball court. Younger men are naturally more physically fit and healthy, and at the peak of their masculinity. Unfit, pudgy males, on average, tend not to be popular with the opposite sex, especially in youth.

Lipstick makes my lips soooo dry. I used to wear lip stains but they have gone out of fashion.

Obviously the reason I do that is I want my actual lips to look like an enlarged labia. Even though the fashion is to have small or even cut off porn labia. Because umm reasons.

I wear it every day. The reason?- because I like how it makes my lips look, it's moisturising and keeps them supple and it compliments the rest of my makeup.

To answer a few more questions- no, I don't wear it for men, I wear it for me, I love makeup and the artistry of it, I wear it because I like how my face looks with it. Even if I am not going out I put it on because I enjoy it.

I don't really care what anyone thinks about that- I do things that make me happy and this does.

I love make up. Love it. I wear it every day, and change the colours and style according to my mood. I am not going anywhere today, no one will see me, yet I've still got my full face on!

There have been many periods of history where men wore make up as well.

It seems this was more prevalent in a specific era of European history.
Most men didn't dress or look like this, but the ones who did wear silk, lace, fancy wigs, makeup etc were wealthy and part of royalty or elite, merchant circles. It was a way to show off power, prosperity, nobility and so on.
Men still try to show off power and prosperity (fancy cars, big houses).

I believe high heels, platform shoes were invented and initially worn by wealthy men to not dirty their feet as they stepped on literal shite while walking around dirty streets. Most people would have been poor and therefore barefoot or with simple sandals / shoes.

I may not be remembering it correctly, but STDs like syphillis were also rampant in these eras and both men and women wore those fancy wigs to hide hair loss. There were even wigs for pubic hair because hair loss on genitals was an indication of STDs or pubic lice. Women wore merkins to hide this.

@swayingpalmtree I didn't read your comment before posting mine but I agree wholeheartedly and feel exactly the same! 😊

I go the extra mile and where a false beard and moustache too 🤣

Well yeah. Gonna update my game and shave and get a merkin. It'll be like a step up from the nineties when we shaved eyebrows off to pencil them in.

This is all making popping some lippy on look effortless.

@NonnyMouse1337

Rosy cheeks are also prevalent in youth and can indicate good blood circulation. This reduces with age - hence blush is used to give that 'glow'.

True - but historically, blush was meant to imitate the afterglow of sex.

My husband hates lipstick. I wear it sometimes to wind him up. I'd probably do the same if I met some of you too💋

Thats the other thing why wear “ a full face of make up”

Why do people get tattoos? why do people get piercings? People have been adorning their bodies and altering their appearances for centuries.

This isnt a new thing - it's been happening for decades. Nothing wrong with examining the reasons why people do things but I'm getting a bit of an unpleasant sneery/judgy/superior vibe here which isnt helpful when you want genuine, honest answers from others.