Why I Stopped Wearing Makeup
I think it’s safe to say that every woman has put on some form of makeup at one point or another. It probably started as a child being fascinated with your mothers makeup, or wanting to look like your favorite princess or model on T.V. Playing dress-up with your friends following the latest trends like contouring or cat eyes, you likely either find it fun, or you find it cumbersome and only do it because you think you need to. Admittedly, I was also a sucker for the bright blue sparkly eye shadow.
I’ve never been super into makeup, but like most women, I started wearing foundation and cover-up in my teen years to try and hide imperfections (a.k.a. ZITS). I always just assumed I HAD to wear makeup. For a very long time, women have been expected to look a certain way. Not only is this pressure felt from men, but also from other women. We’re constantly comparing ourselves to each other, to magazines and television, and others are outwardly comparing us to these things as well.
Have you ever taken a day off from wearing mascara? Just one day. In that day, how many people told you “you look tired” or “wow, late night?” or even “yikes, didn’t have time to put makeup on this morning, huh?”. This used to happen to me all the time. It was such a huge reminder of how people expected me to look a certain way, and if I looked less than, it must mean that I wasn’t feeling well or that I wasn’t attractive. It started to really weigh on me and my image if myself. That’s when I started to wear makeup less and less.
I just couldn’t stand being judged negatively anymore on the days that I didn’t wear makeup, so I stopped altogether. I can’t tell you the weight that was lifted when I freed myself of this social stigma.
Left: no makeup at all. Right: eyebrows filled in.
Confession: I still fill in my eyebrows
I used to be SUPER self conscious and embarrassed about leaving the house without “doing my eyebrows”. There were times that I would accidentally forget to fill them in before I left the house to go to work and realized it half way through my commute. I would literally have a panic attack and check to see if Walgreens was open yet so I could stop and buy an emergency eyebrow pencil. It would devastate me at the thought of someone seeing me without them filled in. Not anymore. I still fill them in, but only because I prefer the look, not because I’m embarrassed. I go plenty of days without filling them in, have taken plenty of photos without them filled in, and it doesn’t bother me in the least bit.
I decided that I wanted my natural face to be the one that others saw every single day, and to be the full representation of me. I flipped the role that makeup plays in my life, and I only wear it on special occasions now. Even still, it’s very minimal because I don’t want to look back on pictures of myself with makeup and think “that doesn’t look like me at all”.
I think the biggest message I’d like to send is to stop doing things that aren’t for you. If you’re wearing makeup because you enjoy it and have fun doing it, keep doing it! But if you’re doing it because you think that’s what everyone else expects you to look like, then please, re-evaluate what’s important to you. Nothing is worth doing if it doesn’t bring you joy.
You are beautiful.
