I do not wear make-up. Nor do I straighten or curl my hair. And, I’m pretty sure I’m the only 20-year-old female I know who can say this. Tom boy I ain’t, slob I most certainly am not and, while this might surprise you, it seems like people do still want to spend time with me.
Don’t worry – I am not pulling a Samantha Brick-style stunt; neither this article nor my ‘nudity’ has anything to do with abnormal levels of body confidence or flaunting a self-confessed ‘natural beauty’. After all, it could be that everyone I meet secretly considers my face to be bland for the lack of pink blusher, orange foundation, red lipstick and black eyes, and one day they will just explode, crying out: “You’re horrendously ugly! Put some slap on!” after years of suppressing the want to tell me so.
Nor can this long-serving habit of mine be blamed fully on raging feminist ideals. More than a third of women said they wear make-up because they were worried about looking good for other women, rather than impressing the opposite sex or wearing it for personal reasons, according to a QVC shopping channel poll. While it’s hardly likely that collectively, women-kind decided: “let us put dyes and chemicals on our faces from this day forth!” it would seem that women bring this make-up obsession upon themselves as there is the expectation from other females to wear it.
A survey published in The Daily Mail claimed that women “spend over £100k on make-up in a lifetime”, meaning that on average, “£2,000 a year [is spent] between the ages of 16 and 65 on products women are convinced will make them look prettier” while 57% “would rather dump their boyfriend than go barefaced”. I think it’s time to re-evaluate our participation in this vanity fair.
There are, of course, health benefits to facial nudity (primarily, better skin) as well as saving the time wasted with every application. The money spared on makeup removal products, as well as the products themselves is another plus. Surely sexier than any slap, whether that’s worn as decoration or disguise, is the freedom to feel comfortable and confident in your own skin? This must be a feeling worth pursuing.
Even if my pores remain un-clogged, my eyelashes a normal length and colour, and, while my lips are treated to the occasional Chapstick application (I can honestly say I don’t own a lipstick, gloss or liner), I still doubt whether my bare face is something worth being bold about. Increasingly, I feel more self-conscious about not wearing makeup – more so than if I were to wear it.
This is because the unnatural look has become natural. So now the faces of those who, like myself, reveal freckles and more, are becoming anomalies amongst the masses of made-up ‘perfections’. This is the problem, expectations are high.
But, regardless of the decreasing size of my fellow facial naturists’ population, I do not believe that people who wear make-up are any happier than those who don’t. Still swayed by the ‘volume gazillion XXXL false eyelash effect’ mascaras, the ‘will give you super plumped lips like Angelina Jolie’ glosses, women are constantly dissatisfied with their slap-covered faces and continue to buy a ‘better’ magic lotion with even better magical promises. Not only this, but the fact that nearly one in four reapply within just two or three hours of being out, according to the QVC survey, shows women are dissatisfied with the makeup they already have on. We are becoming dependent on something that doesn’t make us happy, and now, tragically, one in three women have admitted they would “never” leave the house without wearing makeup.
Not wearing make-up, or wearing it, doesn’t seem to be our choice any more. It seems to be expected of us. But clearly, more often than not, the slap just doesn’t cut it. So, please, just consider it: will you get your face naked instead?