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RaveQuitting Makeup
Posted August 11, 2023 by [Deleted] in WomensLiberation

https://hellogiggles.com/why-i-quit-wearing-makeup/

I really loved this short article on quitting makeup because it's something I've been edging toward for the past year, everrrr so slowly! For those who don't want to click on the link, here are some key quotes I love from the article:

"𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒏 π’†π’‚π’”π’š π’•π’‰π’Šπ’π’ˆ 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒐 β€” 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 π’ˆπ’Šπ’—π’† 𝒂 π’‡π’–π’„π’Œ. 𝑾𝒆 π’π’Šπ’—π’† π’Šπ’ 𝒂 π’”π’π’„π’Šπ’†π’•π’š 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 π’‘π’“π’π’‡π’Šπ’•π’” 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 π’π’π’˜ 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇-π’†π’”π’•π’†π’†π’Ž. 𝑾𝒆 π’π’Šπ’—π’† π’Šπ’ 𝒂 π’‘π’‚π’•π’“π’Šπ’‚π’“π’„π’‰π’‚π’ π’˜π’π’“π’π’… 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒓 π’π’π’π’Œπ’” π’Žπ’π’“π’† 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 π’‚π’π’šπ’•π’‰π’Šπ’π’ˆ. π‘©π’‚π’”π’Šπ’„π’‚π’π’π’š, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 π’‘π’π’˜π’†π’“π’‡π’–π’ 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 π’˜π’‚π’π’• 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 π’”π’•π’‚π’š π’Šπ’π’”π’†π’„π’–π’“π’† 𝒂𝒏𝒅 π’Šπ’Žπ’‚π’ˆπ’†-𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅."

Absolutely, and when I began questioning beauty standards it really made me mad to realize that I was being brainwashed into being insecure, and that people (mostly men, who own and run most cosmetic companies) were 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧π˜ͺ𝘡π˜ͺ𝘯𝘨 off of my insecurity. Talk about parasites. In fact, as I was going through my box of "clown paint" just now and planning to throw it all out, I was kicking myself for the hundreds of dollars I wasted on all this crap. I could have bought books with that money.

"𝑨𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’…π’‚π’š, 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆 π’„π’π’”π’Žπ’†π’•π’Šπ’„π’” 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 π’Žπ’† 𝒂𝒏𝒅 π’Žπ’š π’π’Šπ’‡π’†. 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 π’ˆπ’†π’• 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’‰π’Šπ’ˆπ’‰ 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 π’Žπ’π’”π’• 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 π’Žπ’π’”π’• π’Žπ’†π’ 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’”π’‚π’Žπ’† 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔. 𝑰𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 π’‡π’‚π’Šπ’“ 𝒕𝒐 π’Žπ’†, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 π’•π’‚π’Œπ’† 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 π’Šπ’ π’”π’π’Žπ’†π’•π’‰π’Šπ’π’ˆ 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 π’Šπ’” π’“π’Šπ’ˆπ’‰π’•."

This was another huge factor to me: the unfairness of being expected to wear all this paste and powder to be deemed "presentable" or "professional" when men are able to walk around with their bare faces exposed, even with zits and dark circles under their eyes, and no one bats an eye. How did it take 𝘡𝘩π˜ͺ𝘴 long for the unfairness of that to sink in?

"𝑰 π’“π’†π’‚π’π’Šπ’›π’†π’… 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 π’˜π’‚π’” 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 π’˜π’†π’‚π’“π’Šπ’π’ˆ π’Žπ’‚π’Œπ’† 𝒖𝒑 𝒇𝒐𝒓 π’Žπ’†. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 π’Šπ’• β€” 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏-𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 π’‰π’‚π’—π’Šπ’π’ˆ π’Šπ’• 𝒐𝒏. 𝑰𝒕 π’˜π’‚π’” 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒖𝒏 𝒐𝒓 π’„π’“π’†π’‚π’•π’Šπ’—π’† 𝒇𝒐𝒓 π’Žπ’†. 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 π’Šπ’• π’˜π’‚π’” 𝒂 π’π’†π’„π’†π’”π’”π’‚π’“π’š 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 π’•π’‚π’Œπ’† 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 π’Šπ’ 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’˜π’π’“π’π’…. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 π’˜π’‰π’š 𝑰 π’’π’–π’Šπ’•."

Yep - it has long since stopped being a creative outlet to me, and has just been a messy nuisance that I felt I 𝘩𝘒π˜₯ to wear to look normal. I hated trying to remove it at the end of the day, and loathed those dark smudges under the eyes from the mascara that seem to take days to fully wash away.

She mentions that she continued to wear foundation for months after giving up all other makeup, and that's exactly what I've been doing. Until today. I was having a conversation with my mom and she happened to mention that I look older with foundation on. I don't glorify youth, and I think there's nothing wrong with looking older than you are, but that comment was the final thing that made me think, "You know what? You're right. Fuck this stuff entirely." I've been makeup-free most days at home and am now used to what my face looks like without it, and have come to like the natural look of uncovered skin. It's not even that it's more "beautiful" per se (because that is irrelevant) but it looks 𝘳𝘦𝘒𝘭. It feels better to me to be able to look straight into somebody's unpainted eyes, and at their unpainted skin.

So now after many false starts and retreats into the "safety" and familiarity of makeup, I'm completely done. What a relief!

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