Make-Up Might Make You Less Attractive

Wow, what a statement right? To be absolutely clear, I am not saying women that wear make-up are unattractive, I simply find those who don’t more attractive. Through the duration of this collection of pixels that make up words that make up some (hopefully) decent content, I hope to share with you the thoughts of an alternative, unpopular, strange but most importantly, forward thinking mind. It may be a struggle at times but I implore you to bare with me whilst I do my best to walk you through how the stomach of a 26 year old man can be churned by the mere appearance of a Love Island contestant.

I will start my exposé of the seemingly global addiction to cosmetic ‘beauty’ back when Queen Elizabeth the 1st was knockin’ about. In the same way it was originally a sign of wealth to have a white wedding dress, to have a pale complexion once had noticeable social implications. Being of pale skin, particularly in the British isles, in those days meant that one did not have to work outside nor participate in much, if any physical labour. The use of make-up commonly extended to that of a colouration of the skin and unlike the Egyptians, did not reach the extents of lipstick or eye shadow (both of which used by the Egyptians to further reinforce cultural beliefs and supposed health benefits). I feel at this point it is worth reminding ourselves (if we have not been yet lost to an Orwellian school of thought) that how we treat and alter our bodies is a direct result of societal and social conditioning. Being the social animals that we are, particularly with the heavy presence of things like social media and advertising, we go places, wear things and even speak in ways we think make us more fitting to the social circles we wish to be a part of.

Jump ahead a few hundred years and our means of travel have become more accessible, now not only the elite can afford to go abroad and soak in the sun, every Tom Dick and Harry can get away and achieve that highly sought after tan. A tan that implies, at least to western cultures, free time has been spent leisurely by the pool or on a beach, opposed to in an office, staring at a cold computer screen, writing an article that I’d be lucky if six people read, watching the sun barely bother to look at me let alone kiss my almost paper-white arse. This is where my estranged mind begins to writhe at the thought of what goes into a bottle of whatever it is that creates that ‘fake-tan’ look. At school we’d describe girls as ‘tango’d’ (tango (please don’t sue me) being the name of a popular orange coloured soft drink in the uk) because they’d turn up to school orange, not ‘f*** me I’ve just returned from a luxury holiday in st. tropez golden glow’. I used to wonder what thought process a person had to have that would lead them to smother substances on their bodies and faces resulting in a change to their appearance, unfortunately the ideology I have settled to blame was in existence way before I was at school… Enter Patriarchy, combine it with a touch of scientific developments in cosmetics, a dash of women treated as second class citizens for long enough and we have a beautiful new industry. Literally. The beauty industry, currently valued at $532 Billion dollars and growing. Money made by people selling you a product that in my unpopular opinion, you don’t need.

Given how an excruciatingly large percentage of my own gender view (and still view in some cases) women, wearing make-up has become a social norm to adhere to if one is to think of themselves as presentable, let alone be thought of by someone else as desirable. Thus the truth of the issue I take with make-up is unearthed. No one living should feel they need to do more than be who they are to face the world. In my opinion, a woman who chooses consciously not to wear make-up is living outside of the Truman show-like existence in which we have found to be rather comfortable as it has grown around us. I must also note that I am fully aware a large portion of women that wear make up do so for themselves, by this I mean not feeling like they do it for anyone or for any reason in particular, other than it has been a part of daily life for as long as they could remember. For some, even a right of passage that symbolises ones ascent into womanhood or of course ones arrival there.

Perhaps I’ve read too many books based in dystopian futures where ones thoughts are not ones own, choices are made on ones behalf, where full control over a life is not owned by the person to whom the life belongs. Unfortunately for the world this is how I look at make-up. Its probably openly declaring I’m mad that I imagine myself as morpheus as I write this but I find it very hard to perceive a woman as free-willed, and therefor, not her own person if she cannot go a few days here and there without applying some level of cosmetic. I have had several really interesting conversations with women upon asking what purpose wearing make-up serves, the conclusion always seems to be no purpose other than the right to choose to wear it. I should probably also mention at this point hairy legs don’t bother me and I’m still none the wiser as to why women shave their legs, but that’s a story for another time. A woman’s body is her own and how she maintains it is her agenda.

Anxieties are created through the comparisons young women make between themselves and the stars of reality T.V shows. What I do think is truly healthy and beneficial are the communities that have been formed around make-up. Some of the tutorials I have seen that transform not only women, but even men into beautiful divas sincerely leave me impressed and at times, genuinely confused about my sexual orientation. So long as the next ‘Influencer’ or creator of a tutorial isn’t promoting the use of make-up as a remedy to dealing with ones natural appearance, I reckon no severe dependancy issues will develop.

Any way, there you go. I thought as a man I’d share my two cents on a subject that I’m sure I have grasped from an angle you didn’t even know existed. I’ll close with this attempt at a deep and philosophical insight that makes the ramblings you’ve endured worth while.

It saddens me to think anyone looks in the mirror and wishes to change their appearance (the same way I do every time I see my nose in a photo that’s caught me side-on). I wish to know women for the beautiful beings they are, not the synthetic faced person the world expects them to be.