Feeling like we need to wear makeup, like we don't look good without it, is a horrible feeling. And it's a feeling that is instilled in us so that we will spend our money trying to feel better. I commend and envy all the women out there who feel great without wearing makeup and choose not to. I wish I could say I was one of these women, but I'm not...yet. It's definitely a goal of mine and I'm getting there. When I was in my teens I felt uncomfortable leaving the house without using what added up to be 8 or 9 cosmetic products. I have since learned to appreciate the way I look with a minimal amount (a little powder and bronzer and a sweep of mascara) and that's a big achievement for me! And it literally took just scaling it down over time and learning to accept what my face actually looks like, and disregarding the fact that I seemed out of place in some beauty companies that valued fully made up faces walking around the office. Both of those things were really unpleasant at first. I hope to get to the point where I feel great with a totally bare face, but I'm still self-conscious enough that it needs to be a gradual process. I know that a lot of women feel the same way and wish they felt better about what their faces look like without all the paints and powders and all the time and money these entail.
So the next several posts will be devoted to 1) why most cosmetics are actually bad for our health, 2) some companies that are trying to make healthier makeup (while we still wear it), and 3) things we can do to look and feel amazing without makeup.
The next post will be full of scary info about why cosmetics are physically bad for our health. But almost more important are the effects that they have on us mentally and emotionally. We should never feel inadequate or unattractive or embarrassed by our real faces, but many of us do. And this is not our fault. Our society has raised woman to believe that our job is to be beautiful and attractive to men at all costs starting from very young. This is ultimately so that a bit later on we can be sure to fulfill our true role in life: to get married and have children and keep husbands happy. And if our looks are lacking compared to made-up, airbrushed, photoshopped, surgically altered, perfectly lit models, actresses, and pornstars, then we could lose all that, and that is supposed to terrify us. On top of that, it forces us to constantly compare ourselves to the competition, other women. So we have been taught to obsess over our looks rather than focus on living the lives we really want for ourselves; and this all helps jeopardize our ability to have a totally healthy perspective of and relationships with other women-our true allies.
And if the psychological issues resulting from the motivations of the cosmetic industry aren’t bad enough, the dangers of the ingredients to our health are…
1 comment:
Hi. I found your blog through a bulletin describing it that was posted on myspace by xGatherx. I've only read this post so far. First of all, I wanted to say that I thought this post makes sense, and I agree with what you said. The reason I'm commenting, though, is because I have a few questions that I've been wondering about, and I wanted to know what your opinion on them are. I'm a 19 year old boy. To me, my appearance is something that I like to manipulate as a form of self-expression. Because of my aesthetic interests, I like to have an appearance that happens to be perceived as much more feminine than the norm for my biological gender, and from time to time I do wear makeup. Now, this is a very different dynamic than the one women face with makeup, and that's no doubt due to the fact that I am a boy, and because of our culture I have the privilege of not having to feel bad about not wearing makeup. What I'm not sure about is if my actions are in support of a more accepting society in relation to appearances, or if my actions are detrimental because they continue to promote the use of makeup. I feel that they may be positive in the sense that I am transgressing the bounds of accepted expression for people who are biologically male, but like I said, my actions still promote the use of makeup. So, what are your thoughts on that? (sorry this was so longwinded).
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