There’s been a lot of debate lately over whether makeup is empowering or not, with many arguing that it can’t be empowering due to the predatory nature of the beauty industry. While I don’t disagree that the beauty industry can do horrors for women’s self esteem, I’d like to talk about why makeup is empowering for me and why the real problem is the constant policing of women’s appearance whether they chose to wear makeup or not. I’d like to do this by taking you back to junior high.
As I entered adolescence, I began to secretly develop an interest in all things beauty related. I loved going to sleepovers and painting my nails, so I bought my first nail polishes. I wanted my hair to be more than super heavy and stick straight, so I got my first professional haircut and set of highlights. I also started envying the colourful eyeshadows that girls at school were wearing so I asked my mom about makeup and started buying my own. I did all those things because I wanted to explore who I was and get creative with my look. I bought what would become my signature electric blue eyeshadow because I saw it in Sephora and it looked cool. I’ve always loved pretty colours and that one was calling my name. My point is, the makeup thing was always about me and exploring my authentic self. Those around me saw it differently, however.
Throughout junior high, a lot of people felt that they needed to weigh in on my makeup choices. I would have teachers asking me things like “what’s with that eyeliner” when I did a cat eye, or telling me that I was “beautiful without makeup” when I was reapplying my lipstick before a school dance. A classmate felt the need to tell me that my eyeliner looked like sharpie when I was experimenting with the thickness of my eyeliner. One time when I was wearing my signature blue eyeshadow look, I had a group of boys felt the need to yell “too much makeup” at me as I was walking to class. Everyone felt like they had a right to comment on what I was doing with my look as if they thought I was doing it for them. The truth is, I never did it to get boys to notice me or because I thought I looked ugly without makeup. I did it because I felt like a more authentic version of myself when I was being creative with my makeup. I enjoyed coming up with a look every day (even if those looks were objectively bad) and showcasing it.
The comments made me more insecure. I became more protective of the identity I was building. I felt like if I didn’t wear makeup then everyone making the unsolicited comments would win, that my genuine interest in makeup would be delegitimized. I also began to worry that if I kept doing what I was doing with my makeup then I wouldn’t be attractive to boys (I hadn’t yet realized that girls were also in my potential dating pool). I worried that I would be forced to chose between my authentic self and finding love.
The real kicker was when the school put on a “real beauty day” inspired by the Dove Real Beauty campaign. Students were strongly encouraged (read: pressured) to come to school with no makeup, no hair styling, etc. The suggestion being that makeup and straightened hair are fake, that they don’t represent the real you. I remember being grateful that I got sick that day because I felt a ton of pressure to go to school as someone I wasn’t. It was kind of counterintuitive cause the whole point was to fight pressure to look a certain way and here I was, feeling pressured to look a certain way. I remember feeling confused around the whole thing because the Dove campaign and the people around me were telling me that I wasn’t my authentic self while I was wearing makeup yet I felt more like my authentic self when I was.
To this day, I continue to do my makeup pretty much everyday. Even on days where I’m going nowhere, I’ll sometimes wake up and feel like creating a look for myself. Doing my hair and makeup energizes me and makes me pumped to start the day. It makes mornings bearable. I’m really not a morning person but there are many days where I go to sleep thinking about a look and get excited to wake up to put it on. Obviously my skill level has improved over time and I’m no longer wearing electric blue eyeshadow with a poorly executed cat eye and excessive amounts of powder foundation but hair and makeup remains an integral part of my morning.
The point of this story is that makeup became empowering for me because wearing it was always something that I truly did for me. For me, it represents ignoring the judgement of others and being my true self. Now I’m not saying that I was oppressed because I wore makeup, I definitely wasn’t but I did face judgement and loads of unsolicited opinions. I also don’t want to claim that makeup is universally empowering. My point is that makeup may or may not be empowering depending on your relationship with it over time.
The real problem is the policing of women’s appearance. When it comes to makeup, the world expects something very specific from women. In professional environments we are expected to wear makeup, but no bright eyeshadows or bold lipsticks. Meanwhile, the “natural look” for women has come to mean concealer and mascara. The world has set all sorts of arbitrary standards for how women present ourselves. So, the most empowering thing we can do is to wear as little or as much makeup as we want regardless of what society or the beauty industry tells us. Let’s stop telling women that they need or don’t need makeup and help each other wear what makes us feel most like ourselves.
(14-year-old me pretending to be an edgy teen)