Is makeup a placebo effect?
When you’re growing up it takes a while to express your identity properly, for me it took till I was 17 to fully start understanding who I was as a person, and who I wanted to be. But it didn’t stop there as I continue to change and develop.
I scroll through my timehop and I see old tweets questioning why people are so fascinated with makeup, I suppose being 13 you don’t really understand it.
But older, and a little wiser I understand, for I once was the girl who just got up put their hair in a ponytail and left the house for school. Then suddenly I refused to leave the house without makeup on. I spent 17years without it and suddenly began to rely on it as I got older and became more aware of the people around, and my head had programmed itself that you won’t fit in without something to make you stand out. Something to make you look your age.*
*side note I had a customer ask how long they’d been with the company and when I stated the date he make a comment that he bet I was just born then. I was 4.
However sometimes waking up and doing your make up becomes a chore and less of an enjoyment, and it took me a few years to suddenly feel okay without it, but the main factor that’s helped me become makeup free again is the gym.
As silly as it sounds, but the gym changed my view on many aspects of my life.
The first my body, I became more confident In how I was shaped, I started to accept the fact my boobs aren’t going to get any bigger, but my booty can. It made me happy how strong I was becoming even a little bit at a time, and it made me happy that I suddenly had the stamina to start running on the treadmill.
The second reason the gym changed me is I suddenly became aware that although I was watching other people, purely to see their workout techniques and I enjoy looking at peoples butts, but I realised that I never really cared what they looked like. I never noticed if someone left, I never noticed if someone came in. All I did was glance every now and then. And it took me a few months to realise this as every time I was there and I still do this now, I feel like everyone’s watching me and my workout judging. Just like in everyday life. But once I realised no one cared, I started to feel the same about my face. And I would get on the bus with no makeup and go to the gym happily.
Then my holiday came around where I spent a week without makeup, and it opened my eyes to what was once my everyday life. It’s a bit like your phone, you think you can’t live without it, but after a few days you start to enjoy life again just like you did before.
I even spent a week at work without makeup which is the place I feel most judged by people, however my eyes were puffy, streaming constantly and I wasn’t feeling well. So I sat myself down and questioned why I was going to bother putting make up on when all I wanted to do was rub my eyes and sneeze without feeling like my face is a smudged mess.
And once again it opened my eyes to the fact the world doesn’t really care, I doubt anyone left going ‘oh look at her, she wasn’t wearing makeup.’
Its more a mentality than anything else, placebo effect, suddenly your programmed to believe everyone will notice if you don’t wear makeup, when in reality even my boyfriend sometimes doesn’t know when I don’t have makeup on vs when I do.
Don’t take this as a piece bashing makeup, because it is far from it. I always admire people who are amazingly talented at the art of applying make-up because that’s what it is, it’s an art form. But it’s important to remember it’s not a necessity in life, and we can live without it.
I scroll through my timehop and I see old tweets questioning why people are so fascinated with makeup, I suppose being 13 you don’t really understand it.
But older, and a little wiser I understand, for I once was the girl who just got up put their hair in a ponytail and left the house for school. Then suddenly I refused to leave the house without makeup on. I spent 17years without it and suddenly began to rely on it as I got older and became more aware of the people around, and my head had programmed itself that you won’t fit in without something to make you stand out. Something to make you look your age.*
*side note I had a customer ask how long they’d been with the company and when I stated the date he make a comment that he bet I was just born then. I was 4.
However sometimes waking up and doing your make up becomes a chore and less of an enjoyment, and it took me a few years to suddenly feel okay without it, but the main factor that’s helped me become makeup free again is the gym.
As silly as it sounds, but the gym changed my view on many aspects of my life.
The first my body, I became more confident In how I was shaped, I started to accept the fact my boobs aren’t going to get any bigger, but my booty can. It made me happy how strong I was becoming even a little bit at a time, and it made me happy that I suddenly had the stamina to start running on the treadmill.
The second reason the gym changed me is I suddenly became aware that although I was watching other people, purely to see their workout techniques and I enjoy looking at peoples butts, but I realised that I never really cared what they looked like. I never noticed if someone left, I never noticed if someone came in. All I did was glance every now and then. And it took me a few months to realise this as every time I was there and I still do this now, I feel like everyone’s watching me and my workout judging. Just like in everyday life. But once I realised no one cared, I started to feel the same about my face. And I would get on the bus with no makeup and go to the gym happily.
Then my holiday came around where I spent a week without makeup, and it opened my eyes to what was once my everyday life. It’s a bit like your phone, you think you can’t live without it, but after a few days you start to enjoy life again just like you did before.
I even spent a week at work without makeup which is the place I feel most judged by people, however my eyes were puffy, streaming constantly and I wasn’t feeling well. So I sat myself down and questioned why I was going to bother putting make up on when all I wanted to do was rub my eyes and sneeze without feeling like my face is a smudged mess.
And once again it opened my eyes to the fact the world doesn’t really care, I doubt anyone left going ‘oh look at her, she wasn’t wearing makeup.’
Its more a mentality than anything else, placebo effect, suddenly your programmed to believe everyone will notice if you don’t wear makeup, when in reality even my boyfriend sometimes doesn’t know when I don’t have makeup on vs when I do.
Don’t take this as a piece bashing makeup, because it is far from it. I always admire people who are amazingly talented at the art of applying make-up because that’s what it is, it’s an art form. But it’s important to remember it’s not a necessity in life, and we can live without it.
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