Hello reader types!
Just a short bit o'bloggage from me today. I should list. Everyone likes lists.
1. I'm feeling a LOT better of late. I've done loads to stop being so depressed and now having found medication that works for me and an excellent counsellor I am positively beaming with good mental health. Most days.
2. Nothing much has gone on since I've been ill, apart from that I was really ill and now I'm almost better.
3. This whole "no makeup selfie" trend going around got me thinking.
4. No one I know has taken part in the "cock in a sock" thing. I am very grateful for that.
So, no make up eh?
Has your twitter feed been filled with photos of women without makeup on? Has your facebook revealed the face beneath the slap of women you thought you knew? Have you yourself indeed bared your soul...I mean face...to the world of the internet without its usual four inches of slap and finely honed minimalisation of your flaws and extremising of your best facial features? (yeah, that's a word)
It's been a big deal the last few days on social media. There have of course been several commentators rightly noting that taking a photo of yourself without makeup and sharing it online will IN NO WAY help to research cancer treatments. However, Cancer Research UK has actually seen a huge spike in their donations (possibly from people donating in protest of the futility of the selfies, so they are basically working even if they didn't do the work they were saying they would do by actually doing it but by making people do it in outrage at the lack of doing it that they were aiming to do without actually doing) (a lot like Fred Phelps being one of the most useful advocates for awareness of equality issues of LGBT people...well done Fred, sorry you're dead...)
This is me with no makeup...
Actually, since I basically never wear makeup this is pretty much just a picture of me. It's me without my glasses?
Maybe that doesn't count..
I've decided that does count.
So. Ready for another list?
Let's have letters this time.
Points to note about my selfie:
a) I look totally fine without makeup on. (having now replaced my glasses I am confident in this assertion)
b) I have pretty good skin...which is almost certainly down to the fact that I don't put anything on my face apart from water. I went through a teenage phase (which lasted probably about 2 weeks) of putting on makeup every day and taking it off every night. Dutifully using the 'put on makeup in the morning' 'cleanse, tone, moisturise in the evening' routines I had been assured would be beneficial to every aspect of my life by the beauty industry. And my family. And my peers. And my school. And the media. And biscuit adverts. And books. And films. Actually, everyone says this is what you should do.
Only girls though. Boys in makeup are just weirdos*
c) I do not look like this:
Hmm.
Well, good for me, you might say. I'm one of the lucky minority who doesn't look like a troggy fuglatron as soon as the paint comes off.
I call bs.
I've seen a whole heap of these makeupless selfies the last few days and I can tell you two very important pieces of information as a result.
i) EVERY SINGLE ONE of the women I have seen participate in this trend look better without makeup on. ALL OF THEM. WITHOUT EXCEPTION. ALL. EVERY. EACH. Seriously, some people who I have never seen without makeup on I have simply never realised were so stunning. But now I know because I have seen. I can't unsee this. It makes me angry.
ii) I really really don't go in for empowering other women by saying that they look wonderful when they actually don't. I'm very blunt and always always honest. If someone had posted a picture that was just incredibly ugly and awful I would be the first one to call them and laugh at them. It sounds cruel but this total lack of tact comes with total sincerity and so long as you're robust enough to take the rough with the smooth it does mean that a compliment from me you can be certain has no secret motivation or kindness of heart behind it. If I say you look hot today, you look hot today. If you looked hideous today, I'd tell you in a heartbeat. (anecdote. I met one of my husband's friends for the first time at her wedding and by way of introduction said "aww you look really beautiful! Of course this does mean that if I ever meet you again I'll think you look like shit") (See, honesty.)
In Conclusion.
Stop wearing makeup. All women right now need to stop wearing all makeup all the time. Who has EVER looked at someone and judged them for an uneven skin tone, for short eyelashes or lip-coloured lips? Who actually thinks that covering your face with overpriced chemical gubbins is good for you? Isn't the whole basis of attractiveness and goodlookingness (yeah, that's a word) about health? I'm pretty sure that to look healthy you should try to BE healthy (says the chocaholic, exercise refusing smoker...oops) and smearing whatever that crap is all over your whole face (your actual FACIAL FACE for crying out loud! That's the front part that everyone will look at!) cannot be a good thing!
I'll admit, I do wear makeup maybe once or twice a month, when I feel like I need to look like I've made an effort. I'll probably continue to begrudgingly do so and I don't actually think that it's a necessary feminist statement to stop wearing all makeup all the time. But I do think that we, as women, need to fight against this dictation by the media that to be beautiful is to be other than ourselves. This notion that women should be obliged every morning to 'put their face on' before they may be presented to the world as an acceptable human being must stop.
Oh God I'm about to sound like *a popular music artist or group*...
You are actually beautiful, just as you are.
(Unless you're ugly, in which case makeup won't help you and you should just stay indoors.)
*I don't think it's any more or less weird for boys to wear makeup.
