How come men don't have to wear make-up?

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It's a problem because of the implication that, if a man leaves his face natural the way it is and goes out like that, he is still "well-groomed" as long as he's done everything else in a grooming routine, but a woman is not considered "well-groomed" unless she's put make-up on. Her plain, natural face is apparently not "groomed" enough as it is.

It matters not if she's showered, well-dressed, sweet-smelling, with tidy hair and clean clothes. It matters not if she's taken ages and ages carefully washing herself, making her nails tidy, choosing her dress, etc. Apparently, if she's missing the makeup, she's not "well-groomed."

The problem lies in this implication from society that, in order to complete her outfit and not be accused of looking like a slob, a woman has to put makeup on as a required finishing touch, whereas a man doesn't.

Why is my plain, natural-looking face not considered good enough by society to go outside and face the world, whereas a man's is? That simply isn't fair.

By saying that women wear makeup "to look nice" you are implying that, unless they're wearing it, they do NOT look nice. That's a very nasty implication: the implication that our natural faces are not nice enough the way they truly are. If your opinion was that makeup only serves to enhance beauty that is already there, you would have said: "to look nicer." But no. You say makeup exists to make us "look nice." In other words, without it, we don't look nice at all.

I disagree!

I don't think it's to that extreme, where if a woman goes out without makeup the public is going to recoil in horror. I realize this varies culturally to a degree, but makeup isn't a deal breaker one way or another. Some people do jump through extreme hoops to achieve the cultural ideal for what is attractive( plastic surgery, bound feet, and elongated necks for instance). Why seek external validation for what you like or don't like?

I ask myself the same, a lot of times.



Same for me.

Not every day excursions perhaps, but if a woman attends a wedding or a prom or pretty much any formal event, there's an expectation that she's meant to wear makeup, and isn't fully dressed without it.

Funny, the first image that popped into my head when I read the title of this thread was of Robert Smith from The Cure. But, I suppose that's more of an example of wearing make-up by choice.

I also think that many women look worse with makeup. I don't wear makeup. I can't stand the feeling of krap on my face all day.

Women don't have to wear makeup, they choose to.

Generally, I don't bother but when I do, I garner more positive reaction than when I don't, and not just amorous attention, but actual respect. My integrity gets magically elevated. I've also noticed how differently people treat me if I show a little cleavage. We're all just animals, eh? It all makes me feel so manipulative and dirty. Like others have said; it's fake.

It's ironic that we wear makeup to cover flaws and produce a youthful appearance when wearing makeup accelerates damage and aging.

What about the shoes? Pure torture...

Hi Joe,

The answer could be that it is just too psychologically ingrained in most of us now (adverts > society) that even though we would not get shot outside for not being "groomed" there is always going to be those illogical, parasitic thoughts from society in the back of our minds, so to speak. In other words, our heads are so mashed up with conflicting pathetic messages now that we just don't know "how" to be anymore. Whether one puts makeup on or not, they will be judged either way, with both camps judging each other. This does not make any sense to me, and is a bit confusing and rather depressing.

There was a shaving advert for women aired in the UK that never failed to make me laugh and despair all at the same time. The words from rough memory were "Shaving can damage underarm skin, making them sore, red and itchy." Doesn't that tell you something then? It tells me that we really ought to all stay away from shavers...

I have observed though, that this very same crap is also being pushed on males, too. Little by little. Showing adverts with males putting on scents and aftershave suggesting they'll be seen as more appealing. Their shaving adverts suggest to them that they'll have more of a chance in attracting a mate if they shave their beards, and so on. It may not be to the same extent, but is still noticeable.

To clarify, it matters little to me whether a man or a woman takes part in doing these things or not, or their reasons for it.

I don't complain about women having periods and not men though, because that's a nature thing. But make-up was somehow made into a trend by humans ourselves, and God knows who or what started it, but now it seems to be the norm. I also argue about the girls MUST shave their legs rule (we do here in the UK anyway). It's not even an optional thing, unless you can put up with feeling odd by going out in shorts or a skirt with thick hair down your legs and getting other people disrespecting you. I may be blonde but the hair on my legs is very dark and noticeable. And that's another thing - my teenage cousins (with naturally dark hair) said once that blonde hair is now ''out of fashion'' and that anyone seen with blonde hair will get called offensive names. I was like, ''please don't tell me society says I must dye my hair dark or else''. Hopefully that's just a stupid fad going about at their schools, and adults in the real world won't take any notice of that crap.

This may be a bit off-topic, but didn't you know that most NTs have made themselves frightened of their own people? The other day my 20-year-old cousin almost had a meltdown because her hair-straightener didn't work, and she was so afraid to be seen out in public without straightened hair that she got her dad to get her shopping for her. I asked her what the big deal was, and that her hair looked nice and glossy anyway, and she just said, ''but I always straighten my hair, I am not going out in public without it straightened'', and I just said, ''but strangers in the street don't know that, so they're not going to judge you'', but she seemed to think that just because she knows she straightens her hair every day, it means the whole world also knows that and will be out to laugh at her if she doesn't straighten her hair.

I think I may know what your cousins were trying to say here (although I may be wrong), I've heard a lot of "jokes" which imply that blonde haired people, particularly women with blonde hair are less intelligent. I do not believe this to be true, but some do still have those beliefs, so I am thinking this is what your cousins meant by "out of fashion" and getting called offensive names. Still, I could be wrong, and your cousins may or may not hold those beliefs. Hope this made sense?

Also to clear something up in my last post about the shaving advert for women and I said "Doesn't that tell you something then? " The "you" I've made bold was just a generic you and not directed at you personally, Joe, or anyone here. Just in case anyone wondered.

Men who wear dark makeup and dye their hair are sexy all I'm going to say.l