A 21 year old wakes up, looks in the mirror and finds every imperfection about herself. All of her insecurities. She blots and covers it all with makeup; she conceals her discoloration and bronzes her paleness. She then goes to school, and all she gets is comments about her makeup looking artificial, and how she’s being deceitful. This is a double standard because if she doesn’t wear any makeup she’s mistaken for being lazy or sickly. Women spend so much time, money, and tears into the beauty industry to try and change themselves. Societal norms and expectations tell women that their most natural form is not enough and they need to change their appearance.
Women spend on average about 45 minutes every single day, putting on makeup and altering their appearance (Harvard). That averages roughly to about 273 hours a year that women spend putting makeup on their faces, just to appear “normal” or feel accepted. In this time we can be accomplishing more fulfilling goals such as: Preparing for a marathon, writing a book, learning a new language, or even starting a successful business. College students complain daily about never having enough time for the things that they need to do. But yet they’re more than willing to prioritize the stuff they “want” over it. Such as nail appointments, tanning appointments, eyelash appointments; the list goes on and on. These are all time consuming things, and yet even though the only benefit is altering our appearances, beauty and personal care products are viewed as a necessity 67% of college students (Beauty Matters).
When I was not even a teenager yet, I remember feeling like I needed to worry about my appearance. I’d hear girls at school talking about how much time they’d spend doing their hair or makeup. So every morning before school I would look in front of the mirror try to find something I needed to fix, figure out what was wrong with me. In the end I blamed my eyebrows, they definitely were the problem, they barely existed. But I didn’t have money to do this, so I found some old eyeshadow. I sat crisscross on the counter top and spent the next 20 minutes “perfecting” a pair of eyebrows on my face. They were black, and about as thick as caterpillars. Instead of feeling better I spent the next 5 minutes crying and 10 minutes fixing them. All of this time spent over eyebrows! Just because I though I needed to fit in somehow.
Speaking of money, women spend over $400 more on their appearance annually on beauty. Men spend averagely about $728 on items such as haircuts, supplements, and gym memberships. These things go beyond physical appearance I Cannot Make This Up but also help emotional resilience as well as physical wellbeing. To me this is the ultimate goal to be well rounded in areas we can grow. Meanwhile because of strong beauty influences in the media especially, women spend about $1,064 a year on only makeup and hair (Americas Beauty). These numbers and statistics are normalized, even for me as a broke college student. Most kids my age don’t have the money to spend on these things. Yet these expectations still linger, from past generations, and from current trends where we have to buy the next and greatest thing. I think when it comes to specifically Generation Z shopping for makeup, there is this notion that you need every cosmetic product on the planet. Not only is this mindset extremely wasteful to the planet, but it is equally wasteful to your wallet. In areas where you are looking to save or things you may actually need (such as food, or paying bills). These things fall lower on your list, and ultimately can destroy your bank account. As someone who loves to indulge in retail therapy this mindset can be extremely difficult. It’s important to set a budget for yourself for specific categories: makeup, clothes, entertainment, food, etc. This way you can hold yourself accountable.
Lastly and to me the one that hits closest to home, is the strong negative emotions that are associated with makeup. By seeing others wear makeup it fosters unhealthy and unrealistic ideas of what beauty is and should be. This can lead to low self-esteem, poor body image, eating disorders and ultimately depression (Beauty Standards). When individuals do wear makeup however, it’s believed that it should not be to gloat about their beauty, at least on a daily occurrence. (The exception could be a dance or special occasion). Makeup instead is believed to simply disguise women’s sleepless nights and growing acne. When there is no makeup, women are perceived as lazy and homely. But if women wear heavy makeup, they are seen as attention seekers and try-hards.
No person is the same, we are full of imperfections and blemishes both inside and out; although this was not a truth that I received easily. The beauty industry is pressed on our generation from such a young age, I don’t remember a time thinking that I wasn’t going to wear makeup. I understood that makeup helped conceal your insecurities. When I was about 11 years old, this belief wouldn’t let go of me. I remember looking in the mirror, with my brown hair and dark freckles, thinking that my blonde eyebrows made my forehead seem huge. I became ashamed of it. That’s not something anyone should worry about let alone at the age of 11. So I found an old eyeshadow palette from when my aunt was young. I took the brush and used the darkest color imaginable to try and fill in my eyebrows, just so I could I Cannot Make This Up f it in. I looked like a clown, it was ridiculous; but in that moment I realized that I loved myself more when I was me, even if my features weren’t orthodoxically beautiful. It is who I am.
When it comes to makeup, I believe it’s less about others’ perceptions about you. It’s more about the confidence that it gives you, you hold your head higher and psychology you may be a little more outgoing. I believe that we are not expected and we shouldn’t have to wear makeup everyday, we can carry that same confidence with no makeup or with a heavy face. We shouldn’t let media and other voices cloud our judgement of ourselves and our body image.
Lorelei Vincent is a passionate writer and aspiring student based out of Utah. Her works reflects her daily observations and finding innermost meaning within her life as she battles young adulthood. “I cannot make this up” battles standards and ideals of society mixed with practical statistics and real life experience.