Can We Stop Calling People ‘Brave’ For Not Wearing Makeup?featured

Inspired by Fearne Cotton’s decision to post a ‘no-makeup selfie’, last week the Loose Women gang decided to remove their makeup while on the show.

Equipped with face wipes, they scrubbed their faces clean and were applauded for their ‘bravery’. The way the media harped on about them ‘taking their faces off’ it made it sound like the audience had witnessed this terrifying scene from The Witches.

We need to get over the concept that going without makeup is ‘brave’. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Brave is leaving an abusive partner, standing up to bullies in school, speaking out about your battle with mental illness. It’s giving CPR to someone who has collapsed in the street, donating a kidney to a friend, jumping into the sea to save someone who is drowning. It’s battling alopecia as a child, it’s getting on with your life after having your face burnt in a fire, it’s having your breasts removed to avoid the same fate of your mother and grandmother. Terri Calvesbert is brave. Kirsty Howard was brave. Hayley Okines was brave. Stepping out of your house in the morning with a face that isn’t caked in cosmetics? Seems a bit silly now, doesn’t it?

When we tell women they’re brave for stepping out in public without makeup, it’s as though we’re suggesting they ought to be ashamed of their normal human faces.

While I do wear makeup from time to time, over the last few years I’ve realised that I don’t need it in order to go about my life. I don’t need it to be successful. I don’t need it to make people respect me. And as far as first impressions go, if someone judges my barefaced appearance when they first meet me, I’ll soon show them how amazing I am. I have far more to offer in this world than my appearance.

There are of course people out there who say that having an interest in makeup is ‘unfeminist’ and I have to disagree. For those who love it, makeup can be fun. It can give people an opportunity to be creative and use their imagination while encouraging self-exploration and experimentation. For some, it’s an opportunity to transform themselves and play with different looks. You can be Scarlett Johanson one day and Audrey Hepburn the next. Even though I’m pretty unskilled when it comes to makeup, this does sound like fun! But I think we’ve got to a stage now where we’re so reliant on lipstick and foundation to make us feel presentable that we’re doing ourselves a serious disservice. We shouldn’t need makeup to feel good enough to show our faces in public.

I know it’s not our fault. Women are faced with a lot more pressure to look their best at all times while men, usually, are not. Sexism certainly has a huge role to play in this, but ultimately we’re the ones who decide whether to put makeup on or not.

If you’re someone who is passionate about makeup but you would happily pop to the shops with a bare face, that sounds like a healthy and self-loving attitude to have. But if the thought of going without makeup feels like a big deal, I urge you to try it. As you walk down the street with your natural makeup-free face, cars won’t crash into trees and babies won’t burst into tears in their buggies. After a while, you may even get used to it like I have.

Someone recently applauded me for not wearing makeup (even though I often do). In a really patronising tone, she said it’s great that I feel ‘comfortable in my own skin’. Considering I suffer from acne, which at the time was quite clearly visible due to a severe outbreak, it left me feeling a little insulted and paranoid. Should I not feel comfortable in my own skin? Why does feeling comfortable in my own skin warrant praise? What I think this person was really saying was “I’m surprised you don’t want to cover that shit right up.”

For a few days after, I found myself wondering what people think of me. I’d look at the person behind the checkout in Tesco and imagine them staring at my spots and thinking: “Why wouldn’t you just wear makeup?” But then I remembered that most normal people don’t care what you look like or even pay attention at all.

Yesterday I shared a phot on Facebook of myself along with my dog, Molly. Considering I’m ill at the moment with the flu, I didn’t have any makeup on and wasn’t particularly bothered about how awful I looked in the picture. I’ve been posting photos of myself looking shit before it was cool to post photos of yourself looking like shit. A few hours after posting the photo, my boyfriend rang me for a chat. He finished the conversation with “Oh yeah. I saw that photo of you and Molly. You don’t even look ill, you know. You look really nice.”

Sometimes we need to remember that the people whose opinions matter the most are the ones who see us for who we are. They see past any makeup - or lack of - and they acknowledge that there is more to us than our looks. They don’t particularly care whether we wear makeup or not. They think we’re beautiful regardless. These are the people we need to surround ourselves with. But more importantly, we need to become one of those people ourselves. Far too often we can be our own worst critic and we pick holes in aspects of ourselves that either don’t exist or aren’t actually as bad as we think. We need to learn to see our own beauty and stop relying on makeup in order to feel complete.

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear from you even if you disagree with me!

Do you think people who go makeup free are ‘brave’ or do you think that’s a load of nonsense? Are you a huge makeup fan? Or could you take it or leave it?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below or on Twitter @CantSwingACat.