A Note To Girls Who Say They Don’t Care About Makeup And Fashion
In a world full of Instagram models, reality TV personalities, vloggers, and bloggers, it’s no wonder girls are glorifying a more “natural” effortless look.
Everywhere you look everyone has 32″ of (stale) weave, an overly contoured face, and a midi body con dress. We get it. Some people have taken the cue from the Kardashian clan a bit too far. They are somehow under the impression that they too have cameras following them, and therefore need to be beat for the heavens whilst wearing the finest in Spandex from American Apparel (or Wolford if you’re lucky) everyday.
In retaliation —and of your own volition— many of you have made a conscious decision not to partake in fashion or makeup, which is fine… until you start judging those of us who do.
I gather from a number of other sources that not subscribing to traditional female interests like makeup and fashion is a way to protest the patriarchy. Listen, sis. I understand the desire to find your feminist identity; however, this gets out of hand when you start casting judgement on the women who have a sincere and genuine interest in those things.
Something to consider: By not doing something just because you want to oppose someone else, you are still in essence living for other people.
The most draining of all those in opposition to women who wear makeup and favor a stiletto over a flat are some of the men on social media. Some men insist they prefer a woman in her natural state as opposed to seeing her made up and decked out. These are the same men who post those before and after makeup photos stating that, that is the source of their trust issues.
What you are basically saying here is that those women look better with makeup. Consequentially, since you seem to believe that a woman’s life’s purpose is to serve your desires, couldn’t you understand her inclination to want to put her best foot forward? In all seriousness, not just for you, but for herself?
It’s also important to note that most of the women you guys lust after are extremely made up with nary a natural hair in site. We can see your likes and comments in our feed, sir. So miss us with that narrative please.
Some women truly enjoy traditional feminine interests, and not in an attempt to attract anyone else, but simply because we like it. Doing my makeup in the morning is like ten minutes of meditation for me. As Heben Nigatu of the Another Round so eloquently put it: “makeup is like my armor.”
There is just something about putting on my face, a flawless ensemble, and a heel that makes me feel empowered.
People respond differently at work when I am more put together. I respond differently to people when I am happy with the way I look. It genuinely makes my day go better. Judge me if you will, but it does. Maybe that’s not the case for you. Maybe you favor a little argon oil, a ponytail, and old sneakers, and again, that’s fine. But cut it out with the whole “you don’t love yourself,” “you’re only feeding into the patriarchy,” “why don’t you go natural?” thing.
Not that there aren’t women out there who do fall into those categories, but a lot of us don’t, and we would love it if you guys would just leave us the hell alone. When it comes to makeup, wear it or don’t wear it but leave the people on the other side alone about it. What is empowering to one woman, doesn’t have to be empowering to all women.
Even if you intentionally dress like a complete slob in an effort to look like you don’t care, you are still making a statement that you don’t care, which in turn makes it look like you do. It’s a vicious cycle you’re in living your life to oppose others, but hey do you.
There are so many ways to feel empowered as a woman. We don’t all have to look one certain way, or collectively subscribe to one belief in the way we should present ourselves in order to show solidarity and achieve gender equality goals. The divisiveness caused by this topic is what sets us back.
The collective idea we should mutually share is that women should be free to be themselves no matter what that looks like, even if it looks different from you, and that shouldn’t hold us back from being successful in any of life’s endeavors. Our fave Tracee Ellis Ross summed this up perfectly in an interview with POPSUGAR saying, “There so many examples of women living out loud and being who they are.”
Adding, “Beyoncé is a great example. Rihanna is a great example. Taraji P. Henson. Gabrielle Union. I think there’s space for everyone. That’s the beauty, by the way — if something doesn’t work for you, you get to turn in a different direction because you know what? There are enough examples. If Kim doesn’t work for you, you have other choices. But that doesn’t mean we have to take anybody down. We are no longer in the time where there is only one and can be only one. There are women of all kinds, all shapes, all sizes doing themselves, being themselves, in such beautiful, out-loud ways.”
Fashion, makeup, style blogs, magazines, fashion shows, whatever, we don’t mind if you’re not into it, regardless of your reasoning, but please don’t mind the lane others are in.
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