True beauty doesn’t need the cover-up of makeup

In our society, makeup and women often go hand-in-hand, but several women recently have tried to divorce the two, with some serious pushback. Annie Garau, a student at Indiana University, made a seemingly harmless New Year’s resolution: no makeup for a year. For her, this resolution began as a social experiment.

 

Two hundred days later, on July 19, Garau wrote an article for Kentucky’s Lexington Herald-Leader about her progress. Instead of feeling clean, free or relieved, Garau found herself feeling “uncomfortable, undesirable and embarrassed.” When she talked to other young women about her experiment, they admitted that they admired her cause, but would never even consider going a weekend without makeup.

Garau spent the rest of her article going through statistics and quoting professionals on how much time and effort is put in to beautification. But in the end, all the numbers and interviews just summarized one haunting fact: a college girl choosing not to wear makeup is considered news. And it shouldn’t be. Women should have the choice to wear makeup without it becoming a statement.

American women are increasingly comfortable talking about third-party influences of beauty. There are videos all over the internet revealing the deceptive qualities of Photoshop. There are blogs and tweets about Jennifer Lawrence’s “normal” eating habits and Miss Indiana’s “normal” bikini body. It has become women’s battle cry to tell our young girls that the people in magazines don’t actually look perfect and that all people are beautiful just the way they are.

And yet, mothers regularly go out and buy their daughters their first eyeliner pencil. It should be no surprise that 90 percent of women report feeling unhappy with their appearance, as a study commissioned by Dove reported.

People don’t actually want to talk about real beauty. It’s easy to rail against fake pictures of women. Anyone can complain about beautiful people getting a leg up. Garau actually did something about it; she hasn’t worn makeup for more than 200 days now. Though honorable and intelligent, Garau’s actions obviously can’t change a culture where you just don’t leave the house without mascara.

Singer Colbie Caillat did something similar with her music video for “Try,” released on June 8. The song, which is about not trying too hard to be liked, features Caillat and a diverse group of women slowly removing their makeup to reveal their faces underneath it all.

Though her message was brave and wise, Caillat’s efforts were diminished when much of the mainstream media decided to make it about Photoshop instead of makeup. The portion of the music video that discussed photo editing lasted no more than three seconds. Despite that, the headlines for Huffington Post, USA Today, MTV and many others said that Caillat’s video was about the misleading effects of photo editing.

In an interview for Elle magazine, Caillat says the music video is about “all these things that all of us girls do everyday to get ready to go out.” However, Elle titled the article “Colbie Caillat Is Tired of Being Photoshopped: Here’s What She Did About It.” Caillat only briefly mentions Photoshop, and she did it in relation to an old album cover, not the music video in question.

The media outlets that reported about Garau were more than happy to tell her story like it is — a 20-year-old college student not wearing makeup. But they refused to acknowledge that a celebrity might join in on the discussion. Perhaps it’s out of self-interest. After all, Elle in particular thrives off of the makeup industry.

But it’s much more likely that it’s a subconscious gut reaction. Even the strongest, most powerful women would probably feel uncomfortable sitting in their corner offices without a hint of light eye shadow. Nobody wants to be told that something they do every day isn’t necessary, and that it might even be bad.

None of this is to say that makeup in itself is the enemy. Sometimes, just the right color of eye shadow brings out the green in your eyes. The perfect bronzer can make your beautiful cheekbones stand out. Makeup can also be enjoyable — there’s some serious bonding that can take place with your friends while listening to Beyoncé and picking out the right shade of lipstick before a night on the town.

But it shouldn’t be story-worthy when a girl decides she doesn’t feel like using makeup.

The real enemy isn’t Photoshop, celebrities or makeup. The real enemies are the lies women tell themselves about how to be beautiful. The media says women really don’t have to try so hard. If everyone truly believed that, going 200 — or even 365 — days without makeup would be a breeze.