Do I Have To Wear Makeup To Be Pretty? (10 Reasons You Don’t)
Have you been feeling pressured to wear makeup lately?
Maybe you have seen a lot of makeup ads around or your friends are all wearing it.
For many people, makeup can be a fun hobby.
However, makeup is absolutely not necessary to appear pretty.
When you take into account the costs associated with makeup, you might want to forego the makeup entirely.
Here are some reasons you don’t need makeup to be pretty.
Do I Have To Wear Makeup To Be Pretty? 10 Reasons You Don’t
1. Many People Prefer the Natural Look
Many people, both men and women alike, prefer the natural look to makeup looks.
Some men even think that makeup is a form of lying.
While that is a bit of a dramatic perspective to take, it sure would be disappointing to be dating someone only to realize you aren’t attracted to them in their natural state.
You also might have a chance at attracting more high-quality men if you go au naturel.
Men who want women to be wearing makeup all the time might have unrealistic expectations for what a woman should look like.
If a man falls for you because of your makeup look, you might feel pressure to keep applying makeup whenever you spend time together.
When you attract a man who prefers a natural look, you don’t have to worry about spending time or money getting him to like you.
Who wouldn’t prefer to be loved for who they actually are, rather than the makeup they apply?
2. Makeup Can Cause Skin Issues
Makeup can be very pretty, but it also has some downsides.
Wearing makeup daily can cause skin issues like acne.
Not only can acne make you feel unattractive, but it can also be painful.
It is not unusual for women who struggle with acne to get caught in a cycle where they apply makeup to cover up their acne, only to have the makeup worsen their breakout.
If you do choose to wear makeup, you need to make sure to clean your skin very thoroughly every night.
Even with cleaning your skin, residue from the makeup can remain and cause skin issues.
The best thing you can do if makeup is causing skin issues is to avoid wearing it at all.
3. Makeup Might Not Be the Best Way to Spend Your Money
Not wearing makeup can actually save you quite a bit of money.
According to Byrdie.com, the average woman spends $313 per month on beauty-related costs.
Men spend only $244 per month on their appearance, and it is mostly on moisturizers and gym costs.
By eliminating makeup from your beauty costs, you can save yourself a lot of money in the long run.
The money you save can be used elsewhere.
It might make more difference to your appearance if you spend that money on a gym membership or skincare than an eyeshadow pallet.
One reason skincare might be a better use of money than makeup is that the beauty returns are long-term.
Makeup might make you look better during the few hours you are wearing it, but having a proper skincare routine can make you age better and look beautiful for years to come.
For example, regular use of sunscreen can prevent wrinkles and other signs of premature aging.
If you have to choose between a high-quality sunscreen and a pricy mascara, it makes much more sense to go with the sunscreen.
4. You Will Save Time That You Can Spend on Something Else
Attraction is not all about physical appearance.
People are attracted to women with full social lives and hobbies.
If you spend half an hour doing your makeup every day, that comes out to 182.5 hours in a year.
That is the equivalent of more than one month of full-time work!
Imagine if you spent that time doing a hobby that you were passionate about.
If it takes you four hours to read a book, you could read 45 books in that time!
You could take 3.5 hours of lessons per week in something you are interested in, such as painting or learning the guitar.
You could grab coffee with three different friends each week and deepen your relationships!
Having strong friendships or a cool hobby might make all the difference in attracting your next partner.
Saving time could also potentially help your health.
If you are constantly struggling to get enough sleep, you could use that getting ready time for sleeping in.
You could fit in an extra 3.5 hours of exercise per week.
Taking care of your health will not only make you more physically attractive but it will also make you happier.
Having a happy, positive personality is key to attracting a partner.
5. Poorly-Done Makeup Can Make You Look Worse
Makeup is a skill that must be learned.
In fact, it takes such a high level of skill that many makeup artists charge more than $100 per hour for their work.
Learning how to do your makeup well takes a lot of effort.
If you haven’t put in the time to develop those skills, you might look worse for having tried to put makeup on.
Certain people don’t have a wonderful intuition for what looks good.
This is why you can see some people constantly making makeup mistakes like “concealer lips” or “raccoon eyes.”
Many people wear a mismatched foundation color without realizing it, which leaves a line around their chins where the foundation stops.
In addition to rookie mistakes like these, great makeup requires you to keep up with the trends.
Much of what was popular five years ago is no longer popular.
If you learn how to do makeup in high school and never work on updating your skills, your look can start to appear strange.
The need to keep up with the makeup trends can also be detrimental to your long-term attractiveness in certain cases.
A good example of this is permanent makeup.
Some people choose to get makeup tattooed onto their faces to save time and money on makeup products.
For example, there is micro-blading, which is a process where tiny cuts are made in the brow area and ink is applied to make it look like you have fuller eyebrows.
Micro-blading is supposed to be temporary, however, some people report that their micro-blading turns orange over time or does not fade evenly.
Another example of this is over-plucking.
Brow styles have changed significantly over time.
Many people who over-plucked their eyebrows in the early 2000s found it was impossible to grow back the hair once chunky brows became popular again in the 2010s.
Then, many of the people who got micro blading done in the 2010s found it did not fade properly and are struggling to make their brows look good now that thin eyebrows are in again.
6. Sometimes Makeup Looks Better on Camera Than in Real Life
If a partner is attracted to you, they are going to be attracted based on what you actually look like in real life.
While makeup often looks amazing on camera, sometimes it looks strange in real life.
This is one of the reasons that many people report celebrities and makeup artists look better on camera than in the flesh.
The opposite can also be true.
Your makeup might look perfect in the mirror, but when you have a picture taken of you, it just looks strange.
A perfect example of this is James Charles’s red carpet incident which came to be known as “Flashback Mary.”
James opted for a lighter foundation when getting ready for a red carpet event.
However, he did not take into account the flashing of paparazzi cameras when putting his look together.
As a result, the lights of the paparazzi made him look like a ghost, and the picture became an international meme.
If James had gone without makeup (or at least greatly reduced the amount of makeup on his face), he would have had a much more natural and attractive appearance in the photo.
If you keep your look natural, you will be assured to have the same look in person and on camera.
7. Attraction Is Based on More Than Just Looks
Women receive a lot of messages telling them that their value is just based on their looks.
A lot of this comes from the beauty industry, which profits off of women’s insecurity.
The truth, though, is that attraction is about a lot more than your physical appearance.
Your attractiveness to someone might be determined by your personality or the connection they have to you.
For some people, it is impossible to feel romantic attraction before they get to know someone and have an emotional connection.
Even the sound of your voice or your confidence can be what attracts people to you.
For many people, it is impossible to tell attraction based on a picture alone.
This is because personality can play a huge role in determining attraction level.
If the person you are interested in is like this, wearing makeup won’t make much of a difference.
8. Makeup Can Make You Appear Fake or Shallow
Makeup isn’t inherently a bad thing, and not everyone sees it as bad.
However, some people do think of makeup as being fake.
The things we choose to spend our time and money on can communicate a lot about our values.
People who do not value makeup or fashion might see these hobbies as frivolous.
Also, being overly concerned with your outward appearance can come across as shallow.
Some people see beauty as the opposite of intelligence and assume that girls with lots of makeup are dumb.
You can easily see this in the way people talk about celebrities who are known for their makeup looks.
Celebrities who make their appearance the center of their profession are often seen as unintelligent or lacking business acumen.
This often remains true even after they build huge businesses and find lots of financial success.
We humans judge each other pretty harshly on appearance.
This doesn’t mean you should be afraid of using makeup.
If you love wearing makeup for your own artistic expression or just because it makes you feel good, you should go for it.
If you only wear makeup because you feel pressure to recognize that not everyone sees makeup as a good thing.
If you aren’t interested in makeup, it isn’t worth spending your time and money on.
People who are disinterested in outward appearance are unlikely to care whether or not you are wearing a full face of makeup.
9. Other Things Make More of a Difference to Your Appearance
What do you think has more effect on your appearance: a stunning new haircut or a pretty eyeshadow?
Probably the haircut!
There are many things you can do to your appearance that will make more of a difference than doing your makeup each day.
You might be better served spending your time doing your hair.
A cool haircut or hair color can do far more to impact your overall appearance.
The great thing is that it doesn’t require you to put in effort every day!
You could also invest in some professional teeth whitening.
It can make a huge difference to your appearance!
That is another thing you can do once that can change your appearance long-term with relatively little time investment.
Another way you can invest in your appearance in a more impactful way is by eating healthy and working out.
Having a trim athletic figure can have more of an effect on attraction than even the most stunning makeup look.
Your skincare routine can make a huge difference, too.
After all, one of the main reasons people wear makeup is to hide any imperfections on their skin.
Wouldn’t you rather not have imperfections in the first place and wake up with great skin?
Another huge contributor to attractiveness that many people overlook is hygiene.
Just by keeping yourself clean, you can appear much more attractive.
10. In Certain Places, Makeup Can Make You Stand Out in a Bad Way
Again, if you love doing a full face of makeup every day, you shouldn’t let other people’s opinions get in the way of that.
Follow your bliss! The value of makeup is not universal, though.
It is very culturally dependent.
For example, in the United States, makeup trends can often be quite bold, such as graphic eyeliner or holographic highlighter.
However, in some other countries, such as France, any sign of being “unnatural” is seen as a negative.
Notably, the French do not embrace makeup when they are known for their beauty.
Not only are the French known to value beauty, style, and fashion, but they are also known as some of the world’s most “chic” people.
The fact that the French put such a high value on physical appearance yet don’t believe in the value of makeup goes to show how culturally-dependent makeup standards are.
An example on the opposite end of the spectrum is the UK subculture of “roadmen.”
Girls in this subculture tend to do extremely dramatic eye looks with a foundation that is dark to the point of appearing orange.
If you live in a place where lots of makeup is outside the norm, it might push people away from you more than it draws them in.
In this case, it might do you more good to stay away from the lipstick.
