I don't need to put on makeup to take care of my daughter, even if I had the time and energy to do so. So, I started thinking have I ever needed makeup? I sure thought I did. Back in high school it was the dark eye shadow with a whole pencil worth of eye liner. In college it was a little less but more mascara. Before I got married I wore it only when going out or at work. After getting married it was probably less but I'd still put it on before leaving the house only then it was the nice foundation-shading with blush and a dusty rose pink eye shadow and conservative eye liner and mascara.
As for my hair, well...it has never done what I want it to so it was never "fancy." Ponytails, straight down, sometimes curled, sometimes straightened, and then my phase in high school/early college that I thought pigtails were fun. Okay I still think they're fun and they get the hair out of my face. I have dyed my hair so many times I'm surprised I'm not bald; that was back in high school and it was usually weird colors or highlights. In college I dyed my hair completely black. That was probably my favorite thing I had ever done to my hair - except when I couldn't color over it and I was stuck with this weird "ombre" look while it grew out long enough to cut off. A few years ago I tried a perm. And as I expected my hair wouldn't even take that. It straightened itself out within months and I never tried it again. And now, with having a baby, ponytails keep the spit-up and slobber and little grabby hands away from my hair.
So now you know the history of my makeup wearing, hair doing days. Shall we talk about the future? Sure, the no-makeup-wearing decision has been made for me with having a clingy baby but now I have thought about it and have consciously made my own mind up - no more makeup. (The hair, well...it was never a big deal. Ha.) Here's what I think:
Why should a woman (or girl) cover her face with fake stuff to impress people? If we know anything about the human race and our society it's that people are super judgey. I need to wear makeup to make me look better so people like me. Okay, well if you're worried about those people liking you in the first place, why would you want their approval? People are going to judge you whether you wear makeup or not. They will find something. And this isn't a 'I have lost all hope in humanity' speech; I'm only saying that a person shouldn't seek approval from a world that is already against them. Just be who you are. Now if wearing makeup "for realsies" makes you happy, then wear makeup! But don't do it for someone else.
Your face is your face! It is no one else's face. Why make it look like everyone else's face? You shouldn't, that's why. I see all those before/after posts of how makeup makes "plain" girls miraculously look like models. (And who says being a model is a goal to achieve?) In fact, here's one now. All that shading and painting and stenciling...mercy. First, what a time waster! Secondly, they all look the same! Why can't you look like yourself anymore? Everyone is looking for individuality but they end up being another invisible person. No wonder there is so much depression and suicide out there today. You think you need to be unhappy with your natural appearance so you do what makes you look "normal" to other people but then you blend in to the background and you get looked over or ignored by the people you were trying to impress in the first place. Gosh, don't sign me up for that one. In that article I linked to, I think all those before pictures are more beautiful than the afters. Sure, there are flaws - everyone has them, but that's what makes you YOU. With makeup I have an even complexion, eyes that pop, and less noticeable pimples. Without makeup I have three gigantic freckles on my face among my smaller ones, a scar on my right eyebrow, and washed out eyes due to my pale eyelashes. There, that's all out in the open so I don't need to hide it anymore. I have accepted my "flaws" because I can't change them (okay, I could with some plastic surgery, but...oh, I better not get started on that subject...)
In all the thinking I've been doing I recalled a passage from Scripture:
3 Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives,2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. 1 Peter 3: 3-6
But you say, hey! I'm not married...this does not apply to me. Well, I say, hey! Yes it does! You know how they say you shouldn't enter into a relationship with lies? If you start a relationship based solely on appearance and "faking" who you really are on the inside, isn't that as good as a lie? Should you doll yourself up and look like a model to go out and meet Mr. Right? Do you want a man that will want you only if you look like you just stepped out of the salon? Or do you want a man that sees you, the natural you, and says Yup that's her. He can't see you through all that makeup, dear. Superficial based relationships are just that - superficial. They're empty. If that is what you want though, don't let me step on your toes. But wouldn't it just be so much better to have a relationship in which you can have deep conversations and know - truly know - that your husband loves you for who you are and not just what you look like?
If worrying about your appearance and applying makeup and doing your hair is taking up a lot of your time it has become an idol to you. You can say I'm not worshiping my makeup but actually you are. You are making it a higher priority than things that matter; you are putting it in place of what God has given you. He gave you that face and you are making the outright choice to cover it up to look different...to look better. Ouch! Hey God, I know you love me and made me look the way I do, but I don't like it so...
Alright, so some of my arguments are on the basis that it takes an hour to do your makeup and longer for your hair and that you think about your appearance more than you think about being a good wife/person. These are obviously extreme situations. However, I believe that even just slapping on some blush and mascara real quick is like saying I'm a recovering alcoholic so I'll just have one shot of tequila. Okay, that's an extreme analogy too, but it makes sense. If you're not going to go all out, why do it at all? The people you have in your life don't care if you are wearing makeup and if they do - if they actually have a problem with it - what kind of choices did you make to have them in your life in the first place? Sure, I was wearing makeup the first time my husband saw me years ago. It was the first day of college and of course I wanted to look nice! But it was class, an early class at that, and eventually I stopped wearing makeup. He saw me several times without makeup before we even started dating. And now, having been together for 7 years and married for 6, he has seen me at my absolute worst! He doesn't care...at least he says he doesn't. Ha!
I have better things to do with my time than cover up the face God gave me. So I have made the conscious decision to not wear makeup. Believe me I feel l like a hypocrite already and I haven't even published this post. In my head I'm thinking will I NEVER wear makeup again, really? What if I'm invited to some fancy party with dresses and stuff? Ha! For the record, Kaylee will never be invited to fancy parties like that because she doesn't know anyone that throws those kinds of shindigs. So, I guess I'm in the clear. And I can't say for 100% certainty that I will never wear makeup again, but it will be a special occasion. A holiday, family pictures, starring in a television show. (I don't think the latter will ever happen though. And if it does I'll be cast as Girl With No Makeup #1.)
So there you go. My decision to not wear makeup.
As for my hair, well...it has never done what I want it to so it was never "fancy." Ponytails, straight down, sometimes curled, sometimes straightened, and then my phase in high school/early college that I thought pigtails were fun. Okay I still think they're fun and they get the hair out of my face. I have dyed my hair so many times I'm surprised I'm not bald; that was back in high school and it was usually weird colors or highlights. In college I dyed my hair completely black. That was probably my favorite thing I had ever done to my hair - except when I couldn't color over it and I was stuck with this weird "ombre" look while it grew out long enough to cut off. A few years ago I tried a perm. And as I expected my hair wouldn't even take that. It straightened itself out within months and I never tried it again. And now, with having a baby, ponytails keep the spit-up and slobber and little grabby hands away from my hair.
So now you know the history of my makeup wearing, hair doing days. Shall we talk about the future? Sure, the no-makeup-wearing decision has been made for me with having a clingy baby but now I have thought about it and have consciously made my own mind up - no more makeup. (The hair, well...it was never a big deal. Ha.) Here's what I think:
Why should a woman (or girl) cover her face with fake stuff to impress people? If we know anything about the human race and our society it's that people are super judgey. I need to wear makeup to make me look better so people like me. Okay, well if you're worried about those people liking you in the first place, why would you want their approval? People are going to judge you whether you wear makeup or not. They will find something. And this isn't a 'I have lost all hope in humanity' speech; I'm only saying that a person shouldn't seek approval from a world that is already against them. Just be who you are. Now if wearing makeup "for realsies" makes you happy, then wear makeup! But don't do it for someone else.
Your face is your face! It is no one else's face. Why make it look like everyone else's face? You shouldn't, that's why. I see all those before/after posts of how makeup makes "plain" girls miraculously look like models. (And who says being a model is a goal to achieve?) In fact, here's one now. All that shading and painting and stenciling...mercy. First, what a time waster! Secondly, they all look the same! Why can't you look like yourself anymore? Everyone is looking for individuality but they end up being another invisible person. No wonder there is so much depression and suicide out there today. You think you need to be unhappy with your natural appearance so you do what makes you look "normal" to other people but then you blend in to the background and you get looked over or ignored by the people you were trying to impress in the first place. Gosh, don't sign me up for that one. In that article I linked to, I think all those before pictures are more beautiful than the afters. Sure, there are flaws - everyone has them, but that's what makes you YOU. With makeup I have an even complexion, eyes that pop, and less noticeable pimples. Without makeup I have three gigantic freckles on my face among my smaller ones, a scar on my right eyebrow, and washed out eyes due to my pale eyelashes. There, that's all out in the open so I don't need to hide it anymore. I have accepted my "flaws" because I can't change them (okay, I could with some plastic surgery, but...oh, I better not get started on that subject...)
In all the thinking I've been doing I recalled a passage from Scripture:
3 Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives,2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. 1 Peter 3: 3-6
But you say, hey! I'm not married...this does not apply to me. Well, I say, hey! Yes it does! You know how they say you shouldn't enter into a relationship with lies? If you start a relationship based solely on appearance and "faking" who you really are on the inside, isn't that as good as a lie? Should you doll yourself up and look like a model to go out and meet Mr. Right? Do you want a man that will want you only if you look like you just stepped out of the salon? Or do you want a man that sees you, the natural you, and says Yup that's her. He can't see you through all that makeup, dear. Superficial based relationships are just that - superficial. They're empty. If that is what you want though, don't let me step on your toes. But wouldn't it just be so much better to have a relationship in which you can have deep conversations and know - truly know - that your husband loves you for who you are and not just what you look like?
If worrying about your appearance and applying makeup and doing your hair is taking up a lot of your time it has become an idol to you. You can say I'm not worshiping my makeup but actually you are. You are making it a higher priority than things that matter; you are putting it in place of what God has given you. He gave you that face and you are making the outright choice to cover it up to look different...to look better. Ouch! Hey God, I know you love me and made me look the way I do, but I don't like it so...
Alright, so some of my arguments are on the basis that it takes an hour to do your makeup and longer for your hair and that you think about your appearance more than you think about being a good wife/person. These are obviously extreme situations. However, I believe that even just slapping on some blush and mascara real quick is like saying I'm a recovering alcoholic so I'll just have one shot of tequila. Okay, that's an extreme analogy too, but it makes sense. If you're not going to go all out, why do it at all? The people you have in your life don't care if you are wearing makeup and if they do - if they actually have a problem with it - what kind of choices did you make to have them in your life in the first place? Sure, I was wearing makeup the first time my husband saw me years ago. It was the first day of college and of course I wanted to look nice! But it was class, an early class at that, and eventually I stopped wearing makeup. He saw me several times without makeup before we even started dating. And now, having been together for 7 years and married for 6, he has seen me at my absolute worst! He doesn't care...at least he says he doesn't. Ha!
I have better things to do with my time than cover up the face God gave me. So I have made the conscious decision to not wear makeup. Believe me I feel l like a hypocrite already and I haven't even published this post. In my head I'm thinking will I NEVER wear makeup again, really? What if I'm invited to some fancy party with dresses and stuff? Ha! For the record, Kaylee will never be invited to fancy parties like that because she doesn't know anyone that throws those kinds of shindigs. So, I guess I'm in the clear. And I can't say for 100% certainty that I will never wear makeup again, but it will be a special occasion. A holiday, family pictures, starring in a television show. (I don't think the latter will ever happen though. And if it does I'll be cast as Girl With No Makeup #1.)
So there you go. My decision to not wear makeup.
1 comment:
Great post! I would say that it's not that I don't care what you look like at your "worst", it's that, in those moments, I'm happy to see who you truly are. :)
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