WHY DO WOMEN WEAR MAKEUP?

Talk Show Host Tamron Hall

March 17th, was Saint Patrick's Day

The day after was my 57th trip around the sun. Although, sometimes I think it's my 47th, and many days it feels like my 37th. But, hey, age is really just a number. You're as old as you feel. And I feel 27.

One question plagues me though, Why do women wear makeup? Choice? or Peer pressure. I know makeup has a long history, dating back to 6000 BCE in ancient Egypt when makeup was seen as a marker of wealth and believed to appeal to the Gods. Elaborate eyeliner was worn by both men and women.  

Traditional makeup is still worn by indigenous tribes around the world. For some, it's not just to enhance beauty but to protect from the harsh ultraviolet rays of the sun, and repel insects like the otjize used by the Himba women of Northern Namibia in Southern Africa.  This red miracle paste is made by mixing butter and ochre.

In my native Igbo culture, there is a type of makeup, called Uri, made from red clay, used during certain traditional ceremonies. And perhaps to appeal to the Gods. Priests and priestesses often wore makeup as they consulted with the Gods. Makeup was never worn daily.

Anyway, one of those things. As you turn a new age, you start to wonder about certain things in society and why you have to be like others. Trust me, I rarely, wear makeup anymore. Well, maybe lip gloss, eyeliner, and eyebrow liner. That is enough makeup yeah? Okay, these days, I rarely wear foundation, something I'm trying out let's see how long it will last. but who cares? The makeup/cosmetics industry is a 200 billion-dollar industry. And guess who patronizes it the most? Yeah, you got it—women.

Women literally keep many economies running, yet in many societies, women are treated like second-class citizens. Yeah, I'm gonna whine, it's March after all, and women's month. So, I have to  say something.

But in all seriousness, if I could say something to my sixteen-year-old self, it would be don't get pressured to wear makeup. Unfortunately, I'm only just realizing my power to be just me and do what the fcuk I want in my fifties.

Thankfully, social media was not there to project an unnecessary standard of beauty. One can only imagine how young girls today navigate the world of beauty, fashion, and everything else. Especially with the presence of platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, literally hounding them. It must be overwhelming. No wonder mental health challenges have multiplied.

The pressure for everyone to kind of do the same things, and look the same. The fad of fashion is ridiculous and one of the most unhealthy issues of our current time. Our young girls need to be reminded they are beautiful the way they are without makeup. 

Most people already wear many masks in life. Shapeshifting themselves to appeal to society and whoever they think they have to please. This especially happens with women, because society and culture demands we have to be a certain way to please men and predetermined scripts.  Many women have to be great shapeshifters to survive.

Women are often the stress absorbers of many families and personal relationships. The ones who take care of everyone. It is no wonder that the prevalence of inflammatory diseases occurs in women more than in males. 

Look at the prevalence of autoimmune diseases for instance. Examples: Lupus, Systemic lupus erythematosus, Rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune thyroid disease, Primary Sjögren's syndrome, and multiple sclerosis. My scientific brain will argue that the reason is because of the number of immunity genes originating from the X chromosome. And women carry two X chromosomes and these become susceptible to mutations. But why do these genes mutate? the answer is stress. Women are the stress absorbers.

Women are the ones who have to birth the new generation of humans. Pregnancy puts physical, physiological, psychological, and emotional stress on a human, like none other. Managing and running a home is the most stressful job in the world. And in recent centuries, women also go out to work. They go out to bring home the bacon as it were, which used to be the sole job of the male gender.

Yet, women still have to jump hoops to meet spurious artificial standards of physical beauty. How cruel. Once upon a time, it was just on magazines and television. Today, it's social media platforms, billboards, and everywhere you look. 

Young girls are under a mental health attack and I often wonder how many will survive it long enough to birth the next generation. Society has to intentionally and consciously stop this ridiculous focus on physical appearance and turn more attention to young girls developing their inner strength and beauty.

This post was supposed to be published in March, but hey, it's April and I've only just managed to put all my thoughts on paper. Mea culpa.

Moi, March 18, 2023