Taking Gender Out of Makeup

Growing up, the only skincare advice I received was to put sunscreen on when I was at the beach. Outside of this advice (that I rarely followed to even begin with), I would just allow acne and oil to pile up on my face. At the time, I figured acne medication or waiting for it to all go away were my only two options. It wasn’t until I got to college and was able to see the facial products scattered across female friends’ rooms that my eyes were opened to even caring about skin. None of my guy friends in my life had never had any facial cleansers, moisturizers, or anything. They all did the same as me: just shower and get on with the day. In fact, this is about the extent of my old skin care routine:

After learning about the facial cleansers and moisturizers I had been missing out on, I suggested these products to my friends. Most opted to keep doing nothing, and some even thought it was odd that I cared so much about keeping my face clean, or that using so many (only four) products just on my face was effeminate. This reaction got to me. Acne is something that effects everyone, and men simply wouldn’t help themselves over the idea that skincare is an effeminate area of life.  

Skin care is comprised of soaps, cleansers, and moisturizers. None of these products benefit women more than men. In fact, the products labelled “for men” packaged to look appealing to the common forty-year-old male, are made with the same ingredients as every other product. Men psych themselves out of being able to clean their skin. Similar to skin care, makeup, is even more effeminate, and for about as good of a reason as skin care.

Image Courtesy: ASOSOffical

The history behind makeup spans centuries and interestingly enough, men have been wearing it since its conception. Yet, the idea that it is feminine is an idea that plagues modern western culture. The feminine quality of makeup started to take shape from the idea that women had to look more attractive to gain male attention. Women wore makeup to look youthful and helped cover up blemishes. Makeup never took off for men in western culture because looking good was not their priority, instead they focused more on joining and prospering in the workplace. These gendered differences are to blame for men feeling uncomfortable with wearing products on their face.

Of course, these dynamics are outdated now. Women don’t feel obliged to look good for men, and fashion in general is becoming much less gendered. Male celebrities have been wearing makeup all throughout this century, such as Johnny Depp and Pete Wentz, and male makeup has found its way into many different subcultures. Despite this, many men still struggle with wearing it publicly without feeling emasculated. It’s important to see makeup as a way to look and feel better about yourself. While creative male beauty gurus are widely popular, everyday makeup tutorials for men are not met with the same acceptance. If men want to cover up their breakout with makeup, they should be able. If men want to create full faces of makeup on themselves, they should be able to.

Skincare and makeup are two great ways to help clean up your skin and way to feel more confident about yourself. Men have created the stereotypes preventing them from using both of these, just because they would prefer to stick to the already defined “rules” of masculinity. Instead of worrying that you would look feminine with makeup on, it would be more beneficial to worry about how to get flawless skin and be confident in any look that you want to wear.

Strike Out,

Writer: Jacob Richards

Editor: Savannah Tindall

Tallahassee