What Men Think No Makeup Is Vs What It Really Is

Kuznechik/Shutterstock

Source: Kuznechik/Shutterstock

Celebrities are challenging standard notions of beauty by embracing the No-Makeup Look. But how does this trend impact woman generally?

For decades, if non centuries, women take worn makeup to reach a cultural standard of beauty. Cosmetics are used strategically to enhance certain features and hide others. From an evolutionary perspective, the qualities we consider cute are related to signals of reproductive fitness, such as sexuality, health, and youthfulness. Makeup that gives women ruddy lips, flawless skin, captivating eyes, and a bit of blush all increase bewitchery, at least from a biological and cultural standpoint.

Research shows that makeup tin significantly modify the impression nosotros accept of women. Nash and colleagues (2006) conducted a study in which both men and women rated either pictures of women without makeup, or the same women with makeup. Women presented wearing cosmetics were perceived as healthier and more than confident than when presented without makeup. Participants in the study also credited women wearing makeup with a greater earning potential and with more than prestigious jobs than the same women without cosmetics. Moderate makeup use is too linked to assumptions of health, heterosexuality, and credibility in the workplace (Dellinger & Williams, 1997).

Clearly, in that location are stiff incentives for women to wear makeup in the workplace. Socially, makeup not just increases perceived attractiveness, merely it tin as well increment women'south confidence. If women believe that wearing makeup increases their attractiveness, then it's easy to see why they may feel meliorate wearing it. Outward appearance tin accept a powerful influence on self-esteem. A report on the state of self-esteem by the Dove Self-Esteem Fund (2008) stated that "78 percent of girls with low cocky-esteem admit that information technology'south hard to feel good in schoolhouse when you lot don't feel practiced almost how you look (compared to 54 percent of girls with high self-esteem)."

Many women do feel less confident when they don't wear makeup. Alexis Sclamberg (2012) reported on a survey conducted by the Renfrew Center, which constitute that 44 percent of women felt more unattractive and uncomfortable when they didn't wear makeup than when they did: 16 pct reported feeling unattractive; 14 percent reported feeling self-witting; and fourteen percent reported feeling naked without makeup (Renfrew Center Foundation, 2012). This written report as well found that only 3 percent of women reported that going without makeup fabricated them feel more bonny.

However, it's non clear that wearing makeup is entirely beneficial. A study by Robertson and colleagues (2008) institute a positive correlation between frequent apply of cosmetics and anxiety, self-consciousness, and conformity. Women who reported wearing makeup less ofttimes tended to have college social confidence, emotional stability, and self-esteem.

In another study, women who were concerned well-nigh their appearance wore more makeup and were more apt to believe that makeup enhanced their social interactions. The researchers reasoned that this could be a self-fulfilling prophecy: Women who are more self-conscious wearable more than makeup, and judge themselves to be more bonny when wearing makeup, so they might act more confidently and the people they interact with may respond to that confidence in a more positive way (Miller and Cox, 1982).

Information technology'southward clear that women enjoy advantages to wearing makeup. It can increment their perceived attractiveness, give them more confidence, and create a favorable impression in work and social settings.

Then why is the no-makeup trend gaining popularity?

Federico Marsicano/Shutterstock

Source: Federico Marsicano/Shutterstock

The No-Makeup Look appears to have been adopted by women who are comfortable with themselves and their advent. By embracing this tendency, these women may be sending a bulletin that they desire to be seen more authentically — to be accepted for how they actually await, without camouflage or enhancements.

In a preliminary report, women looked at their ain reflection in a mirror every 24-hour interval with no goal other than to stay present with themselves. After a two-week period, they reported being more comfy with their appearance and less concerned with wearing makeup; they likewise reported a decrease in stress and an increase in self-compassion (Well, et al. 2016).

If you're intrigued past the no-makeup look, simply non ready to go to piece of work or out on a engagement without it, try this experiment as function of your morning routine: Sit down in front of a mirror for ten minutes without makeup and just await at yourself — with no goal other than to stay present with yourself. Exist aware of your thoughts and feelings as y'all look at yourself, and see if y'all can permit get of any disquisitional voices and view yourself with a scrap of pity. Practise this regularly for x minutes a day for at to the lowest degree ii weeks and see what happens.

^{Let me know virtually your experience, reactions, and questions almost this article on our Mirror Meditation Customs Page. You lot'll likewise notice more articles on meditation, self-awareness and self-pity there. You can also sign-upwardly for the seven-twenty-four hours Mirror Meditation Challenge, and get 7 daily lessons delivered to your inbox.}

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References

Davis, C., Dionne, M., & Shuster, B. (2000). Physical and psychological correlates of appearance orientation. Personality and Individual Differences, 30 (2001), 21-xxx.

Dellinger, K., & Williams, C. L. (1997). Makeup at work: Negotiating appearance rules in the workplace. Gender & Gild, 11(2), 151-177.

Pigeon, Strategy One, and Ann Kearney-Melt. (2008, June). "Real Girls, Real Pressure: A National Report on the State of Self-Esteem Commissioned: June 2008." The Dove Self-Esteem Fund. Dove.com, Spider web.

Etcoff, N. Fifty., et al. (2011). Cosmetics as a Feature of the Extended Homo Phenotype: Modulation of the Perception of Biologically Important Facial Signals. PLOS. Web.

Miller, L. C., & Cox, L. C. (1982). For Appearances' Sake: Public Self-Consciousness and Makeup Usage. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 8. 748-751.

Nash, R., Fieldman, G., Hussey, T., Lévêque, J., & Pineau, P. (2006). Cosmetics: They Influence More than Caucasian Female Facial Attractiveness. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36(two), 493-504.

Renfrew Eye Foundation (2012, February, 22). New Survey Results Betoken There'south More to Makeup Use Than Meets the Eye. Renfrew Center Foundation. Web.

Robertson, J., Fieldman, G., & Hussey, T. (2008). Who wears Cosmetics? Private Differences and their Relationship with Cosmetic Usage. Individual Differences Research, 6, 38-40.

Sclamberg, Alexis. "Makeup: Could You Go a Day Without Information technology?" The Huffington Mail service. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 Feb. 2012. Web.

Theberge, Fifty., & Kernaleguen, A. (1979). Importance of cosmetics related to aspects of the self. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 48, 827-830.

Well, T., et al. (2016). The Benefits of Mirror Meditation. Newspaper presented at the American Psychological Clan Convention in Denver, CO.