Beauty Standards Be Damned: Why I Stopped Wearing Makeup

Sephora hasn’t seen me in a while, and this is for one reason: I stopped wearing makeup. 

Ever since I can remember, putting on makeup in the morning and begrudging taking it off at night was a part of my daily routine. To be more specific, donning makeup was my reality for five consecutive years from the age of 14 to 18. But eventually, I stopped the daily routine. 

I didn’t suddenly make this decision. It was a gradual change. 

The more I went without makeup the more I started to really like how I looked without makeup. On the same note, the more I embraced not wearing makeup, the more confident I felt. Even to special events or occasions, I only allow lip gloss and moisturizer to touch my face. I got so used to my bare face after some months that when I was coerced into wearing makeup for my aunt’s wedding, I didn’t feel like myself. I honestly felt self-conscious because I hadn’t seen my face “caked up” like that in a while. 

As the distance grew between the version of myself that was obsessed with makeup until now, I realized the double standards I bought into at such a young age. Like I mentioned previously, I wouldn’t dare step foot out of my house without some eyeliner and mascara in my early teen years. Why is that? Boys and men aren’t held to that, so why should I be? Boys and men get to step out of the house with their natural appearance. Why shouldn’t I? 

(For clarification, I don’t have anything against people who choose to wear makeup.)

I remember when Alicia Keys announced she was going to stop wearing makeup back in 2016. I was 16 years old at the time and I honestly thought Keys was insane. Swearing off makeup was just unheard of during that time (And it still kind of is). 

But now I understand the feeling she described in various interviews such as the one on Today, saying she felt “the strongest, most empowered, most free, and most honestly beautiful” when she embarked on her makeup-free journey. 

Not knowing that I was on a makeup-free journey similar to Keys, I can attest to that feeling of freedom — free of societal expectations and other people’s perceptions. 

Even though my makeup-free journey initially started with laziness it’s evolved into a symbol of sorts or perhaps a message. A message that embodies what I believe in and strive to do everyday: embracing your most authentic self. 

“I don’t want to cover up anymore,” Keys said in an interview. “Not my face, not my mind, not my soul, not my thoughts, not my dreams, not my struggles, not my emotional growth. Nothing.”

I wholeheartedly agree. 

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