As a woman, it is almost expected that I wear makeup on a daily basis in order to cover up any flaws I may have or think that I have. In a recent movement, celebrities such as Alicia Keys have created a movement called the no make-up movement. It began with Keys posting photos of herself on Instagram not wearing make-up and saying how she feels that a woman should be able to feel comfortable in her own skin.
Following these posts, many other celebrities have joined the cause by posting pictures of themselves without make-up on to support the idea that women should not have to wear make-up to feel pretty. By just being themselves they are beautiful, and this movement has helped many women and girls feel comfortable in their own skin, knowing that they don't need make-up to feel confident about themselves.
The world's changing views on many subjects have made many women feel that they too can change these views on how a woman should look or dress and deviate from centuries-old societal expectations and standards of female beauty.
Recently, I decided to research this topic further and chose to use it for a project in one of my classes. In this project, I plan to take pictures of my friends and classmates when they are not wearing make-up and ask them how they feel about the movement and how it effects their view of themselves when they aren't wearing make-up. Many of the women that I know at my college rarely wear make-up especially to class because they feel that it is unnecessary and that they are there to learn, not to be a model.
There have been complaints about the movement saying that the only reason that celebrities are comfortable with this movement is because they have money to spend on expensive skin-care products that perfect their skin. While this is true, not wearing makeup and properly caring for your skin by washing it and moisturizing can help improve the quality of your skin without the expensive treatments that celebrities receive.
While I still wear make-up around every week, I make sure that I take a few days off to give my skin a break from the make-up, and I use drug store masks to help cleanse my skin to make me feel a little more confident when I'm rocking my no make-up look because I feel like it is important to feel confident in your own skin even if you have flaws.