People have a lot of opinions about other’s makeup.
How about we agree that anyone who wants to wear makeup should, and whoever doesn’t want to wear makeup shouldn’t.
Redditor StridentSnail encountered this very issue with his wife. So he turned to the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subReddit for moral judgment.
He asked:
“AITA for asking my wife to lighten up about makeup?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“Throwaway account and I’m on mobile.”
“My (32M) wife (29F) and I have been together for 5 years, married for just over 2. One issue that’s cropped up over our entire relationship is her refusal to ever wear makeup.”
“I think she’s beautiful without it, but there have been times and occasions where it was expected/appropriate for her to wear makeup and she refused.”
“For example, she didn’t wear any makeup on our wedding day. Both of our mothers tried to convince her, but she said she’s never worn makeup and she wasn’t going to start on a day that she was supposed to enjoy.”
“They tried to tell her the pictures wouldn’t come out as good, and honestly they were kind of right – she’s got huge bags under her eyes and I think the photos would’ve been nicer if she’d just put on concealer or something.”
OP has been struggling with this again.
“Now, it’s come up again with my family – we were at a family dinner last night with my parents, sister and her husband, and my niece and nephew.”
“My niece is 11 and has just started getting into makeup – she watches lots of YouTube tutorials and stuff like that. She asked my wife at dinner if she ever wore makeup and my wife said ‘no, I don’t bother with it.’”
“My niece asked why and she gave a little speech about makeup being a waste of money and that she’d feel like she was lying to herself if she wore it and that she was ‘happy with the face I have.’”
“My sister got mad and said that she wore makeup a lot of the time and didn’t feel like she was lying to herself and that it actually made her feel good.”
“My wife responded ‘oh yeah. I bet you could quit anytime you want.’ And then kinda laughed, which set my sister off and let’s just say the rest of the evening was not enjoyable.”
OP had to say something.
“When we got home, I asked my wife if she would please be less militant about makeup.”
“I said it wouldn’t kill her to wear it and I admit I did accuse her of being overbearing about her stance.”
“She basically said that she never started conversations about makeup but that it’s always other people bugging her to wear it and I said ‘maybe they have a point and you’re being hardline over something really stupid and you need to get over yourself’ and she got upset and called me a d*ck for thinking she needed makeup and then we had to go cool down separately.”
“AITA for thinking she’s being ridiculous about makeup and telling her to get over her aversion?”
Redditors gave their opinions on the situation by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Redditors agreed OP was not the a**hole.
“INFO: did you wear concealer under your eyes at your wedding? I’m just saying, you would have looked a lot better in the pictures if you did.” ~ xenomouse
“This needs to be higher up. It’s such a disgusting double standard that women have to put on paint to make themselves more attractive to other people but guys can just roll out of bed and expect the world to accept them.”
“Until men start wearing makeup regularly and shaving their legs their opinion on whether or not a woman does it does not matter in the slightest.” ~ polywha
“Honestly it looks like we’re heading this way and it’s kind of depressing. When I was a young woman and didn’t wear makeup I thought it would lead to a future where we all didn’t wear makeup.”
“Instead makeup companies are finally clueing into the fact that they can make more money by making men feel like shit about their bodies and faces too. :/” ~ liza_lo
Others argued that people shouldn’t make such a big deal out of makeup.
“Or, and hear me out here, some people LIKE makeup, regardless of societies beauty standards?” ~ velcrofish
“I like wearing makeup and playing around with color at home and for some occasions. I do not wear makeup at work, because wearing it all day makes my skin break out.”
“A manager at my first job told me I would look prettier with makeup and it was required in the employee handbook so I told him when my male colleagues hit my sales numbers and he showed me that section of the handbook I would do so. Spoiler: it wasn’t in there and I continued to have the highest sales in my district while gasp barefaced.” ~ Dramatic_Figure_5585
“I had a boss once who I think was telling me I should wear makeup, he kept saying I should look at the other women in the office and see what they wore when I asked what he meant by ‘ looking more professional’. I was the only woman on my team, and generally more dressed up than the men on it. And I can’t wear makeup and do my job. If I’m wearing it that’s all I think about. I hate having anything on my face, even water.” ~ SnipesCC
“A full face of makeup can feel horrible. I use a tinted primer because I’ve been blessed with pretty good skin but the times I’ve had to use foundation it was just… UGH.”
“Most days I just spot conceal and and wear lipstick but the texture of the lipstick is pretty important and I can’t feel the concealer. (Sugarpill’s liquid lip formula is almost bulletproof when it comes to transfer AND I forget I have it on like 90% of the time. I haven’t tried the matte ones but there’s a reason Trinket keeps getting sold out)” ~ SimAlienAntFarm
Only the person wearing the makeup decides how they feel about it.