Mystery of Make-up

When I was getting ready this morning, I began to ponder something about the process.

When I began to apply the make-up I wear on a daily basis, I wondered why and how.

I began wearing make-up in late junior high and have worn it since. I don't tend to go many places without it. I felt I needed to wear it due to peer pressure. Also, I felt that I didn't look attractive without it.

To a degree, I still worry about my appearance without make-up. I worry that my skin isn't good enough without it. But, at the same time, I don't know a certified way to increase the quality and clarity of my skin that I haven't tried.

I know several people that pointedly don't wear make-up. Their skin looks perfectly amazing without it. It does not have any clarity issues, nor are there issues such as dark circles.

I remember a similar conversation about make-up with a former friend of mine. We were sitting in her basement in Sullivan hanging out and getting ready. When posed the question, "why do we wear make-up?", she replied that she did it out of boredom. She liked to try different things on her face and it gave her something to do.

I suppose it goes in combination with celebrity news. Magazines are limitless in trying to showcase what they look like without make up. Perhaps the issue of needing make up is part peer pressure and part media related.

Or, to be entirely cynical, it is just a way for a variety of companies to make an easy buck. Its simple: tell women that they are not beautiful unless they use this product that actually, to a degree, covers things up. Creates a mask, if you will.

I suppose the idea goes way back in time...further back in history than I'm aware. Reportedly, it goes back as far as the Egyptians using lead and coal to alter their appearance.

I wonder what is at the main cause for why many women wear it. It can't be all media related...if it goes back as far as the Egyptians.

I shall continue my search for the reason, I suppose. Do you have any thoughts?