Going Naked: A Follow-Up

Well, the day has finally come: I've reached the end of my journey.

For the past two weeks I've been "going naked" every day.  Tomorrow morning I will allow myself to free my make-up from the prison I've been holding it in (I just put it in a different cupboard than usual), and I just may paint my face up again.

Or maybe I won't; I don't really care.

There have been some awesome things that have come about due to my lack of make-up.  Here are the top 10:

1. Getting ready in the morning takes even less time.
2. I can actually rub my eyes when they itch.
3. I don't have to scrub the make-up off my face every night.
4. I don't wake up with raccoon eyes despite the previous night's scrubbing.
5. If I've been outside and it's really hot and I want to cool down, I can just find a bathroom and splash water all over my face.
6. My crying face is still hideous, but at least I don't have black streaks to add to the grossness now.
7. I honestly think my zits clear up quicker (but I have no evidence to back this up).
8. I focused a bit more on my hair, so I learned some new hairstyles that I can pull off.
9. Instead of packing on the powder when my face got shiny I just washed it and dried it off.  Guess what?  It has the same effect, lasts just as long, and you don't have to carry around powder!
10. I don't feel tired and ugly without make-up anymore.  In fact, some days I looked in the mirror and saw a downright sexy lady looking back at me.

The funniest part of all this was that The Man didn't even notice a difference at all.  About five days into the challenge I told him what I was doing and he said something along the lines of, "well you look exactly the same."  As ugly as I thought I was those first few days, my husband still thought I was pretty darn attractive.

Strangers didn't give me weird looks, babies didn't cry when they looked at my face, and not a single person suggested that I cover up the abomination I call a face with a paper bag.  Shocking, right?  On my super-sexy days, I could even turn a couple of heads.

So if you were scared to go without make-up because you assumed people would be shocked and appalled by your unpainted face, think again!  I'll renew my challenge: go without make-up!  It's pretty awesome, and I promise if you do it for long enough, you're going to start loving your natural face.



(Day one versus day fifteen)



It's funny; looking at these photos you can tell that I look EXACTLY the same; but I feel worlds better about looking like that now.  Sure, I'm not going to win any beauty pageants, but I think I look pretty great :)

Also, selfies with iPads look ridiculous.  Come on, Spotalotamus; use a normal camera.

I Spent Today Naked

I have spent my whole day so far naked.  I went to class, talked to my professor, dropped by the office of the school I start working for in a few weeks, ran errands, and drove all over town.  Naked.

OK, not really naked (although I wish I could have been; it was SUPER hot today!), but today I chose to forgo doing my hair or putting on make-up, and it made me feel…different.

I got the idea from my little sister.  She’s a beautiful hipster who hasn’t worn make-up since her emo stage in high school.  Last night I was looking through some of her photos, and I was amazed at how great she can look without anything really accenting her features.  So I decided to try out that style for myself.

Now, I am secretly a very vain person (or maybe it’s not so secret…I don’t know), so I put on clothes that made me feel a bit more attractive – one of my favorite shirts and some tight pants.  This is the girl that the world saw today:

Hey look, it's a girl of average attractiveness.  Cool.

And this is the girl I saw in the mirror today:

I can't think of a witty comment to write here...

Instead of seeing a beautiful girl, I saw a recent acne breakout, the bags under my eyes, my lack of eyelashes, the flattest hair possible, and those darn keloids on my chest.  It was today that I realized: I don’t really love the way I look.

It was kind of a weird revelation for me, because I’ve never worn tons of make-up; I stick to mascara and cover-up (and eye liner when I’m feeling super confident in my hand-eye coordination).  I’ve always thought of myself as more of a “natural” girl, but today proved me wrong.  I struggle with being all-natural.  I feel ugly and worn-out, and that’s not how I want to feel about my face (I would say my body, but I honestly love my body.  Long legs, strong arms, huge boobs, a tight butt, a relatively flat stomach…What’s not to love?).

So here and now, in front of all three of my readers who AREN’T spam bots, I’m going to make a commitment.  For the next two weeks I’m not going to wear make-up.  No cover-up, no powder, no mascara, just plain ol’ me.  I will let myself do my hair though; I have to have something going right for me up there :P

Do any of my female readers feel like joining me?  Or will I be joining your already-formed ranks?

*Edit: To read about the end result of this challenge, go here