Make-up or not? The choice is yours!

There has been a lot of press attention around actress Pamela Anderson of late, and it’s not, maybe for the first time, referencing her former Baywatch days. Ms Anderson has decided that she does not want to wear make-up and has graced Paris Fashion week and other events with her make up free face. Her intentions were, she claims, that she wanted attention to be on her clothes and her natural self and not on her face. She is not the first celebrity to do this as singer Alicia Keys had also decided a few years ago to stop wearing make-up.

So my question is, is it ok for celebrities to do this, with their expensive clothes and luxurious skin care products but how would it be if the ‘ordinary’ woman did this? Would we be accepted or challenged? How would we feel ourselves? Is make up something we need psychologically as a kind of ‘shield’ or ‘barrier’ in order to face the world?

I know that in my case my skin is quite pale and if I don’t wear make-up then I often have people asking me if I’m unwell! So I’ve got used to wearing it as a matter of course. I know that for me it certainly gives me a confidence to face the world. But I have several friends who do not wear make up and to me they look beautiful and fresh. They also appear confident and that it is not even an issue that they think about. Another question I have is that does being make up free age us or make us look younger? Pamela Anderson certainly has beautiful skin that appears ageless, but can we say that maybe her life is a little less stressful than the average woman in her fifties? Perhaps that’s unfair but it is a fact that stress causes lines and wrinkles that we certainly try to cover up with make-up. So should we accept that wearing make up is in fact a shield to protect us from our own views on ageing or society’s views on what women should look like at any given age?

This is a debate that could go on and on and I know that everyone will have very different views. I’d be interested in starting a conversation about this issue so please, let me know what you think!