Why I Choose Not To Wear Makeup

When I wake up in the morning, my routine is quite simple. I go to the bathroom, brush my teeth and hair, wash my face, and get dressed.

That’s it.

This process takes me about 5-8 minutes. No mascara, no foundation, no concealer, not even lip gloss. I prefer good old fashioned chapstick.

Part of the beauty of being a stay-at-home-mom for me is that I don’t need any makeup. No one but me really cares what I look like. Heck, why pretend? This was essentially my routine even when I wasn’t a stay at home mom.

This has been my routine since I was in high school. I tried daily makeup for about the first month of my freshman year in high school. I thought I was supposed to. I thought that’s what women do.

But it’s what women are supposed to do right?

I grew up in a house where my mom put on makeup EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. She still does. And she doesn’t just put it on, she takes at least 30 minutes to do it and always looks beautiful. (To be fair mom, I’d think you look beautiful even if you weren’t wearing it!) She’s made an art out of putting on makeup. So, naturally I thought I should as well. After that month of trying, I realized, I’m not about that life. It’s just not for me. I don’t begrudge my mom for doing it or anyone else that likes to, I’m just not about that life.

I don’t want to take any extra time in the morning to put on makeup. With a tiny toddler in tow during the day at parks and pools, it just melts off or smudges anyway. I don’t want to take any time to re-apply either.

I’d rather spend that extra 10 minutes it would take me to get makeup on doing literally anything else.

In that 10 minutes, I could play the piano, or make food, or eat said food. I could read 2 books to my kid. I could watch several funny YouTube videos. I could spend an extra 10 minutes sleeping. I could sit in my rocking chair scanning through Facebook. You see where I’m going with this here? When time is of the essence, why spend it doing something you don’t really like doing?

Now this is all not to say that I never put on makeup, because I do when necessary. For example, I do a lot of theater. Obviously I have to wear makeup on stage or at an audition, but other than that? I mostly save it for special occasions like weddings and such.

I admit, putting on makeup can be fun, and I don’t judge anyone who chooses to do it daily. I do enjoy occasionally trying a new bold lip color, or some gold eyeliner, but those times are few and far between.

What can I say? I’m just a simple girl. I don’t like a lot of fuss.