Social "norms'

Not too long ago I was criticized for my lack of makeup use and not making my hair all “girly”. My lack of makeup and such has been linked to low self-esteem by the same person. This is one person’s analysis of me and they couldn’t be further from the truth.

So are people going to magically love me more if I wear a little makeup and do my hair all fancy? No, I don’t think so. I never have worn makeup and don’t intend to any time soon. Please don’t take the rest of what I am about to say as judgment of anyone who wears makeup, these are my thoughts as they pertain to me and me only.

I feel like wearing makeup is like wearing a mask. If people love or like me more because I wear makeup I feel they like their feelings are based on false pretenses. I think this is very much an extension of the same line of thinking that wearing white socks with everything is acceptable and red socks are not. When I do wear white socks it’s only because the white socks are closer to the top than the red or purple or green socks. The color of socks I wear or makeup or fancy hair does not define who I am. When I do these things that are against “societal norms“I feel liberated.

As for the lack of makeup being equated with lack of self-esteem… When this “theory” was brought to my attention I got angry and immediately felt defensive, which, for me, is usually a sign that it is true and I don’t want to acknowledge it. I didn’t say anything in response to the “theory” but I did think about it for a while that night. What I know to be true for me is that my lack of makeup is directly liked to my HIGH self-esteem. Why would I want to put something on my face that would detract someone from seeing the natural beauty that radiates from me? When I am truly filled with joy I’ve been told by many people that my eyes sparkle. Why would I want to detract from that? When I have done my hair all fancy I spend the majority of my day worrying if it still looks ok. I have better things to do than worry about my hair.

So today when I go to work I will not be wearing any makeup and my hair will probably be pulled back in a pony tail. I will be dressed in clothes that acceptable according to the company guidelines. No where in the handbook does it say I have to wear a particular color of socks. Today I will probably wear white socks simply because they are at the top.

Oh and while I’m on the issue of social norms I have one other thing I’ve been wondering about. Who invented the fitted sheet? And who decided that the sheet sets sold in the USA have to be a fitted and a flat sheet? Don’t they know most of the world uses FLAT sheets for the bottom sheet?