Can a woman feel complete without her makeup?

It has been observed that these days’ women around the world are  obsessed with looking different from their natural selves with the aid of makeup. Recent findings have revealed that looking beautiful doesn’t necessary mean using artificial ointments to enhance one’s natural looks for a certain limit of time but entails having a beautiful dispensation […]

It has been observed that these days’ women around the world are  obsessed with looking different from their natural selves with the aid of makeup.
Recent findings have revealed that looking beautiful doesn’t necessary mean using artificial ointments to enhance one’s natural looks for a certain limit of time but entails having a beautiful dispensation both inwards and outwards.
Makeup centres are now becoming a hive of business for the operators, charging hundreds and thousands of naira to help beautify women and men.
However, to many men who literarily are the main reason why women indulge in beautifying themselves by using makeup, this issue should be thought about and talked about.
Most men believe that we live in a culture that objectifies women, viewing them as figures to be admired, above all to be adored.
It is apparent that every woman you meet who wears makeup is likely to know the time and effort involved in applying several layers of makeup to look good.
Some people spend an hour every morning applying layers of foundation, eye shadow, lipstick, and blush just to look extra ordinarily beautiful, for just a brief moment or the whole day.
The question here is, do women feel complete without their makeup?
Hauwa Uba Yusuf, a civil servant said, makeup depends on every individual’s interpretation of the concept.
According to her over-dependence on makeup can make a woman lose her self-confidence to the extent of feeling incomplete when she is caught without it.
She added that the most annoying issue about using makeup is that it has helped a lot of women hide their faults. “Women these days fail to understand the reason for makeup, they tend to believe that looking different for a certain time means looking beautiful; and what about your natural looks which you will wear to the end of your life?”  Hauwa asked.
However, some women take five minutes to daub on some concealer and a bit of mascara to look presentable when circumstances demand it.
Miss Rita Uwanni who is a banker said she wears makeup to work because it is common among women, “I wear makeup to work because I have this in common with most women, regardless of profession. After all, it is in a male dominated environment and I guess one needs to look good,” she said.
However, according to a cosmetics dealer, Ibrahim Adam, “Try as they might, women simply cannot avoid using makeup. A dash of face powder, a streak of lip gloss and the perfect sweep of eyeliner are part of their daily morning wakeup routines, without which, they look and feel incomplete.
“Let me tell you this, no woman will ever believe that she is ugly or bashed. Their confidence lies in their makeup and they give themselves compliments even if no one cares to,” said Adam.
“This over-dependence on makeup is perhaps the root of some problems being experienced these days especially by couples. The truth unfortunately is that a woman cannot look good if she misses out on a certain cosmetic or runs out of it. To some spinsters, it is actually better to skip going out if they don’t have their makeup with them, or they had no time to apply their makeup,” he added.
According to 23-year-old Amina Babakura, a medical aesthetic who is a Nigerian based in Canada and also the CEO of Mintus Creation, makeup is a never-ending search for beauty among women.
She said that it isn’t uncommon for people to consume up to 10 different products daily, thereby exposing themselves to considerable amounts of germs and harmful toxins found therein.
“Nowadays, we use all of these cosmetic products with harsh chemicals in them for one reason or the other without knowing what they do to our skin. Many of us use these products to treat skin problems like acne, blemishes, wrinkles, stretch marks and so on,” she said.
She explained that nature has given us so much natural things that people can use to treat these skin troubles, adding that most if not all of these problems at a more convenient time, with lesser side effects, and at a cheaper cost than all the cosmetic brands out there. “Personally, I grew up to have an acne prone skin, which was quite annoying and frustrating,
Unfortunately, the harmful effects of makeup aren’t just limited to health and skin-related issues, there are also other socio-religious effects related to it.
“There is this story about a bride who was about to be taken to her groom’s home. The bride in question wore an expensive makeup that made her look 10 years younger and part of the rules given to her was that she should not allow water touch her face for at least two days.
“The makeup is said to have cost her family a fortune. However when it was time to say her prayer, her mother kept reminding her about her makeup and at last the bride decided to say her prayers and damn the consequences.
“Before she left to say her prayers, she told her mother that, whatever it takes, saying her prayers is far better than all the makeup in the world. After minutes of her departure to say her prayers, the bride did not return and the mother went to see what was taking her so long; and behold! The bride was discovered dead prostrating before her creator.
“What would have happened had she decided not to say her prayers but chose to retain her expensive makeup to remain beautiful for two days? Religion may not frown at beautification effort by womenfolk, but when it assumes the status of an obsession, it becomes a problem,” she said.
Amina Musa Ibrahim, a hair dressing saloon operator, said, “Actually, I feel incomplete without makeup even though I know it is just a temporary thing. We always want to be noticed and admired irrespective of what it takes, moreover men admire good looking women even if their looks are fake.”