Why don't a lot of transgirls wear makeup?

[Mahsa Tezani]

I can't help but notice there are a lot of girls here who seem proud of not wearing makeup. What is the logic in that?

In my opinion, most ciswomen need makeup(minimal) to even look good when they leave the house in the morning. Add to that contouring/highlighting can change an andro face into a femme face. It is a trick employed by drag queens, which I feel could be useful here. You do nude eye instead of cut creases and you won't look like a drag queen. It's all in moderation. But not wearing makeup, makes you immediately clockable IMO...facial prettiness aside.

So why wouldn't people here wear cosmetics? Is it because they don't know how? Are they merely waiting for the effects of HRT to kick in? I knew I waited almost 15 months in to kick up my makeup...But I was very much into the "zero phase" prototype stage of the early transition. I didn't have a feminine mother or sister encouraging me to dress differently. My therapist had advised me not to get hair extensions and do crazy makeup to avoid looking like a "stereotypical trans"...she was so wrong.

Truth is, all women need some form of makeup to look good. Unless you are swimming or hiking, there is NO REASON not to wear it.

Enlighten me.

[Eve of chaos]

I have always preferred a no make-up look on a  girl no matter what. to me there's a real allure to just being completely natural.
not that make-up cant look good, quite the contrary, I also have a soft spot to really well done eye make-up.

I think anyone who doesn't want to wear make-up is probably just being themselves and not worrying/caring about passing. which Is admirable and I envy it. you gotta live life for yourself. and if they prefer it there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

as for me I do need it when I am attempting to pass and so I use it for such times. It is my wish that someday I will not need it and it will become a choice more than a requirement.

[wheat thins are delicious]

Truth is My opinion is, all women need some form of makeup to look good. Unless you are swimming or hiking, there is NO REASON not to wear it.

Fixed that for you.  Maybe they don't want to?  Not all girls feel the need to in order to be attractive. 

[Mahsa Tezani]

I have always preferred a no make-up look on a  girl no matter what. to me there's a real allure to just being completely natural.
not that make-up cant look good, quite the contrary, I also have a soft spot to really well done eye make-up.

I think anyone who doesn't want to wear make-up is probably just being themselves and not worrying/caring about passing. which Is admirable and I envy it. you gotta live life for yourself. and if they prefer it there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

as for me I do need it when I am attempting to pass and so I use it for such times. It is my wish that someday I will not need it and it will become a choice more than a requirement.

But isn't part of being a girl wearing makeup? every single woman I know wears it. Of course, I work in cosmetics.

[Forever21Chic]

   It's simple really, most ts women don't know how to apply makeup, sad but true.

[wheat thins are delicious]

But isn't part of being a girl wearing makeup? every single woman I know wears it. Of course, I work in cosmetics.

That's a gender stereotype.  Most women I know don't wear make-up.  Their skin is actually better than most people that wear make-up all the time. 

[Eve of chaos]

id say most girls do. but A lot of girls I hang around dont use any. and when they do its extremely elaborated. not used to blend.

i also know some girls who would never ever be seen without make-up. not even to their closest friends and family.

really its a preference, and although most girls  use it everyday saying that It is part of being a girl can be viewed as sexist to some.

just because a lot of people agree on an opinion doesn't make it a fact. that's whats key to remember.

[Mahsa Tezani]

   It's simple really, most ts women don't know how to apply makeup, sad but true.

Or dress....

I looked back at the photos when I first started and I was like, "Glenn was so right, I needed a complete tear down"

[Mahsa Tezani]

That's a gender stereotype.  Most women I know don't wear make-up.  Their skin is actually better than most people that wear make-up all the time.

Not usually. I live in SF and yeesh, go from the artsy Mission district to the Marina. Big difference in style and makeup. I associate no makeup with khaffiyahs, birkenstocks, and corduroys. Even hipster girls wear some makeup..

Well I want to be part of the binary. Most women wear makeup. Ever wonder why fashion magazines show newest styles?

[~RoadToTrista~]

Isn't that stuff itchy and cause pores? I think I would look just fine without make up.

That's a gender stereotype.  Most women I know don't wear make-up.

Nor do most of the one's I know.

[Forever21Chic]

   Look the truth of the matter is that alot of cisgendered women don't wear makeup because they don't need to. They were born female, with female facial features thus they don't need to wear makeup as much as say a ts women would need to hide those male facial features with makeup.



   That is why some ts women get FFS so they don't have to wear makeup, or atleast not so much of it. 

[lilacwoman]

it all depends on how lucky the person is?
nice skin and small fem face and no need for makeup while a rougher skin and testo'd male features do benefit from the camouflage of makeup.
I'm still having electrolysis and the awful scars and burn marks need heavy maekup
luckily in my town and office lots of other women like makeup so its no problem.

[MarinaM]

Because it actually heightens my dysphoria. Every time I pick up the brush I'm reminded "I do this to pass, I won't stand a chance otherwise."

I actually do wear makeup, blended and matched well enough to make it look like I wear none.

[Mahsa Tezani]

Meh. I wear it cuz I want to. I definitely want to project the whole, "I am from California. I go to the beach. I take tequila shots all night long and listen to dance music non stop" image.

I don't actually wear that much... Just as much as any other girl around here which is how it looks in the photo. I wear it cuz it makes me feel great... Just some foundation with contour, powder, and eye liner with minimal shadow.

But I experiment. I've always wanted to be like this... I grew up watching BH 90210, Melrose Place, Dynasty, baywatch and watching "House of style".

[cynthialee]

Most of the women I know wear little to no make up.

The only time most gals around here wear the stuff is when they are going out for an evening on the town or headed to church.

Personaly I do not wear any make up most the time. If I do put it on ussualy I will only do a lite amount of eyeliner and some lipstick.
Every once and awhile I will doll up and do a complete face and wear something cute...but there better be a steak or a lobster salad in my future for all that trouble.

[Forever21Chic]

*puts flame shield on*  Umm...i agree with mahsa, ts girls should experiment with makeup more, it does help you pass. 

[Rebekah with a K-A-H]

I can't help but notice there are a lot of girls here who seem proud of not wearing makeup. What is the logic in that?

In my opinion, most ciswomen need makeup(minimal) to even look good when they leave the house in the morning. Add to that contouring/highlighting can change an andro face into a femme face. It is a trick employed by drag queens, which I feel could be useful here. You do nude eye instead of cut creases and you won't look like a drag queen. It's all in moderation. But not wearing makeup, makes you immediately clockable IMO...facial prettiness aside.

So why wouldn't people here wear cosmetics? Is it because they don't know how? Are they merely waiting for the effects of HRT to kick in? I knew I waited almost 15 months in to kick up my makeup...But I was very much into the "zero phase" prototype stage of the early transition. I didn't have a feminine mother or sister encouraging me to dress differently. My therapist had advised me not to get hair extensions and do crazy makeup to avoid looking like a "stereotypical trans"...she was so wrong.

Truth is, all women need some form of makeup to look good. Unless you are swimming or hiking, there is NO REASON not to wear it.

Enlighten me.

Because the double standard it perpetuates is sexist, simple as that.  The expectation that women must 'pretty themselves up' for others, not only through their dress, which must be at once concealing but alluring (but not too much of either), but also through makeup and mannerisms, is a patently corrupt relic of a patriarchal system.

Unless you're using it to help you pass, there's no need for makeup, though people who want to wear it can run wild, I guess?  I dunno, they're not my type. 

Basically, you're telling me that I'm ugly, and worse, male, as I am and that I need an artificial coating over my face to look halfway decent?  <not allowed> that.

For the record, my sister is way into cosmetics and she has tried several times to get me into it.  But guess what?  I've got no interest, no patience, no time to doll myself up for whatever males decide that I'm ogle-worthy material, and most importantly no stomach for the people that tell me I'm committing some grave social faux pas by forgoing it.  Maybe you need it for your own confidence?  Knock yourself out.  But don't presume to tell me what I "need to look good".  That's insulting.

But isn't part of being a girl wearing makeup? every single woman I know wears it. Of course, I work in cosmetics.

And here, my dear, is where we learn that the plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.

I have always preferred a no make-up look on a  girl no matter what. to me there's a real allure to just being completely natural.
not that make-up cant look good, quite the contrary, I also have a soft spot to really well done eye make-up.

I think anyone who doesn't want to wear make-up is probably just being themselves and not worrying/caring about passing. which Is admirable and I envy it. you gotta live life for yourself. and if they prefer it there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

as for me I do need it when I am attempting to pass and so I use it for such times. It is my wish that someday I will not need it and it will become a choice more than a requirement.

Hey look!  Someone saying something reasonable.  Keep doing what you're doing.

Mahsa, I find a lot of your posts funny, insightful, and interesting, but this one rubs me the wrong way.  You're making a lot of assumptions, advocating a position ("all women need makeup no matter what", implying those who don't risk being seen as men) that is inflammatory and offensive, and also totally siccing a black marker all over the freedom for all women, not just cis women, to express gender or sexual nonconformity in pretty much any way they want.  I'm talking dykes, butches, bois, genderqueers, gender->-bleeped-<-ers, and any number of identities that might fall under the umbrella of female.  Any of them that identify as women are no less women than cis heterosexual girls who are makeup designers, femme trans lesbians that love overdoing it, or intersexed female-identified people with conventional gender presentation, and they don't need to put chemicals on their face to reach that state of equivalency.

blah blah disclaimer about not identifying as a woman or girl yet answering to this because i identify as female and as such feel that the question, being posed in the mtf forum, is inclusive of me

[Rabbit]

But isn't part of being a girl wearing makeup? every single woman I know wears it. Of course, I work in cosmetics.

Lol no?

Look into the statistics of makeup usage... it is kind of disgusting. Feeling like you need to always have your natural skin covered because you don't naturally match magazine ads? You think that is healthy? o.O

My mother and both my sisters very very rarely wear makeup (like at very special occasions maybe).

"Part of being a girl wearing makeup" Omg, that is so wrong on so many levels :| Well, looks like the cosmetic industry and the mass marketing is working at least?

[Mahsa Tezani]

"Part of being a girl wearing makeup" Omg, that is so wrong on so many levels :| Well, looks like the cosmetic industry and the mass marketing is working at least?

Maybe it's different in your community. I am from a large ethnic community, and I myself am ethnic(half Persian). Ethnic women tend to wear more makeup than their Anglo counterparts. Men want their women to look like trophies...and I totally support that.

But for me, it makes sense...I like to go out to clubs, fancy restaurants, the gym, etc

[Joeyboo~ :3]

I'm from the south and no one in my family wears makeup.
Some consider wearing eyeliner 'just enough'

It's a little silly lol.


Is someone gonna have the balls to say that most transgirls who haven't had FFS don't exactly look the prettiest when they're natural?
Or is that just gonna be me?