"At some point – probably high school – I believed that learning how to
"put my face together" felt like a necessary right of passage because I
am a woman.

Today I find that even the wording "putting my face together" feels
offensive to me, and I reject the idea that anyone needs to add
something besides soap and water to their faces in order to be
considered well-groomed.

Hygiene and make-up application should not be in the same
category. One is about caring for our bodies; the other,
personal preference."

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I saw this on Facebook posted by Everyday Feminism. They asked why any of us wear make-up, and I said:

"Partially for hiding dark circles, scars, blemishes, and large pores, but there's certainly nothing wrong with
trying to make yourself a little more aesthetic. I see it as just another way of self-expression no different than
having a tattoo or a piercing. It's certainly not for getting anyone's approval or acceptance, unless having all
that stuff on your face somehow matters in whether or not you get a job. 'Sorry, ma'am, but due to your
unwillingness to cover your face with the remains of parasitic beetles and bull semen you're just not fit for this
position at Vitamin Shoppe.' Clearly, the professional world makes a larger deal out of body image than we do."

When I was in middle school, I desperately wanted to wear makeup for reasons similar to the girl in the article. I was also horribly embarrassed by my hairy legs. My mom wouldn't let me shave or wear makeup and I felt so unfeminine and wrong. I felt a lot of social pressures back then...

It's weird to compare middle school me to high school me. In high school, I didn't care enough to wear makeup, or to really make myself appear particularly feminine in general.

This love-hate relationship with  makeup seems to have kept going throughhout my life. Before transitioning, I had started to wear "normal" coverup makeup (instead of artsy, aesthetic makeup only when dressing up) because I was afraid I'd look like a woman who didn't take care of herself if I didn't. Now, I still wear makeup even though I'm FTM, but I only wear eyeliner, and I do it because I love how it brings out my eyes.

And now I am done rambling about  makeup. I don't even know why I did this

Sometimes women wear makeup to compete with other women, to look better than them. I've always found that one sad. Wait...isn't that what I did when I started wearing daily coverup makeup? ->-bleeped-<-.