What men think about women wearing make-up

Going make-up free has become a trend in recent years and even celebrities have joined the current giving up their foundation, mascara and eyeliner in favour of the bare-face look. But a recent survey wanted to find out what was the Americans’ perception towards wearing make-up.

The history of cosmetics goes back longer than we think and it can be traced back to 6,000 years ago while body art has been reported even 10,000 years ago in African communities. From Cleopatra to Nefertiti, Ancient Egyptians are probably the most famous in using cosmetics but make-up has been present in every culture, all around the globe. Make-up has evolved over the centuries into a billion dollar industry with a revenue estimated to amount to about $62.46 billion last year in the US alone.

Skin care products account for the largest share of the beauty industry market while mascaras and eyeliners are considered the most popular products. And while companies are looking to keep their loyal customers while also appealing to newer potential buyers, another trend has been waging a war against the beauty industry that seems to have taken hold of the internet.

Millions of viewers watch make-up tutorials online and new generations of bloggers are fighting for attention but there is also a contrary reaction, aimed at using social media as a way of promoting not only less make but also no make-up at all.

Psychologists suggest that the cosmetic industry has posed unrealistic standards and that in some cases make-up and the preoccupation with make-up has become detrimental to one’s self-esteem. This has fueled the movement against makeup and even celebrities have joined the charge with models and actresses posting make-up free selfies on social media.

Alicia Keys, Cameron Diaz, Cindy Crawford are just some of the stars that promote the bare-face trend.

A post shared by Zoltán Tombor (@zoltantombor) on Jun 2, 2016 at 3:43am PDT

Tricked by make-up

But a recent survey wanted to find out what Americans actually thought, not about make-up in general but about the use of make-up, and by women, in particular. YouGov looked at adult Americans and found that 63% of men consider that women are actually using cosmetics in an attempt to trick them into believing that they are much more attractive than they really are. Even 48% of women agreed with this statement.

And while men and women seem to agree that make-up is used as a trick, when it comes to men’s beards, most of the participants said that there were no correlations between beard growing and hiding facial imperfections.

When digging a little bit deeper into the causes that might make women use more cosmetic products, the survey found that over a half of the female participants said that they feel that the media holds them to unrealistic beauty standards. A mere 2% strongly disagree.

Men, on the other hand, are a bit less convinced. Under a third of males (30%) strongly agree that the media presents women with the impracticable criterion for their looks.

According to YouGov, 64% of women admitted that they monthly purchased cosmetic products and most of them spend between $1 and $50 a month on beauty products.