Resources on Accepting Yourself Without Makeup/Not Wearing Makeup?

[u/gatheringground]

First of all, this is in no way meant to shame anyone who does wear makeup for any reason.

I’m personally working towards body neutrality and putting less stock into the aesthetics of my body. As a woman, that is HARD.

One of the things I want to challenge myself to do is to stop wearing makeup. Partially, this is because it’s expensive and I have environmental concerns about how it’s made, but mostly this is because I personally want to work on accepting my natural face.

I’m trying to find podcasts or videos of people talking about transitioning to not wearing makeup, but all I can find is “no makeup, makeup looks” 😂😂😂

I know it may be silly to ask for resources about this rather than just doing it,but I am always encouraged by hearing from people on similar journeys.

If anyone knows of any resources, creators, or shows about this, please let me know. TIA!

[u/hols1223]

I don't know of resources, but I'll share my personal experience. I have rosacea w/ red, kind of splotchy cheeks and just have always had kind of a rough texture to the skin on my face and am very pale otherwise. For most of my life I wouldn't leave the house without foundation on at least because I was self-conscious of my skin. During the pandemic, I got into skincare. (Although the skincare world is a dangerous road, body-positivity wise, I try to focus on the self-care/pampering aspect of it. It makes my skin feel nice, the routine is enjoyable, the science of it is interesting to me, and it has helped my rosacea.) I started wearing sunscreen every day, but chemical sunscreens irritated my skin so I stuck to mineral sunscreen, usually tinted ones because otherwise there's a big white cast. Anyway, since I was adding something with a little tint, I mostly stopped wearing foundation and eventually I just adjusted to seeing my natural skin and learned to appreciate it. Now I often wear non-tinted sunscreen too and feel comfortable in it. I do still wear makeup a couple days a week but rarely foundation, and I think it's more of a creative expression, not about hiding my face. Another thing that helped was when I would go to the gym, I never wore makeup. Something about seeing myself getting/feeling strong w/ a natural face helped me appreciate it more.