Makeup and Men

       I’d like to share a personal experience. Today I called to make a hair appointment at the Ulta Salon. I dialed their number and was greeted by a typical voice recording. The recording was a little different than normal, due to the holidays. The voice welcomed me to the store, then quickly mentioned their holiday sales. What caught my attention was towards the end, the recording said, “Ulta beauty brings joy to the girl”. Such a large scale makeup company, and they specifically targeted females. With the advances society has made concerning the LGBTQ community, the openness of transgender people and those whom dress in drag, and leaders in the makeup world like Jeffree Star (who is a man), I didn’t really find this appropriate. I tried to think of how I’d react if I was a man calling the salon. I decided to do a little internet-searching and came across an interesting article. Isaac Fitzgerald, whom begins his week long journey looking like a typical masculine man, decides to experiment with makeup for a week. It is very interesting to read the ways in which he responds to this challenge, and how his views change throughout the experience. Even more so, it is interesting to see the way the outside world reacts. What I found most compelling, was the way a stranger regarded him. Just because of the fact he was wearing makeup, he is called a “f****t” in Union Square by a man he’s never met. Does society always jump to the conclusion that a man wearing makeup must be gay? Is makeup meant to be targeted towards women, even though this straight man demonstrated that it can make anyone feel better about themselves? As a straight man, in the end he describes aspects as enjoyable, like the way his eyes looked with mascara. I don’t find anything wrong with that, but society may thanks to the concepts of masculinity.

Article: https://www.buzzfeed.com/isaacfitzgerald/this-is-what-one-man-learned-from-wearing-makeup-for-a-week?utm_term=.buoXmypdzk#.qwYmxeWKRN