I feel way better with make up enhancing my looks.

That said I do know some women that due to their coloring need to wear makeup in order to look good. I have a cousin who looks washed out without makeup on.

It has been my experience that “most” men like myself actually prefer a woman WITHOUT makeup. Now in all honestly, in many cases that also includes women that wear “minimal” (i.e. “just some base”) makeup where it is almost if not completely discreet to a point where the men actually believe “she” is not wearing it.

The question asked in comments though I thought was even more interesting. If the above is true, then how did makeup become a multi-billion dollar industry? This I believe is actually quite easy to answer. Because in many cases women do not wear makeup for men. They do not even where it for themselves (though obviously some do either or both of these things), but in a great many cases, they are doing it for (or to be in competition with) OTHER WOMEN.

A good comparison was a poll done sometime back (I can’t remember where to point to it) that asked men about women’s sizes. And overwhelmingly, men preferred women that were NOT MODEL SKINNY! As a matter of fact, men actually found a women that skinny to be generally unattractive. And yet women continue to push for this “ideal” because it is what is on the cover of all the “glam mags” and so that must be what men like, right? Well, no.

I am not saying men can’t be competitive as well, but women seem to take this things (particularly in weight, clothes and makeup) and either judge or live in fear of being judged, so they assume what they “must” do to live up to some ideal that is really about woman vs. woman and has nothing to do with the men that they claim they are doing it for.

Shannon, your observation that men and women like others to look good is not an argument for your belief that most people prefer women to wear makeup. Sure, I’d agree that people generally prefer to see others looking good, and according to your poll, for lots of people “good” means without makeup.

If *that’s* what the poll means, I need to change my vote.

If it means what it *appears* to say in plain English, “What is your opinion on women wearing makeup?”, then I continue to hold my opinion that I prefer women without makeup.

I express this opinion without assuming that no makeup = sloppy, nor assuming that I am in the majority of men or women (or the minority) with my view.

Likewise, I do not presume that my own preference in this matter should supersede any woman’s own preference, including my wife’s.

I am lucky enough to have the acquaintance of some stunningly beautiful women, including my wife, who sometimes wear makeup, and sometimes don’t. Even though I prefer the no-makeup times, I think they’re gorgeous either way.

I’m surprised at how hot the discussion seems to have become - I certainly don’t equate those who disagree with the opinion I share with Lance and others to be “Tammy Fayes” or the like - I hope that isn’t the assumed case!

-Rick

For me, I can go either way with clothing or hair. I find “street clothes” can look as alluring as more dressy stuff, and there are ensembles in both categories that look horribly unflattering. Same with hair. Some of the simple, most casual styles can equal “done up” hair, and some styles in each category can look ridiculous.

Your poll doesn’t indicate that your readers (or their spouses) are fetishists for the slovenly. I prefer seeing women dressed well (from ultra-casual to ultra-formal), with nice hair (from untouched (or bald!) to wedding-quality hair), and with NO MAKEUP. The poll results indicate most people feel similarly regarding makeup specifically. Your personal experience does not trump your poll results when trying to figure out what most people think. I’m personally quite surprised that the poll has turned out this way, but what are my preconceptions in the face of data? And I’ll say the same thing if you get 500 votes eventually and the results swing the other way.

Hey, looks like “your” side just got another vote ! Someone in western PA… that’s five!

Merry Christmas!

I realize beauty is subjective, means different things to different people and looks are not important to a minority of people. Think about what life was like when you had met and wanted to date or were first dating your mate or any other man for that matter. Did you throw just anything on when dressing for date, forget to brush teeth, run out to meet them to go out somewhere with your hair looking like you rolled out of bed? Doubtful. Chances are, you tried to look your best, with or without makeup, and that illustrates my point that we all want to look attractive at least to our mate at some point. For some people, that includes makeup and nice clothes and doesn’t stop once they’re married.

Did I say somewhere that “people just don’t know what they like or are somehow self-deceived or lying”? While I am asuuming the people who have answered the poll and posted here are saying what they mean, I believe you are misunderstanding what I said, very plainly: in my experience, men overwhelmingly prefer women who wear makeup. Anyone who doesn’t see this in our beauty-worshipping, sexualized society really does have their head in the sand (or watches even less tv than I do. The evidence is all around you, sex sells= men and women like to see attractive people looking their best= lots of makeup.

Just for the record Lance, you can assume that when you see me and I am wearing makeup that I’m not rapping on anyone’s tree but my husband’s. Or maybe you knew that since I wear my wedding ring =)

Seriously, Shannon’s is just a small poll and I wouldn’t claim her results are conclusive; people who read this blog may be a sample that is non-representative of the population at large (though you seem satisfied to make sweeping claims about men’s preferences without reference to any larger, more compelling poll). I had no preconceptions about other people’s aesthetic preferences about makeup and would not necessarily be surprised if a bigger, national poll gave different (even opposite) results. What I find fascinating, however, is your (and others’) dismissive response to other people’s opinions on this purely aesthetic question. Had 99% of people said women look better with makeup, I’d shrug and say “I guess my preference is a real minority”. I certainly wouldn’t be insisting that people just don’t know what they like or are somehow self-deceived or lying. It’s as if you couldn’t imagine that anyone could prefer Oreos to cheesecake, so when a poll suggests most people do prefer Oreos, instead of saying “Wow, I’m surprised. Perhaps I’m in a minority when it comes to dessert preferences”, you say “Come on, these people obviously don’t know what they like. Cheesecake is delicious and everyone who doesn’t admit it obviously has their head in the sand!” This poll addresses nothing more than an aesthetic preference, and people are telling you directly what they like. What’s to doubt and argue? My opinion that women generally look better without makeup (strangers included) is most certainly not filtered through “eyes of love”. I see no reason to assume that a man who makes the same claim about his aesthetic preference regarding women and makeup must be blinded by love or otherwise self-deceived. I’m not insisting that you and Shannon must be blinded by the billion-dollar makeup industry to believe that women look better with makeup (even though I personally cannot see how you think it makes women look good); I believe that despite my personal preference you like the way it looks. I’m telling you straight that I think women look better without makeup. My husband says the same thing… and so have 20 other people who answered Shannon’s poll. Believe us.

P.S. Lance wants to know what woman he said was attractive on our blog… neither of us can remember and he’s curious. He tried to ask last night, but his comment got stuck in “moderation”.

I wasn’t ignoring Shannon’s poll results, but I agree with Shannon herself that this poll does not reflect the opinion of most men.
You know I used to work in advertising with a large candy company. Of course, they polled and did test panels with consumers all the time. How do you think the green animated candy “lady” ended up with an obviously made up face a go-go boots, considering what the green candy in your “M” bag has come to symbolize?! Silly example but it’s true. Even a “female candy” needs enhancement in the eyes of the male population at large =)

Some men may look at their own wives through eyes of love and think “she looks great without makeup!” and truly mean it, I don’t doubt that. From an aesthetic point of view though (and it’s been proven that men are visual in nature when it comes to attraction) most men prefer well-done or natural-looking makeup on a woman.

Ok, I’m off to church to pray about my vanity =)

And I thought it was obvious, but maybe not. It’s handy for heterosexual guys to know which females are trying to make themselves look more attractive for the same reason the “rapping” call of the female South African clawed frog is handy to the male of the species. It lets you know whom it’s more worthwhile pursuing sex with. The absence of a wedding band is also handy for this same reason.

Finding a particular woman attractive in makeup, of course, says nothing about whether the beholder considers her more attractive with makeup than without it. Prior to this poll, I had little idea what men other than my husband (who has commented negatively about women’s makeup since I first met him) thought about makeup. But I certainly think women look more attractive without it, so it doesn’t surprise me that this poll is suggesting that a majority of men seem to agree.