piercing question ... for the ladies

[Lurker]

Also not a makeup wearer, except for special occasions and choir performances. Mainly, the last thing I want to do at the end of a long day is take it off. It's also bad for your skin. I've mostly had jobs that made daily makeup use impractical. Now with masks, I don't know why any woman is doing anything except her eyes.

[kahvecowgirl]

Yes, lipstick under a mask would be most impractical!

[Fudi]

Unless used as yet another protective layer.

[munchlet]

Interesting topic, Fudi, but I doubt that you have assembled here a representative sample of Crypto Ladies. More haphazard than random. Maybe Crypto Lady Folk who cluster around Fudi? That skews the data. So you have yet to disprove your null hypothesis, which seems to be:

"yeah, I have pierced ears and wear earrings most or all of the time.

Moving on to the next question... I have enormous allergic shiners under both eyes (inherited from dear old Dad) that I've been covering up with concealer for decades. I seem to be allergic to life in general, not to mention pollen, dust, peanuts, peppermint, chocolate... Wearing glasses also helps to conceal them.

That's "makeup" in the exact sense of the word. Since age 60, I've had no eyebrows (well, barely visible). Bummer. So I might start using an eyebrow pencil. Other than that, a little blusher and powder to cover a shiny nose (like Rudolph's), and eye shadow at times. I used to apply mascara, but my hand was never steady enough for eyeliner.

Huge profit margin for the companies and stores that sell cosmetics, so it's kind of a "feminist" thing to abstain. That said, I've been coloring my hair for... 47 years? Yike. Definite improvement over my natural shade -- whatever that was!

Why not improve on nature?

[kahvecowgirl]

Well argued, Munchlet .

[Fudi]

Do I have clusterers? (I hope so. I'd like clusterers.) You're right, of course, munchlet, that I didn't get a very large sample size here ... maybe I should have offered COOKIES! to anybody who would play along? (I didn't mean to skew. Cuz that would have been skewpid.) The whole endeavor isn't particularly scientific, I fully admit ... just, y'know ... I was just, again, curious as to what others here might say about the topic.

Kidding aside, tho ... I, personally, just see it as a feminist thing because most (not all, but most) of the "beauty" products, y'know, are marketed to women who are continually told by the media and society that however they look isn't good enough and that they need to buy stuff and strive to look different ... always. I don't think men are fed that message so consistently ... that what they look like is the most important thing about them ... and that however they look isn't good enough ... and that buying stuff could change all of that. I don't think those messages are good for our psyches. Personally.

On an individual level, I'm all for doing whatever you want to do that makes you feel better about yourself and happier and more self-confident ... Yay happiness and self-confidence!

[pickleball]

why just the ladies? guys have many also, some thru the nose and so on, just saying

[Fudi]

Aw heck, I didn't mean to not be inclusive. Well, not in a way that made anybody feel left out who wanted to join in. It's just that when women choose not to wear makeup/jewelry, they're making a choice that goes against societal norms and I was interested in how common it was in this community for our womenfolk to buck the system that way.

For men, it's the opposite ... though it's not too uncommon these days for men to get piercings and so on, it's still not the norm for them to do so ... so, to rebel, they'd get piercings, I suppose, as opposed to avoiding them, as women might to demonstrate rebellion or rejection of the norms.

If you fellas would like to talk about your ear piercings here, please ... do it. This is an equal opportunity forum topic from here on in, I guess. Note your gender, though, everybody, from here on out, if you don't mind doing so ... since now, this will be a mixed bag and how to interpret your piercing choices may be confusing if we don't know your gender.

[CryptoB]

Sure, I'll answer your unusual question! I got mine pierced when about 14 in a jewelry store. Then in the 80s my twin sister and I got a 2nd pierce on one ear. She continued to wear her third earring and add additional piercing on the top part of her ears. Ouch! No more piercing for me, but I love wearing a pair of earrings every day.

[CryptoB]

P.S. Regarding make up, it's a pain. Blush, eyeliner, mascara, brow pencil & lip gloss can look nice. Easy enough to accomplish in the car at stoplights.

[Altoid701]

I got my ears pierced at a mall when I was 10. These days I wear earrings maybe twice a year and they haven't closed up yet so that's good. I wear makeup a handful of times a year but most days I'm way too lazy--I'm terrible at applying it so I don't bother unless it's a special occasion. I also hardly ever use nail polish...I don't know if all this is because I'm a feminist or just because I'm lazy and don't care enough...probably more the latter, though the former is true as well! I also didn't change my name when I got married...but that's another topic!

[Fudi]

Altoid701 ... nope ... no way ... totally the *same* topic. I also didn't change my name upon getting married, either time. Ladies? (Oh, and gentlemen too, particularly if you *did* change your name upon getting married, a la John Ono Lennon.) I guess when you break this all down, I'm really interested in how folks in the community here are breakers from tradition ... from society's "rules". So ... y'know, don't limit yourself ... tell me (and all here) about that in whatever ways it applies to you. Like, y'know, Crazy writes backwards, which is kind of weird and interesting, I think. I mainly think many here are probably weird and interesting.