For many women, the thought of leaving the house without wearing makeup is terrifying.
It’s no wonder women lose confidence in their natural beauty when cosmetic companies bombard them with images of impossible beauty and products that claim to give you flawless skin. One key problem; no one is flawless.
Sunrise hosts Samantha Armytage and Natalie Barr recently threw in the cleansing towel and went makeup free live on air. From 8am on Thursday 15th August, they had their makeup removed and finished the last hour of the show barefaced.
The response was staggering. Emails and tweets flooded in with praise for the two hosts who showed that physical beauty is only skin deep.
While the rest of us won’t get 40 emails a minute telling us how wonderful we are for going au naturel, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t learn to love the skin we’re in.
Guess what tweeps … We’re getting 40 emails A MINUTE on the soapbox re Nat & my bare faces this am… And they’re ALL lovely. Thank you xx
— Samantha Armytage (@sam_armytage) August 15, 2013
August 30th is Makeup Free Me day, where women all over the country are pledging to face the world makeup free for 24 hours. The aim is to promote positive body image while raising money for The Butterfly Foundation’s programs on positive body image, self-esteem development and media literacy education. Grab your girlfriends, like the Facebook page, lock your makeup case and register now to make a difference.
Learning to love the skin you’re in can be a challenge for many of us but with a bit of dedication and confidence, we can all say goodbye to our makeup masks and flaunt the skin we have. These tips can get you skin-confident in no time.
Tip #1 – Stay hydrated
This old adage is the most important tip for good skin. It might surprise you, but your mum insisting you drink water as a child instead of lemonade was actually for your own good (good job mum!). Water is a miracle worker!
When you are dehydrated, your skin is the first to feel the effects. Your lips become dry and cracked, your face becomes dry and flaky. Drinking 2 litres of water a day for females (3 litres for males) will not only keep you hydrated, but it will flush out any toxins you have in your body that cause blemishes. Getting into the habit of drinking plenty of water will have long lasting benefits for your skin. So grab a funky new water bottle and keep your body hydrated!
Tip #2 – Wear sunscreen
Slipping, slopping and slapping are essential to us Aussies in the summer months but we tend to neglect it in winter. Because sun exposure accounts for 90 percent of wrinkles, we can avoid long-term damage by using the right products.
For sunscreen to be effective, it should protect against UVA and UVB rays. UVA rays penetrate the skin more deeply and are associated with skin ageing. UVB rays are the chief cause of sunburn and can cause damage to the epidermal layers.
It’s important to wear sunscreen all year round. Broad-spectrum sunscreens with SPFs of at least 15 will protect you from the harshness of the sun and keep your skin healthy and youthful.
Tip #3 – Don’t use soap on your face
I repeat, DON’T USE SOAP ON YOUR FACE!
Here’s the quick scientific explanation: neutral on the pH scale is 7. Anything under is acidic and anything above is alkaline. Your skin is usually between 4 and 6.5, so it’s acidic. Soap is extremely alkaline, sitting on the opposite end of the scale. In short, using soap on your face messes with its pH balance, causing any existing skin conditions to worsen.
Soap strips essential oils from your face, making it tight and dry. You need these oils to keep your skin moist, as these prevent it from drying out, and also prevent wrinkles.
Using a gentle cleanser on your skin is a much better alternative to soap. Cleansers are designed to rid your skin of bad oils and keep good oils on your skin. Soaps are fine for use on the rest of your body, but not on the delicate skin on your face.
I mean, you wouldn’t wash your face with detergent would you?
So ladies, come and join the 171 women (so far) baring all on August 30th. Put away your makeup for 24 hours and flaunt your fresh, beautiful, unmade face for a great cause. It’s time to love the skin you’re in.
Louise Bianco is a third-year Bachelor of Journalism student at La Trobe University, and is a staff writer for upstart. Follow her on Twitter @louiseeee___
