When most men say they don’t notice whether a woman is wearing make up, they are usually not lying. What they don’t realize is that they are responding unconsciously, to the presence or absence of makeup that they don’t consciously notice. Most men don’t really see what women actually look like. They are only aware of how they are responding to them. Make up is designed to intensify that response, and if it’s used artfully, it works. Consequently, if a man sees a woman without make up, he thinks she isn’t pretty, and if he sees the same woman with make up, he thinks she is pretty. He is usually unaware that a woman’s beauty is as much her artistic creation as natural endowment.


During my adolescence in the 60s, I sincerely believed that the Hippie women I was attracted to we’re not wearing any makeup at all. It was only when I saw a girlfriend get up and put on her makeup that I realized she had been wearing make up all the time. I don’t doubt the author’s claim that when some famous woman goes without make up, it gets a lot of press coverage. But I’ll bet that coverage is entirely in magazines written by and for women. (I also wouldn’t consider Pamela Anderson’s surgically enhanced appearance to be natural, even without make up.)

these days, I am somewhat better at distinguishing between how I feel about a woman’s appearance, and how she actually looks. If she is a friend or a colleague, most of the time her appearance is not that big an issue for me, especially as my age gradually dials down my testosterone. But I still enjoying looking at women, each of whom is usually beautiful in her own way.