Hello all
For young women, is it deceitful to wear makeup?
Is it wrong to spend money on nice clothes even if they are modest?
Hi, Court!
I replied to a similar question in the Ladies forum, but in case you're around (or for other readers), I will share my observations and personal experience on the topic here as well.
The Scriptures that come to mind when thinking about this are:
Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Now, these verses don't explicitly mention make-up. But the general idea is to avoid vanity and self-glorification and the seeking of attention from others.
What I have noticed is that, there are quite a few downsides to wearing make-up as a woman of God (and the same could be applied to wearing "costly attire" or "revealing clothing", to some extent):
- - it can encourage insecurity. When you wear make-up, you generally think you look "better". So when you remove the make-up, you think you don't look as good, and that can create a toxic cycle of feeling insecure / self-conscious. It can go as far as not wanting anyone to see you without make-up, or feeling inadequate if one day you can't apply it and have to go outside, etc.
- - it can encourage vanity. This might just be the biggest one. Wearing make-up usually implies we want to look better. But wanting to look better can quickly turn into excessive self-focus and make us very concerned with how we look, how attractive we are to others, our image and reputation, etc. This is in essence a very self-centered position and counter-productive to a selfless approach to life and others. It also often means spending a lot of time focused on ourselves and not for any real good reason other than vanity (applying the make-up, thinking about how it comes across to others, worrying about if it's still in place, etc.)
- - it can encourage sinful thoughts / behaviors in others. Depending on the amount of make-up, and the style, it can make you more sexually enticing and make a brother stumble. If you wear lipstick (especially bright in color) that will almost certainly draw attention to your lips, for example. Could also invoke flashbacks as regards to graphic content with similar make-up, etc.
- - it ultimately begs the question: "Why?" -- why wear make-up at all? If God created us, and we have the face that we do, why want to adorn it or "embellish it"...? Of course, I understand that we live in a fallen world and our bodies aren't perfect, and sometimes we want to improve them and the way they look. But there's this sense of in-authenticity, or 'mask', when applying make-up, and it does alter one's attitude (or can). I believe wearing make-up can often give access to the Jezebel spirit to operate within a woman; I have seen it several times and have even experienced it myself. A woman's countenance can easily change depending on if she's wearing make-up or not and there's a spirit of seduction that often goes along with wearing make-up. It's very subtle and I don't think the woman herself even necessarily realizes it, but it can be seen in their eyes and in how they carry themselves. Sometimes it's very spooky.
As for my personal experience, the Lord convicted me of wearing make-up a bit less than 2 years ago or so. It started slowly and wasn't a big "STOP WEARING MAKE-UP!" shout or anything. I just went on a make-up fast for Lent (I wanted to detach myself from fleshly things) and eventually after a few weeks, I realized I couldn't wear make-up anymore because every time I would apply it, I'd feel wrong and like I wasn't "myself". It was kinda spooky. My self-perception also changed a lot during that time and for the first time in my life, I actually started finding myself more beautiful without make-up. (I could never have imagined going "make-up free" before. Ever.).
I still continued to wear some here and there, but very subtle, like a bit of faint glitter on my eyelids, or eye pencil below my lower lashes, but eventually even that started feeling kind of wrong.
I am not "legalistic" about it though and don't tell women to stop wearing it; however I do believe it is important to pray about it,
especially if there's even a tinge of conviction in one's heart / conscience about one's personal use of make-up (and one's clothing, too).
In my case, the make-up was a kind of bondage and it needed to be broken. So I'm not saying I will never wear make-up again or that it's always wrong... I am still learning about all this and this is where I believe the Lord wants me to be, at this point in my walk. : )
Sorry for the long post... and I hope it doesn't offend anyone. It's just my current understanding / position on that. As the hymn goes, "Take it to the Lord in prayer"... : )
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