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As a straight man, here’s why I’ve started wearing makeup

Words by Cam Reid

“It took a lot of soul searching and internal de-stigmatising for me even to get started.”

I wish I had some wild story about how I first got into makeup, but to be honest, I couldn’t tell you exactly where I got the idea in the first place. I can tell you it happened around the middle of last year, when I was going through some tough times mentally. 

I brought the idea up with a friend, who said she’d be happy to help show me the ropes. We promptly scheduled a trip to Mecca. I’d been there before countless times, mostly to accompany friends, and almost every time, I’d end up wandering into the fragrance section as I thought nothing else in the store was relevant to me.


For more musings on makeup, check out our Beauty section.


Actually spending time looking through the makeup section was like stepping into a whole new world. Even though I’d read some basic beginner’s makeup guides to prepare, I still felt extremely overwhelmed. I found myself asking questions like, ‘Do I really need setting spray?’ (spoiler alert: yes), ‘Why are there so many shades of concealer?’ and ‘Why does that highlighter cost so much?’

Eventually, I settled on starting with a basic concealer, some contour and some setting spray. The first thing I learnt was how to cover my under-eyes with concealer. Even that was a challenge. I initially struggled (and still do, sometimes) with placing concealer under my eyes without it getting ‘cakey’. It also took me a long time to learn how to properly use contour

Looking for role models

At the start of my journey, almost everything I knew about makeup came from my female friends. Every time we hung out, I’d ask them about what they were wearing and what they thought of my makeup that day, which sometimes led to some brutal (and much needed) criticism. 

However, my goals as a straight man were naturally different from my friends’. The fact that I didn’t know any other guys who used makeup meant I had to look for inspiration online. This was surprisingly difficult – many of the most popular male beauty influencers have a feminine style that caters to men with a more fluid gender expression. While I was able to pick up some tips from these influencers (using primer was life-changing), theirs wasn’t the aesthetic I was aiming for. 

What I found most helpful was studying how male news anchors wore makeup. In particular, I’ve learned a lot from watching Bob Herzog’s videos. While he isn’t really an ‘influencer’ (he doesn’t have a dedicated channel and doesn’t regularly create content), he does have some videos of him doing his makeup before going on air. His aesthetic is traditionally masculine, which is more in line with what I’m going for. He’s also funny, which doesn’t hurt. 

After using makeup for about half a year, I find it puzzling that men’s makeup isn’t more of a thing. Sure, there are a few basic guides out there, but makeup for straight men hasn’t really worked its way into mainstream culture. The stigma surrounding it seems odd to me, especially since some dudes spend thousands of dollars on sneakers. After all, if your goal is to look better or chase a certain aesthetic, why not use every tool available to you?

Makeup and culture

Unfortunately, the stigma around makeup is very real to me. I come from a family that’s an interesting mix of traditional Asian and conservative Christian, so you can imagine what they’d think of a man (a firstborn son, no less) dabbing his eyes with concealer or applying contour with a brush. 

At the time of writing this article, I’ve only told some cousins and an aunt about my forays into makeup. My cousins have been very supportive. My aunt generally has been, too, but I’ve still had to face questions like ‘Isn’t makeup a girl’s thing?’ and ‘Does this mean you’re gay?’ 

To this day, I’ve yet to muster the courage to tell my parents that I’ve been getting into makeup. They wouldn’t disown me or anything, but it would certainly lead to some very difficult conversations that I don’t think I’m in a place to handle right now.  

I wish I could say that discovering makeup was just another addition to my daily routine, but it took a lot of soul searching and internal de-stigmatising for me even to get started. What I can say, is it has added more joy to getting myself ready in the mornings, and it’s also made me feel a lot better about how I look.

If you’re reading this as a straight guy, maybe you’re way ahead of me and have been using makeup for years. Good for you! However, if you’re someone who’s been thinking about incorporating makeup into your routine but aren’t sure if you should, I say go for it. 

For more on wearing makeup as a man, read this

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