Up there with the most significant controversies in history, ranking along the likes of gay marriage and abortion. The no make-up controversy.
There are girls taking photos of themselves without make-up . . . and this must be protested.
People are fucking angry, and rightly so . . . £2million has been raised for charity and it’s fucking appalling.
.
I am honestly mystified as to how a simple, charitable social media phenomenon has aroused so much controversy.
I have seen more disparaging comments about the #nomakeupselfie than I did about #neknominate. When you look at the essence of their structure (nominating your friends on social media) well they are exactly the same, minus the condoning of binge drinking and plus some philanthropic advantages.
Do not mistake . . . I love a good binge drink, however, no one can argue that #neknominate was more advantageous to society than a movement, and I will reiterate, that raised over £2 million in 48 hours for a cause that, sadly, affects so so many people.
I am not exactly proud to admit that I don’t think I have ever text one of those numbers to donate to charity, until I got nominated on Facebook. I’m actually distinctly impressed with whoever came up with the idea to turn the egotistical platform of Facebook and the narcissistic social trend of the selfie into a, more or less, selfless act.
(See what I did there? Puntastic.)
To the people who I have seen write that this is ‘irrelevant’, or ‘ridiculous’, or even ‘boring’. I am sorry that, to you, charity is irrelevant and ridiculous. I am sorry that charity bores you.
Those wankers that dress up as gorillas and bananas and run marathons and give their proceeds to charity . . . God they are so ridiculous, God what they are doing is so irrelevant . . . and boring.
Now I think I’ll take some time to explain why the #nomakeupselfie is actually highly relevant to cancer. Sometimes, women going through chemotheraphy, cannot wear make-up. Sometimes their eyelashes fall out and they can’t really use mascara because there’s not much to use it on. Sometimes their skin is too dry and sensitive that whilst they might be able to wear face make-up, they’d rather not. Chemotherapy can cause red blotchy marks on your skin that concealer will only irritate. Sometimes it’s just not particularly high on their priority list.
So actually, it’s pretty fucking relevant.
However, whether it’s relevant or not, is besides the point. I’m searching my brain for a charity to which dressing up as a banana is relevant, (I’m finding loose connections to erectile dysfunction) but the point is that it doesn’t have to be relevant if it’s for charity because the most important thing is that it is raising money.
At the end of the day, it’s a harmless social media phenomenon.
Actually, I take that back, it’s more than harmless, it’s a benevolent social media phenomenon. It is harmless only in the sense that it should cause no direct harm or offence to anyone. The #nomakeupselfie is a concept which successfully encourages donation to a good cause (clearly: £2million, 48 hours, remember…) whilst simultaneously encouraging girls to be confident and proud in their own skin. If you’re going to be narcissistic and take a selfie, you might as well take one that does good and represents your true beauty.
It has been refreshing to see girls posting photos of themselves when they are not caked in disgusting amounts of make-up. I actually have been pleasantly surprised, and I mean this sincerely, that the majority of the #nomakeupselfies that I have seen have been really beautiful.
So, I am sorry if girls wearing no make-up offends you . . . maybe you should be more offended by cancer.
Now, to post my #nomakeupselfie . . .
Steph Taylor 
Steph this is great, bloody hilarious! I think one if the issues I have with it is that cancer is a 95.5billion dollar drug industry and pharmaceuticals have the incentive to make millions of profit off of cancer so therefore they have the incentive to make these drugs, and probably charge phenomonial amounts of money for them, which many of the people who are affected by cancer can afford. Yet there is little awareness for the illnesses that affect millions of vulnerable and helpless people, who don’t have access to things like Facebook, and can’t argue for more simple cures to things like TB, sleeping sickness, etc, where there is no incentive to pharmaceutical companies to develop life saving drugs, of diseases that already have cures, but no one can even access them, nor have the capability to stick to a strict regime that can last up to two years of taking around 20 different tablets a day, which often make the feel worse. I could go on forever about this, but I just want to say there should be equal amounts of awareness and money raised for charities where the most vulnerable don’t have the money nor the say in making these issues public.
Thanks for your comment Katie!! Really interesting and actually quite disturbing – I must admit I don’t really know that side of cancer charity donations and I would never profess to be an expert because at the end of the day my blog is just an opinion and I will always acknowledge that I actually know shit all!! However, a lot of donations were going to charities like Macmillan which actually provide emotional and financial support to cancer patients and their families as opposed to researching the cure – to me, this can only be a good thing. I personally believe anything that encourages philanthropic tendencies as well as promoting natural beauty can do more good than harm. However, if what you’re saying is true, it would make me very sad and disappointed to believe that that is the world or humanity is capable of.
Steph, I really enjoyed this, was a good read. Your no makeup selfie literally made me lol, and it’s all touched on an issue that I’ve somewhat become quite fond of; too many people have been putting down this campaign, but they can’t just ignore how much money AND awareness it’s raised and I’m glad people (like you) are outlining this. Cancer is real, and campaigns like this, Movember etc. have made the normal everyday person feel like they’re contributing towards the fight to find a cure, as well as directly saving lives through awareness.
I’m all for it, even if it does put me off marriage! 😄