McCandless Project

For my social project, I came to school without any makeup. On a regular basis, I don’t wear a lot of comparison in comparison to others, but I do wear enough to be noticed. I usually wear foundation/concealer or BB cream, and Kohl or liquid eyeliner, and mascara. Coming into the experiment, I expected one or two people to notice. I have worn no makeup to school before, and only one person noticed. This time, no one noticed or said anything. I can humbly say that I feel no different whether I wear makeup or not. However, because I was aware that this is was for an experiment, I was anticipating a comment or two throughout the day. I was somewhat surprised that the people I talk to on a daily basis didn’t notice because a few of them noticed last time. Due to results, or lack thereof, the next day I decided to wing out my eyeliner, which I have only done once before. This isn’t too different from what I normally do. Again, I didn’t expect anyone to notice, but I did get a compliment. Overall, none of these results were especially surprising.

When it comes to societal norms, I wholeheartedly agree with McCandless’ views. To some extent, societal norms play a huge part in a generation. If you were to compare all of norms across the continent and throughout time, you would very seldom find two identical ideas. The societal norms of each generation are what make it unique. However I believe that they do more harm than good. In a country, especially the United States, we have freedom. Freedom is a privilege. In a country where we have the ability to express our true personas, why should we bury them with superficial laws? I believe there is no use for these unnecessary rules because they only limit what we are truly capable of doing. I do not think we need to follow these extra guidelines because they do no harm to other people. They are not created for the safety of people. Based on my results, I do not think we should have to comply to social standards. You should not feel obliged to live up provide an explanation for how you dress. In conclusion, breaking a social norm will not hurt anyone, so you should feel confident in your own skin and style.