General
For many people, makeup can form a key part of their identity. That appears to be no less the case in women’s football where roughly a third of people wear makeup to play.
We surveyed over 1,500 audience members (women, men and non-binary people) and found that 14% of those playing football always wear makeup, while a further 18% sometimes do.
Makeup, and more importantly self-expression, has become a visible aspect of women’s football culture. Whether it is 28-year-old Lioness Katie Zelem’s iconic eyelashes or the copious number of Il Makiage x Arsenal tote bags to be spotted around London.
For the players who do wear it, makeup can often be a confidence boost that helps them express their identity through football as much as they express their identity through their mascara application.
In fact, 54% agree with the statement, “wearing makeup makes me feel confident and fierce, both on and off the pitch.”
In the same way some players might pull on a pair of lucky gloves or socks to take to the pitch, makeup can be a form of armour for others as they prepare to represent their team to give a further confidence boost on the field.
That breaks down to reflect that 52% of respondents quoted “look good, feel good, play good” while a further 35% said confidence was a factor in wearing makeup. The remaining 13% indicated they are already wearing it after work or school before heading straight to training.
While it may seem a trivial issue to some, players can often end up receiving hate or feeling diminished for their seemingly insignificant act of self-expression.
England cricketer Sarah Glenn said in a TikTok on International Women’s Day: “The amount of men who are triggered for women being themselves in sport is beyond me.
“Girls will simply put on false lashes in their sport and men are commenting, ‘Why are you wearing that? You should be focusing on the game. Blah, blah, blah.’”
In women’s football, Juventus’ Alisha Lehmann has received abuse for taking to the pitch in makeup. Often this comes with accusations of wanting attention or detracting from her focus on the sport.
For a footballer with over 50 international caps and over 100 WSL appearances at the age of 25, the comments represent a remaining misogyny as the appearance of women playing sport continues to be policed.
It is important, then, that women, and anyone else competing in sport, feel confident to dress and express themselves in whatever way makes them feel good without receiving abuse about their decision.
Yet what also stands out from the research is that 68% of people do not wear makeup to play football compared to only 46% who do not wear it in everyday life.
Given that many of the factors cited for players choosing to wear makeup referenced confidence, this would indicate that, away from online abuse, women’s football promotes an environment where people can feel confident however they choose to dress and present.
Of course, there can be other factors such as comfort and a tendency to sweat that lead to fewer people opting to wear makeup while playing as a practicality.
However, wearing makeup can still represent a societal beauty standard that many feel the need to live up to.
So, the fact that over two-thirds of players do not feel the need to conform to this standard while at football training or matches indicates that women’s football can act as a liberating environment away from the conventions of everyday life.
Within such an inclusive environment it remains just as important to include those who opt to wear makeup as a form of self-expression as those who choose not to.
Hopefully, however, women’s football can provide a space to break free of the shackles of society’s arbitrary beauty standards and one day, wearing makeup will no longer have to be linked to confidence at all.