West v East in the Make Up Game

I really enjoyed reading this book by Deborah Rodriguez, an American lady who set up a beauty school in Kabul. The following extract about the difference between Afghan and American make up practices made me smile- it could have been written about here. I loved the "bucket of flour" observation- often brides have their faces whitened which they regard as being beautiful.

It didn’t take me long to see that Western ideas about makeup didn’t make any sense in Afghanistan. By Afghan standards, American women wore so little makeup that we looked pretty much like men—and homely men at that. When I’d have an American customer leave the salon with a pre party manicure, I’d hear my students muttering if she hadn’t let them fix her up with

elaborate hair and makeup. Without those enhancements, they thought she looked little better than one of the village women who tend chickens.

So in the second class, I focused on helping them apply Afghan-style makeup better. Sure, all the brides would still want to look like drag queens, but I figured that they could at least be more attractive and unique drag queens. I showed the second class how to use makeup to enhance each bride’s best features. How to contour a chubby face and enhance the cheekbones, or how to make a big nose look smaller. How to lighten someone’s skin without making it look as if she had fallen into a bucket of flour.

A neighbour once offered to do my make up before a wedding. Being pretty clueless about such things I agreed, which I soon learnt was a big mistake. No better description would have suited me than a drag queen I'm afraid. I thanked her profusely then rushed home to scrub it all off. It was an absolutely terrifying sight!

One time we went to the wedding of the brother of a very good friend of mine. Hair and make up is very important to this dear family so I really made an effort. It felt as though I was plastered in the stuff. After the wedding however, the groom's mum accosted me asking why I didn't like their bride (it's a collecitve "our bride" here). I tried to reassure her that of course I liked her and what made her think I didn't? "You weren't wearing any make up!" she exclaimed. "That means you don't like our choice of bride!" A bit of context is that you would never wear any make up at all to a funeral so if you don't wear any/enough to a wedding it's a sign of mourning somehow for their bad choice! 

There are some things I'm just resigned to not getting right here!