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I work at a small tech company in the accounting department. Our dress code is business casual, but most of the rank-and-file dress toward the casual end of that.

I am female, in my early twenties. I was raised in a very conservative family and never wore makeup growing up. I never bothered with it in college, and have no current interest in learning how to do makeup. My skin isn't perfect, but neither is it terrible (occasional slight acne).

Up until now I have been working on internal projects, but will soon be in a position to interact with some clients and representatives from other companies we do business with. I am worried about giving an unprofessional first impression (and thereby reflecting poorly on my company) if I do not wear makeup.

Is this a reasonable concern? Will not wearing makeup harm my professional career? Should I spend the time, money, and energy to learn how to do makeup?

I'm a senior technical architect, female (and umm, not in my early twenties any more), and I really only wear makeup if I'm going into meetings with our larger clients where I need to be more formal. Day to day, I just don't wear it. It costs a bomb and looks crappy by the end of the day unless you spend significant amounts of time either preparing beforehand or repairing during the day.

There are plenty of other women I've worked with who wear makeup every day, and others who never do and it hasn't seemed to have any particular impact on their careers either way. It comes down to being an effective team member, not what shade of lipstick you wear.

My preference is just to wear makeup for the really formal stuff where I'm representing the company to outward facing clients (and then only really light), otherwise nope :) But that is simply my preference. The choice really is yours!

The previous answers are very optimistic, but the truth is the answer to your question depends a lot on

• the country you are in


• the state of your skin


• the industry

Normally, the safest option for your career is your look to correspond to other women's look in the industry and country you are in. You can try not to adjust and become a trendsetter in this respect, but the result of this is normally uncertain and you need quite a lot of power to be successful.

I've worked in several countries and whereas in some of them I've seen plenty of women not wearing makeup in business situations, independently of acne/ bad skin, in others this was almost unheard of. When I didn't wear it once or twice, it got noticed and quite probably, commented on.

The industry plays a role too since e.g. in law or investment banking people are expected to follow a much more conservative style than in tech (at least in "my" countries). I've been rejected from one of those jobs with a justification "you don't look like [profession]" (yes, it was an asshole thing to do and even illegal, but: see the disclaimer). However, tech is quite good in this respect I would think.

All this plays a much lesser role if your skin is very good anyway.

Disclaimer: In my answer, I addressed the question of whether women are expected to wear makeup and whether not wearing it can affect their careers. I didn't address the question about whether it's fair/ whether they should be expected to wear makeup, which is a completely different question.

I am a Senior Software Engineer, and I have not worn makeup for most of my career, and it has never held me back. Just as a fyi, in most cases requiring women to wear makeup can be a discrimination issue, especially if it is not relevant to your job. For example, it would be acceptable for a fashion model, though not as an accountant, where your deliverable is basically your math skills. There have been precedent-setting cases related to this issue, such as Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. (Please note that I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.)

I really want to tell you that makeup doesn't matter, but that would be bending the truth.

The shade of your lipstick and whether or not you wear mascara is inconsequential as long as you don't overdo it. You cannot "underdo" the nude look.

But in case of acne your skin makes you look younger to most people (because acne is attributed to teenagers). This may lead to people underestimating you and your professional experiences. I'm not saying you won't get the same amount of respect, but you'll have to convince them before being respected.

In your everyday office life, there is no need at all to wear makeup if you don't want to. On special occasions like mettings with customers or salary negotiations I advice you to at least slightly cover any skin problems. No-one will openly discriminate you for your looks, but the subtle psychlogical preconception may make your life a tiny bit harder without anyone conciously deciding to make it so.

Be aware, though, that badly done makeup with obvious lines and edges is just as much attributed to teenagers as acne. Watch some makeup tutorials online and get advice in a good makeup or drug store on how to look professional.

I rather agree with BigMadAndy regarding the optimism of the other answers. The thing this depends on not only the country (this is huge though things that will go unnoticed in the UK might be a big deal in the Czech republic and an end of sales problem in Asia and vice versa) but also very much on the role (Programmer, Architect, Project Manager, Manager, Sales etc.).

For mostly inward facing jobs that occasionally work with a customer it's usually the smallest issue. Even when you do work with the customer they know you are not "the face of the company". No one really usually expects a programmer be they male or female to do much more than put on clean clothes (I'm exaggerating a bit), but the further you move towards the customer facing jobs the worse it gets. As a male manager I'm not only expected to dress the part (this is the only place where men are more scrutinized than women, at least by men) but also do some (admittedly minimal) grooming. I can't afford to have a two day beard or have a non standard haircut.

When you get to sales proper (and that sometime includes project managers) it gets even worse. If you want to be really good, there you really want to know the customer and their preference. Some will prefer that you look unobtrusive and mousey (yes for men too not just women) some prefer someone flashy and glamorous. Knowing what to look and act like can be the difference between selling a product/project and leaving empty handed.

Note: While appearance is traditionally more important for women it's not exclusive and as there are many more women in management these days it is becoming more important for men too.