Brookline Mom Goes A Year Without Makeup, New Clothes
BROOKLINE (CBS) - In this world of celebrities and airbrushing, a Brookline mom decided to do something drastic. She tossed away all of her makeup, cut her hair, and stopped shopping for an entire year. "I didn't want to stand in front of that mirror and have a mirror meltdown. I just didn't want to do that anymore!" says Phoebe Baker Hyde.
She says she was caught in a perfect storm of self-doubt when she decided to make this major change, "I felt that I needed to find a way to feel great. Because nothing I put on my body or wore on my face was giving me that self-confidence."
Phoebe talks about this transformation in her new book "The Beauty Experiment." She got rid of everything: mascara, hairspray, lip gloss, foundation, concealer, you name it. "There were people who didn't bat an eye. There were a few who did react. And my relationship to them and that dynamic was very interesting to me to watch throughout the course of the year." Her husband was on board from the beginning but they did have so funny conversations about leg shaving (you can read about those in the book).
The real inspiration for the change was the birth of her daughter. She says it was important to be "able to stand with my daughter in front of a mirror and say 'Hey we look great!' and actually believe that about myself with no makeup on."
Phoebe doesn't think every woman needs to ditch the makeup. And she admits she really missed her under eye concealer. A major upside to this year-long experiment? She saved around $1,000 by not buying any beauty products or clothes for the year. Now that the experiment is over most days Phoebe only uses chap stick and moisturizer. "This is just me and if that's not good enough then maybe it's not me that has the problem."
