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Say What? The More Makeup You Wear, the More Money You Make

Why can't we just be judged for the actual work that we do?

How much money you make at your job should never be linked to MAC lipstick or a laid hairstyle, but sadly that’s the case. A new study confirms that, for women, the pressure to look flawless in the office is really on.

Researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of California found that people who are perceived as more attractive in the office have higher salaries — almost 20 percent more. But what makes one attractive? Well that depends on your gender. While men benefit from natural attractiveness, women who wear more makeup and were more stylish made more money than women who were au naturel and less trendy.

“This really highlights how much work that women have to do to be considered attractive,” Jacyln Wong, the study’s co-author, told The Huffington Post.

Now, this news isn’t new per se. Past data has shown that attractive people have an easier time getting hired, receive better performance reviews and are promoted more often. But this study underscores that putting in effort is important, just not for the actual work that you get paid to do.

No lie, all this primping is WORK. Not only do women, especially Black women, make way less than men for doing the same job, but we have to spend extra time and money (that we may not even have) to get our nails done, hair coiffed and look for the trendiest clothes, only to still not get paid equally.

How fair is that? 

Now don’t get us wrong. For some of us, the prettier we look, the more confident we are, which can result in higher quality work. But that’s not the case for everyone, nor should it be an unsaid requirement. At the end of the day, the only thing we should be judged for in our careers is the actual work we get paid to do, not how Instagram ready we look. 

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