Scientists are interested in whether birth control pills influence how much makeup women wear.
Research has indicated that the contraceptive pill is associated with several subtle behavioral effects in women, such as a reduced preference for masculine male faces. The findings raised questions about whether hormonal contraception impacts other areas of human mate selection, such as cosmetic habits.
In a preliminary study published in Frontiers in Psychology, researchers photographed the faces of 20 women who were not using any hormonal contraceptives and 16 women who were using hormonal contraceptives. Each woman then reported how much time she spent on her daily makeup in the morning and how much time she spent on makeup for an outing. The researchers then recruited 143 college students, who viewed the facial photographs and rated how much makeup the women appeared to be wearing.
Women who were not using hormonal contraceptives reported spending more time applying cosmetics for an outing and were also perceived by others as wearing more makeup compared to women using the contraceptive pill. Participants who were not using any hormonal contraceptives spent an extra 13 minutes applying cosmetics for an outing on average, the researchers found.
“This is consistent with previous research suggesting that naturally cycling women are found more attractive than women using the hormonal contraceptive pill (Miller et al., 2007). Our study, however, proposes that part of such difference in attractiveness may be due to cosmetics. In other words, naturally cycling women may, in part, be found more attractive than women using the contraceptive pill because they wear more cosmetics,” the researchers said.
The study, however, includes a significant caveat that could impact the interpretation of the results. Only about 19% of women who were not using hormonal contraceptives were in a relationship, compared to 85% of women using the contraceptive pill.
“Our sample was too small to include relationship status as a factor in our analyses and thus future research with a larger sample is needed. No study has examined differences in cosmetic habits between single women and women in a relationship, however, such a difference could very well be possible,” the researchers explained.
The study, “Evidence That the Hormonal Contraceptive Pill Is Associated With Cosmetic Habits“, was authored by Carlota Batres, Aurélie Porcheron, Gwenaël Kaminski, Sandra Courrèges, Frédérique Morizot, and Richard Russell.
