Teen Starts Makeup-Free Week at Her High School

Isabella Frommelt wants her peers to feel confident without lipstick too. (Photo: Facebook)

No-makeup selfies are a thing with plenty of celebs — a fake thing, of course, as “no makeup” in Hollywood typically consists of a face that’s been painstakingly made up to look beautifully bare. But one self-possessed teen is countering that trend by going makeup-free for real — along with a slew of fellow high-school students who are taking the plunge with her.

“I honestly just felt more empowered and confident, and I realized that it doesn’t matter what people think about me and my face, as long as I’m happy with it,” North Carolina high school senior Isabella Frommelt told the News Tribune this week about an experiment she tried earlier this year: going to school without makeup for a full week. She was inspired to do so after previously wearing more eye makeup than usual, being flooded with compliments throughout the day, and then realizing that the responses made her feel ironically disheartened.

Related: 7 Women Ditch Their Makeup for One Revealing Photo Shoot

“I was never really complimented on my face naturally,” she realized, which she said made her wonder, “Why am I wearing makeup? Is it because I actually want to, or is it because I feel the need to?”

Frommelt announced her second makeup-free week on Instagram with this shot. (Photo: Instagram)

Going to school bare faced brought Frommelt even more positive reactions, so she organized a group experiment in February, announcing it on Instagram. “I love putting on makeup but sometimes I need a reality check and just be happy with what I’m like without makeup,” she wrote. “Please vlog on your phone and/or take pictures and text it to me. … Not only is this to make you feel good about yourself, but others who may struggle to go without makeup, so we can all support each other with confidence and natural beauty.”

Frommelt had 50 girls from her school, Hough High in Cornelius, as well as surrounding schools, join her in the challenge. And everyone deemed it such an empowering success that Frommelt (who could not be reached by Yahoo Beauty) has organized a second makeup-free week, currently in progress.

Just some of the women who joined Frommelt in her bold experiment. (Photo: Instagram)

“My second no-makeup week is next week, and I will be once again documenting it!!” she wrote on Instagram earlier this week. “I’m super excited, and this is not only for girls to embrace their faces and personality, but guys as well, because even though guys don’t hide behind makeup they can still get lost in figuring out who they are. Post pictures all next week and hashtag #heiratice, which is a word I came up with which means to be your own God and role model and empower one’s self for their own pure enjoyment.”

Frommelt created her own 16-minute documentary about the first group experience, and posted a trailer for the film on YouTube earlier this month (you can also view it below). “It was something I’d never done before,” shared one participant, appearing makeup-free in the video. “So when I went without makeup, by the time I got to school, I forgot I was even not wearing it.”

Another young woman noted, “We’re spending too much time on physical appearance, and that’s time we could spend finding out what makes you passionate, happy.” Still another added, “Letting people see what you actually look like I think is a big part of actually accepting what you look like, and accepting yourself.”

It’s an inspiring and heartening project to be sure (go teenagers!), and perhaps no one was more pleased than Frommelt’s mom, Mayra. “It almost makes you cry because some of them say, ‘I feel confident. I feel good. I never thought I would go without makeup,’” she told the News Tribune. “That’s a really good feeling. If you can change one person’s life, that’s really what all of this is about.”

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