Making Up in Public

Not having ridden public transportation on a regular basis the past several years, coming back to Muni has opened my eyes to some changes.

The biggest difference is the number of women applying makeup during their morning commutes. I find it captivating. When she pulls out her full regalia and starts primping, I find I cannot look away. I realize I'm staring, and yet I can't stop.

I witnessed my first Muni Makeover a few weeks ago. Ms. Makeover was sitting quietly, doing the muni-stare-vacantly-at-no-one-thing. She sat while I stood and occasionally caught my haggard morning look in the window glass. Ms. Makeover had gotten on at least a stop before me. She was settled in. In my scan of the other passengers, she didn't stand out as an “unfinished project.” She looked like a normal, pretty woman enduring the vagaries of the timeliness of the subway line.

To my surprise, she pulled out a bag. And started darkening her eyebrows. Her face became a little more in focus. I hadn't noticed that her eyebrows were lacking. Ms. Makeover then added some base makeup. Suddenly her skin looked fresher. A little mascara and her eyes appeared. Finally some lip gloss. Her bag of tricks was very very subtle. So subtle that you wouldn't have thought she was wearing make up if you had met her when she got off the train.

What is so fascinating is this the intimacy we're exposed to in this very public setting. Ms. Makeover didn't mind leaving the house in (in her mind) an unfinished state. She didn't mind boarding the train. And she didn't mind sharing with a hundred strangers her process of adopting her public face. It was only important to her what she looked like when she arrived at her destination.

But when I looked at her initially, I thought she looked just fine.