Teens Shun Makeup in Effort to Redefine Beauty
A group of Texas students is hoping to redefine beauty. They are bravely walking the halls of their high school without makeup one day a week.
And if you know or have ever been a teenage girl, you know how difficult that can be. But it's all part of their effort to promote self-confidence and female empowerment.
The "Redefining Beautiful" campaign's founders -- Samantha Gibbs, Lauren Gilby, Laura Kelly, Nina Smith, Emily Gates and Caroline Tessler --appeared on "The Early Show" this morning from Colleyville Heritage High School in Colleyville, Texas, to talk about what inspired them to go makeup-free on Tuesdays.
Samantha Gibbs said the group was inspired by Operation Beautiful, a website that stresses self-confidence for women and girls.
Gibbs said, "We wanted to do something like that at our school and makeup is just one way for us to make girls feel like they are beautiful, and to shake that image that everyone sees, and know that you, yourself, are really beautiful."
But how did the movement catch on at their school?
Nina Smith, who has worn makeup since age 13, said, "The first time, it was just a few of us girls, and it was probably about the size of the girls here that were just -- we came to school the first time with no makeup, people asked us, 'What are you doing? You know, that's so weird to see you without makeup on.' And just, as it's been going and progressing and growing bigger, it's not even that big of a deal anymore. I just really think about just waking up in the morning, knowing you don't have to put makeup on is just really nice."
On Tuesdays, the girls wear purple shirts with the words "Redefining Beauty" on the front and "One Girl at a Time" on the back. The girls say the group has really created a community in their schools.
But what do the guys think?
Caroline Tessler said, "What's shocking for me is that we've had a lot of support from a lot of our guy friends at the school and it's great because it helps us know that they don't, you know, you always see the girl with the perfect makeup and hair and all that stuff with the perfect guy who's just absolutely adorable. But it's nice to know that the guys around here are saying, when we don't wear makeup, that you still look just as great. You're still as wonderful a person as you were with the makeup on. It's really nice to get the support from the guys, because it was just an added bonus to what we were trying to prove. And it just, it's great. We thank them a lot."
For more on the campaign and its results, click on the video below.