A video on TikTok has added evidence for the common belief that most men don’t know what goes into a woman’s beauty routine.
The video, posted by Mimi (@demetrapoly), has gone viral to the tune of over 414,000 views and more than 40,000 likes. In it, Mimi shares about the moment she saw her boyfriend after getting a hair blowout at a salon—what he perceived to be just her natural hair.
“I got into my boyfriend’s car after having a fresh blowout and he said, ‘Wow, I love your natural hair so much, you should leave them like that more often,'” Mimi captioned the video.
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In the comments, the story was immediately resonating with other women. Whether about hair or makeup, the stories that were shared revealed the extent to which many men think cosmetic beauty is effortless.
“One time my husband told me he likes me without make up, and I was literally wearing nine products,” @sirimyko wrote.
“I once fully curled my entire hair for a costume and my own father (who sees me every day) asked, ‘Is your hair naturally like that?'” @the_ello wrote.
“I did a quick blow out at home and left my hair down when I went into work, as opposed to braiding it or tying back,” @abbymichelle35 wrote. “A male coworker said, ‘Didn’t feel like doing your hair today, huh?'”
The conversation opened up to a wider discussion for some people, who wrote in the comments section about the impossible standards placed on women when it comes to beauty.
“When they say they like ‘low maintenance’—I don’t think that means what you think it means,” @sonjariccio wrote in the comments.
“I’m glad people are talking about this though, because I knew I didn’t look like that naturally, but I thought other women did,” @nombre6490 wrote. “I was wrong along with the men about what ‘no makeup’ looks like on the average woman.”
From swapping stories about men’s inaptitude for beauty routines to talking about the beauty ideals that drive such myths—one comment may have just taken the cake for misunderstandings.
“This one year when I was a teacher, my superlative in the yearbook was ‘most likely to have a different hairstyle everyday’ when literally I just wore it natural every day after a shower,” @theobvious2 wrote in a comment that was liked by nearly 350 people.
Newsweek reached out to @demetrapoly for comment via TikTok.
