August 28, 2024

"It wasn’t until I was incarcerated that I got into makeup.... I’ve been in here for 28 years, so I’ve tried it all: using the string of a tampon to pluck, thread, and arch my eyebrows..."

"... because I couldn’t afford tweezers; using immersion heaters to melt down black checkers from the game board, let it dry, and make mascara... getting body soap a little wet to make hair gel for my edges, which dries white eventually; shaving down water color paints and colored chalk from art class to make eyeshadow; using that same paint as nail polish..."/"The... homemade makeup I’ve used is colored pencil eye shadow. I put a few drops of water in a lid from a jar of hair grease, dip the pencil in the water, then scrub it around until it becomes soft. Then I can just paint it onto my eyelids as desired. This could also be done with either graphite pencils or colored pencils. Occasionally I’ve painted my lips with M&Ms, licking the candy and rubbing it over my lips to color them. Long ago a friend of mine also taught me how to mix lotion, baby powder, and a few grains of freeze-dried coffee to make a foundation that was surprisingly good...."

From "Fighting for Beauty Behind Prison Walls/For incarcerated women, access to makeup can mean access to their authentic selves. So why is it often denied?" (NY Magazine).

85 comments:

gspencer said...

Q. So why is make-up denied?

A. Prison is for punishment. Though it's nice when rehabilitation happens.

rehajm said...

Macgyvering Mary Kay?

Leland said...

Immersion heaters and checkers, why are they often denied to prisoners?

RideSpaceMountain said...

"For incarcerated women, access to makeup can mean access to their authentic selves."

Read that sentence very carefully, and ask yourself why some women aren't authentic if they don't have access to make up.

Literally, you can't make this shit up.

tim maguire said...

ctrl f: "poison" or "poisoning"

No hits.

MadisonMan said...

"Their Authentic Selves" is NOT a phrase that makes me think "Oooohh! Keep Reading!!"

RideSpaceMountain said...

"Their authentic selves" is NOT a phrase I think of when it comes to applying face paint so a person can play pretend.

Mason G said...

"For incarcerated women, access to makeup can mean access to their authentic selves. So why is it often denied?"

For incarcerated men, access to motorcycles for long rides through the desert can mean access to their authentic selves. So why is it often denied?

Tom T. said...

Is makeup actively denied, or is it not available through the prison store? I could see that the prison wouldn't want to have to stock enough different choices to cover all skin tones, but is a family member allowed to mail some in? Maybe some tools are considered dangerous, but surely not every makeup item is a hazard.

I don't know if the article gives any background about the prisoner who's quoted, but a woman serving more than 28 years must have done something really awful.

Dave Begley said...

I can't think of a more important issue facing America today. This article is just the first step in a federal lawsuit alleging cruel and unusual punishment for those persons denied makeup behind bars. I think Martha Stewart should take the lead here.

doctrev said...

It does make me feel much less guilt about women paying so much for cosmetics. It's not for men, that's for sure.

RideSpaceMountain said...

The female ego is nature's Rubik's Cube.

She is simultaneously beautiful just the way she is, but she also requires artificial assistance for her and others to believe that she is beautiful 'just the way she is'. She is strong and independent and doesn't need a man precisely up to the point that she needs one. She is more intelligent than her male counterparts in every aspect of modern life until she is unable to remember which side her car's gas tank cap is on. She hates and despises psychologically, verbally, and abusive men except for the ones she's attracted to or is married to and refuses to leave. She and multi-millions of her sisters are determined and persistent only as long as they can get their prescriptions for Wellbutrin.

She needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle, but needs that bicycle when she's a fish out of water. Good thing fish can't wear make up...yet.

Howard said...

Yeah we need to get revenge it's so much more important that we satisfy our puritanical insanity to feel Superior to other people. Even if it results in an unbelievably high recidivism rate. This is where you people who call yourselves Christians love to go back to the Old testament to feed your bloodlust.

Howard said...

It's very difficult to completely squash the human spirit

Dave Begley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Howard said...

What pisses you off is that women get all dolled up not for you but for real men they actually desire. The ones who have not let themselves go and become fat disgusting smelly husks of human beings. It doesn't matter how many rifles and pistols you buy, if you can't bring the wood you're just another Elmer fudd

Howard said...

Thread winner

RideSpaceMountain said...

We know that you've let yourself go and become a fat, disgusting, smelly husk of a human being Howard, but there's really no need to take it out on us, regardless of it being that time of the month for you.

Gusty Winds said...

I'll bet the female prisoners with penises get all the make up they want.

Kate said...

Authentic selves for women require make-up? Fuck off.

Why not just write an article about a clever and inventive person who's in prison? Is she not interesting enough unless the author can also push an agenda? Between the prisoner and the journalist, only one of them is educable.

Yancey Ward said...

Can you imagine Howard in prison without access to his makeup? Eeeek!!!!

Mason G said...

If being denied makeup in prison is so traumatic, that would seem to be an incentive to, once released, not do anything that would get you get sent back, not a reason for committing more crimes.

CJinPA said...

"fat disgusting smelly husks of human beings..." People! That's not the kind of neighborhood we have here. We can be loud, but not "DUI arrest on a COPS episode" loud.

Narr said...

A friend of mine was a counselor in our state prison system. He said that most of the male inmates were just shiftless and stupid, with little or no impulse control, but the women had a higher proportion of smart, calculating, evil prisoners.

All staff at the women's facility had to undergo periodic training, the gist of which was "Don't Fuck The Inmates," but some guys just can't keep a dry wick.

OTOH, he said that you haven't lived until you've heard 550 pounds of black lesbians pleasuring each other.

CJinPA said...

We're heading for another "Three Strikes and You're Out" anti-crime pendulum swing. Not sure when. Maybe after a Harris term. But articles like this will help get it in motion.

tommyesq said...

for incarcerated women, many of whom are their families’ primary caretakers and work for exploitative wages inside, there isn’t much money left over after making costly phone calls or purchasing commissary food to replace inadequate nutrition options.

How is this in any way unique to women prisoners?

gilbar said...

so, we deny female prisoners makeup..
but WILL pay for boob jobs and hormones for male prisoners?

gilbar said...

tie it into access for their "authentic" genders

Narr said...

Back in the early 70s my older brother was doing 11 and 29 at the Penal Farm (pled down to breaking and entering from burglary).

My younger brothers and I visited him one Sunday afternoon, when I discovered that my youngest bro was smuggling reefer to him inside carefully resealed packs of cigs. That was probably the riskiest high I ever had.

I won't say that the exposure to hot, smelly, loud jail life scared us straight at that point (I'd already visited the Marshall County Mississippi jail), but it scared me careful.

tommyesq said...

So why is it often denied?

Like the outstanding journalists that the Cut certainly employs, the "author"* makes absolutely no attempt to answer that question. She spoke to no one in the prison system (other than prisoners) as to why makeup is banned in some prisons. Good work, Abigail!

Based on my reading of the various bans (limiting to makeup that matches one's skin tone, for example, and no colors) it may be to prevent gang signaling or the like, but such speculation could very easily have been cleared up by asking about the reason for the policy. Alas, we may never know...

* - the byline is actually "as to to Abigail Glasgow. So much like her MSM counterparts, she is simply a stenographer for whatever slant the actual purveyor of the story wants to put out.

Maynard said...

Why are people assuming that this is a female prisoner writing this?

Birches said...

I think having some ingenuity to get make up is probably better for a prisoner's mental health than just getting make up. I'm guessing the woman found an interest in make up because she was in prison and needed something to do.

tommyesq said...

I think one of the people interviewed was a trans woman.

gilbar said...

...I’m hearing now that there is some kind of policy being written where we are no longer going to be able to receive vendor packages — these are vendors like MAC or L’Oréal who have contracts with the prisons — that have colors. Usually, we are allowed to get blues, greens, reds, but there is a policy being written that if it’s not your skin color you can’t have it...
..Luckily, now, I buy more of my makeup from our only vendor, Keefe, who has a contract with the DOC; but their selection is limited and often out of stock. (I’ll sometimes ask women with similar skin tones who are on their way out of our reentry unit if I can have the rest of their powder when they leave.)

i READ the assignment.. It seems Vague about it all..
and the 28 year inmate, couldn't even find her name, let alone what she did.
[HOW could it be ANYTHING besides murder?]

Freeman Hunt said...

Quoted person is in prison for second degree murder.

n.n said...

Their "authentic self" belies a luxury that is inauthentic.

n.n said...

Makeup would mask her authentic self.

Krumhorn said...

It’s sort of like living with this blog. Howard’s authentic self is revealed as a snarky little shit on toast points when he comes by.

-Krumhorn

gilbar said...

...I learned to make makeup from my jail mother, China. We met six months into my 9.5-year stint surviving men’s facilities as a trans woman. It was 2013, at Auburn Correctional Facility..
..It was September of 2021 when I was eventually transferred to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York and could actually purchase brand foundations and lipsticks through commissary vendors or department approved organization sales. I cried when I was able to put real makeup on again..

so, the homemade makeup was because
a) the male prison commissary didn't stock makeup?
b) the trans "woman" didn't receive any from outside?

This was one of those Interesting Articles, where i know LESS when i completed it than i did before i started

Krumhorn said...

It’s when they vote like Howard votes that it becomes clear that their authentic selves are thumb-suckers and whiners in search of daddy who’s not reluctant to use the pimp hand and make the mascara run.

- Krumhorn

David53 said...

Ha, until I got to the linked headline I thought it was about male prisoners. I mean don't males has access to tampons also?

narciso said...

Jacqueline Henry Abbott, if only Norman Mailer were alive,

Paddy O said...

I think you're right

Iman said...

So limited or no access to beauty products is a cause of an “unbelievably high recidivism rate”?

It’s difficult to follow the logic, Howie. Perhaps increasing access to mental health professionals would do you - and incarcerated female inmates - a true “solid”.

William said...

Hamlet bitches about women wearing make-up and advises Ophelia to become a nunentity. But put the shoe on the other foot. How would Hamlet feel if Ophelia advised him to stop working out with weights and swords and hie himself to a monastery. I doubt very much if he would appreciate the suggestion.....In prison, men are encouraged to seek their authentic selves by pushing iron in the yard and, occasionally, shiving each other. That's all fun and games for the men, but let women use a bit of eye liner and it's back to the hole for them......As a committed feminist, I feel that women should be granted just as much access to mirrors and make up as men are to weight rooms and body building.

Iman said...

He’s McGuffining the sumbitch.

Iman said...

Sassy li’l toast points!

Iman said...

^^Thread L-L-L-Loser^^

n.n said...

With social progress, the introduction of males in female spaces, feminine expression becomes an imperative. Also, Planned Parenthood to treat rape-rape, and AIDS cocktails to treat rape victims.

Iman said...

Howie projects…

Hassayamper said...

What pisses you off is that women get all dolled up not for you but for real men they actually desire.

Bullshit. Like expensive shoes and purses, it's for lording it over other women, and maybe impressing their gay friends.

Ann Althouse said...

italics off

hawkeyedjb said...

Too much Authentic Self is probly what landed most people in prison in the first place.

Hassayamper said...

There's not a prison in the country that doesn't consult a nutritionist to ensure that adequate calories and vitamins are provided in their inmates' meals. They may be unappetizing, most notably Sheriff Joe Arpaio's "Nutra-Loaf" that used to be given twice a day to inmates that attacked guards or were otherwise severely disruptive or non-compliant. But they are not inadequate under any meaningful definition of the word.

robother said...

So, Howard, all the "real men" are acting as prison guards in women's prisons? My operating theory of Howard is evolving: he's living in a 1940s film noir, with bathroom breaks for Argosy articles.

Howard said...

Krumhorn describes 27.6% of Trump supporters and 91.8% of the Althouse commentariat: "Thumb suckers and whiners seeking a Daddy with too much makeup "

n.n said...

With social progress, the introduction of wolves to fleece women in female pens...

n.n said...

So, what compelled her to entertain abortive ideation? Was it an immediate and forward-looking threat? Was it a momementary progression to exercise liberal license? Was she expressing her authentic self to relieve a "burden"? Would wearing makeup have affected her Choice?

PM said...

These are not your average red-light runners, these're some serious folks:
1. "I’ve been in here for 28 years, so I’ve tried it all..."
2. ..she would do her makeup during her 12.5 years incarcerated...
3. "I have two years left of a 20-year sentence..."

Tom T. said...

I wonder if the prison is concerned about makeup being used to signal gang colors.

I agree that it must have been murder, but I don't think that even murder typically draws that long a sentence for a female convict.

Rabel said...

A seething Hell of steel and stone where bodies behind bars ache with hunger for a man. Any man.

vs

In this prison rules and new inmates are meant to be broken.

Linda Blair brings home the win for Chained. Possible boobs in the second trailer.

Also, plenty of makeup.

Deep State Reformer said...

Hmmm... Clearly what is needed here is to vastly increase hangings, confinement with hard labor, and painful corporal punishments that don't disable future ability to work. Sex deviants, spies, human traffickers, arsonists etc can all just hang. Anything punishable by >15 years today: Hang or go into permanent exile. Like Kamala's spokes recently said "[And] never mind that little book in your pocket" referring to the USC. America is beyond that stuff now. Best thing? No more stupid arguments about makeup. Fuck em.

n.n said...

Makeup is obviously a luxury at a minimal cost. The question then is what is NY Mag's motive to distract from major concerns (e.g. inclusion of male prisoners) with this minor issue.

Dixcus said...

Women believe they're being "authentic" when they put on makeup, while us men just have to show up and hope we're over 6' tall. Privilege much?

Dixcus said...

"My God, Homer. You've got it set on whore!"

hombre said...

I think makeup is ok, but "their authentic selves?" Really?

hombre said...

Prison is for separation to protect the public. Whether it is punitive depends on the institution and/or the individual. It is rarely rehabilitative.

Joe Bar said...

So, let me get this straight. Women wear make up, and want to look pretty, for themselves, and not because of pressure to make men happy? Huh.

hombre said...

@Howard (10:03): That's more stupid and childish than usual, Howie. Cliché too.

effinayright said...

Howard said:

"It's very difficult to completely squash [sic] the human spirit."
**********
Yet you come here almost every day to try to completely quash ours.

As Yoda would put it: "The Stupid is strong in this one."

SNORT

Quaestor said...

”For incarcerated women, access to makeup can mean access to their authentic selves.”

Authentic? What meaning has authenticity to anyone writing for NY Magazine?

I have heard of your paintings too well enough. 
God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.
You jig, you amble, and you lisp, and nickname God's creatures,
And make your wantonness your ignorance.


I’d advice the editor who authored that screed to retire to a convent, but I doubt they’d find a welcome or survive more than an afternoon in a nun’s habit.

effinayright said...

Didja notice there's not a single word in that article to inform the reader WHY ANY of the women were serving time? The one with 28 years behind her "seems nice", but she might have been the stabby kind back in her obviously misspent youth. But hey---I'm sure Howard would welcome her moving in next door.

Mason G said...

"Women wear make up, and want to look pretty, for themselves, and not because of pressure to make men happy?"

If I had a dollar for every country song I've heard this week sung by a guy who says his girl looks better without makeup, I'd be- well... maybe not rich, but I could buy myself a nice dinner.

effinayright said...

Dean Wormer certainly seems to be enjoying himself at his new job!

B. said...

But men who want to be women get free surgery and meds?

walter said...

So triggered. Perhaps Howie would like his honey bun to be more authentic in the conjugal visits.

n.n said...

Sex-ism. And Dr. Mengele will access... indulge his authentic self.

walter said...

KUALA LUMPUR — An Egyptian man is divorcing his wife just one month after saying ‘I do’ when he saw her without makeup.
The man said he was shocked to see his barefaced wife the morning after their wedding, the Gulf Times said, quoting local media reports.
He filed a lawsuit at the family court.
“I was deceived by her as she used to apply heavy makeup before marriage.
“She looks ugly without makeup,” he told the court.
The man met his wife through Facebook where she often posted beautiful pictures of herself wearing full makeup.
He decided to marry her after meeting her several times but that soon changed after he learned about the transformative powers of makeup.
“But after the wedding I saw her real face without makeup,” the complainant told the court.
“I was shocked... as she looks nothing like the person I met several times before marriage.”
The man claims he was tricked which led him to end their union.
“I saw her pictures on Facebook, she looks totally different when she does not wear makeup,” he added.
“I was deceived and want to divorce her.”
In 2016, a newly-wedded couple in the United Arab Emirates broke off their marriage six months after getting hitched when the husband saw his wife sans makeup.
The incident happened when the pair went swimming at the Al Mamzar beach in Sharjah.
The 34-year-old man filed for divorce after his wife’s makeup washed off post-dip.
The 28-year-old woman had to seek psychological treatment to deal with the trauma of the divorce.
---
For RNC coverage, I worked with a reporter who had so much fake-up on she exuded an uncanny valley vibe. It was hot as hell outside as we moved around the city but I couldn't get her to drink water because that might allow perspiration, i.e. mess with her layers. Who knows what she actually looks like.

walter said...

A couple weekends ago I worked a (2nd marriage) wedding a client roped me into. The finishing touch on makeup was to be documented, which meant watching the entire process. 30 minutes of this spray, that spray, that brush, more spray, drying time, more this, more that etc, etc. It was quite illustrative.

Tina Trent said...

Howard, have you ever seen the vagina of an elderly woman who has been brutally raped? The ripped anus of a child-victim? The numb horror on the faces of shocked people who just had a gun held to their heads? The blood-covered crushed car hit by a buzzed driver? The agony of a decent woman who lost her son to drugs? The fear for the future in the eyes of hard-working elderly people ripped off by criminal "caretakers" who emptied their accounts?

Prison is to keep those animals away from people. And it's really hard to end up in prison, not jail. I don't give a fuck about their need for mascara. Instead of mirrors, they should line their cells with pictures of the crimes they committed.

Tina Trent said...

Mary Henderson Uloho in the article should have had to share a cell with the corpse of the man she helped murder, an innocent armored car guard named Terry Bean.

Say his name. Say the names of the victims of their crimes.

She was instead valorized and dumbly praised by the increasingly lunatic and pathetic Gay Fab Five on tv and has received other public rewards.

Say his name. Her victim. Terry Bean. Howard, the Fab Five, and NY Magazine are no better than Holocaust deniers, erasing his life and his family's suffering in this sicko article. Howard, I hope you someday feel this pain very personally. I reall wish this on you. Then you can live your authentic life.

Tina Trent said...

April Harris killed someone. In prison, Howard, she has earned a paralegal degree and has access to a plethora of art, education, and therapy classes. She got an internment at an art museum.

Her victim is still dead, and her taxpayer-funded "rehabilitation" is all about eliminating prisons and how she's the real victim.

Rehabilitation programs, except for GEDs, usually validate the criminal's special status as a victim of the state. They harm real rehabilitation and make heroes out of murderers and rapists. With a sentence like hers, she unquestionab!y has numerous other violent convictions. With even the California parole board denying her parole, her crimes and psychological testing must indicate that despite all the resources poured into her rehabilitation, she is still a danger. Howard.

Tina Trent said...

Sara Kielly: First degree murder, under his male name. The state moved him to a woman's facility.

TestTube said...

The article is so one-sided, it does not even answer the question asked in its headline: "So why is it often denied?".

The Cut could have easily asked a Correction Officer or other representative from the department of corrections for a statement about the reasons for the makeup policy. Yet no such statement appears.

It is reasonable to be sympathetic to prisoners, but such sympathy should be balanced with giving a voice to those with the difficult task of dealing with these prisoners.

Tina Trent said...

Why is it reasonable to prisoners, testube? Why aren't their crimes discussed and their victims interviewed instead? Seriously, this pap is both stupid and nauseating.