Women Astronaunts Bring MakeUp into Space
Naoko Yamazaki
The Cut reported that four female astronauts traveled into space on Monday with the space shuttle Discovery. Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazaki mentioned that the women all bring makeup on their voyages, because they want to look good when they communicate on television, which is fairly often. Eye shadow is allowed, while loose powder is not. Apparently Nasa has a list of makeup that is a approved for space travel and it’s a list I’d love to get my hands on. It also got me thinking about what a lost marketing opportunity this space mission was for beauty companies. If I were I were a beauty company I would be showering these astronauts with my top line long-lasting mascaras and super moisturizing products.
I know there’s a feminism issue here too. Bellasugar first reported that Yamazaki made news when she mentioned what makeup she was bringing, and felt the press was putting too much emphasis on her choice of concealer and not her credentials but the article they cited spent at least four paragraphs explaining her mission and why she is so well suited for the job. The makeup is not the focus, it’s more of an interesting aside that came from the astronaut herself. Frankly, when you become an astronaut I think even having to talk about feminism seems beside the point too.
So back to the makeup, beyond La Mer which was actually developed by a engineer at Nasa accidentally, at least that’s the legend, I really want to know what products they would bring to a six-month indoor mission with zero-gravity. And my other question: is living in zero gravity good for your skin? Is it like a six-month face lift where your skin is allowed to float weightless so it won’t develop any wrinkles during that time? This story feels very much under reported, I’m ready to investigate.