Why Do We Care What Politicians Look Like?
“‘Sleepy Joe,’ I don’t think that is a good look,” says Dr. Terrence Keaney, a Washington, DC-based dermatologist. He is, of course, referencing Donald Trump’s derogatory nickname for President Joe Biden — an epithet that happens to epitomize the main cosmetic concern of Keaney’s politician patients: looking less tired.
“As a politician, you want to be alert, awake, ready to fight for your constituents,” he says. To freshen up, DC’s finest often opt for non-surgical cosmetic procedures, a popular choice being Botox or similar neuromodulators.
Beauty and politics might appear at odds, but since Trump’s presidency, name-calling and pointed, appearance-related remarks seem to have become more acceptable in government. Trump has repeatedly attacked women in politics, from Nancy Pelosi to Nikki Haley, for their looks. In May, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican Representative from Georgia, criticized Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett, from Texas, for wearing fake eyelashes during a congressional meeting. Later, Crockett shot back with what seemed to be an allusion to, what she called, Greene’s “bleach blonde, bad built, butch body.”
At times, the discourse has been more lighthearted: “I may not be the youngest candidate in the race, but I have one big advantage: I’ve been coloring my hair for years,” Hillary Clinton said during her presidential run in 2015. “You’re not going to see me turning white in the White House.”
The 2024 election has also generated its fair share of physical commentary. After Trump picked JD Vance as his running mate, the internet lit up with semi-earnest speculation that the hopeful vice president wears eyeliner (his wife, Usha, later clarified that he does not). And before the September debate, Trump mocked Vice President Kamala Harris’ height, posting on Truth Social that Harris (who is an average five-foot-four) should not be permitted to stand on “boxes or artificial lifts.” By emphasizing that Harris is shorter than him (and perhaps, by implication, a woman), Trump’s intention was clear: to play off Americans’ deeply ingrained picture of authority as tall, white, and male.
Beyond stature and dress, the way politicians are perceived hinges on what they do to their face. Your non-politician friend might be able to wear eyeshadow and lip gloss to the office and still meet “professional” standards. That’s not the case for elected officials. To appear fit for the job, politicians must follow quieter, narrower guidelines that take time and effort of their own. In other words: Politicians have to look good, but not so good that their appearance becomes a distraction — or worse, grounds for calling their morals into question. Walking this tightrope can require a careful balance of cosmetic procedures, makeup, and hairstyling.
According to Jessica DeFino, reporter and author of newsletter “The Review of Beauty,” politicians are largely held to the same “baseline” beauty standards as the rest of us — or at least those of us who work in offices. For example, they’re expected to have smooth hair, clear skin, and manicured nails. They need to look competent, confident, and reliable, like a stranger you would feel comfortable asking for directions. For women, these standards expand to include things like a lack of body and facial hair, minimal wrinkles, and non-gray hair.
Politicians who are women of color have even more to think about. Darian Symoné Harvin, a beauty editor who often reports on the intersection of aesthetics and politics, cites Harris’ silk press — a hair-straightening technique rooted in the Black community — as an example. “[Black women] have been doing this as a mode of survival, as a mode of fitting in, of being able to meet a standard around what is professional and what is neat,” Harvin says.
Today, there’s more awareness of the discrimination Black people face for wearing natural styles like cornrows and Bantu knots, but Harvin suspects that Harris’ straight, silky hair — a style that more closely mirrors European beauty standards than curls and coils — has helped her navigate the political realm. By straightening her hair, Harris proactively addresses the built-in prejudices of her audience. Her hair becomes a non-issue (not that it should be in the first place). “People are paying less attention to her hair,” Harvin says, and more to what she’s saying.
When treating politicians, Keaney often targets the eye area, a critical zone in the pursuit of looking alive — or rather, not tired. To achieve a more rested look, he’ll inject neuromodulators in the glabellar lines (vertical wrinkles between the eyes) and crow’s feet (around the outer corners of the eye). “If you relax those areas, you can open the eyes up a little bit,” a result that helps his patients look more alert and awake (and hopefully, dodge any “sleepy” allegations).
Whether politicians go under the needle or stick to good old makeup, there’s one cardinal rule: It must look natural. Carl Ray, a makeup artist whose clientele includes Pelosi and Michelle Obama, notes that working with politicians often requires a lighter hand. Dr. Noëlle Sherber, owner of DC-based dermatology and plastic surgery clinic Sherber + Rad, adds that politicians don’t want to look visibly “transformed.” Instead, they seek her out for what she calls “plausibly deniable results.”
The pressure to conceal one’s aesthetic labor is not unique to politicians — just look at the rise of “no-makeup makeup,” or the negative reaction celebrities and everyday folk receive when their filler or facelift is a little too noticeable. There are moral judgments that accompany our aesthetic choices. If you appear to put time and effort into your appearance, you risk being perceived as vain, shallow, and even deceptive.
“The general public does not want to be deceived by their politicians,” DeFino says. “This morality that’s threaded throughout beauty standards and beauty behaviors really jumps out when it’s a politician who has clearly altered something about the way they look.”
And when a politician doesn’t meet our beauty expectations, it can become a potent talking point for opponents (see: Greene and Crockett’s spat). “Beauty, in Western society especially, functions as an ethical ideal. You watch a Disney movie and the nice, morally appropriate princess is beautiful, and the villain with questionable ethics is ugly,” DeFino says, referencing the visual contrast between hero and villain in classic fairy tales. “These things are deeply embedded.”
But shouldn’t we know better than to judge politicians on their looks versus their policies? We should, but we don’t. “Human nature is to assess people on first impressions: how you look, how you dress, how you comb your hair,” Keaney says. Social media, a visual-first medium, has made presentation all the more important, whether or not we’d like to admit it. As DeFino notes, physical appearance is powerful — yet it’s still taboo to acknowledge its importance. “We’re not supposed to talk about the way that women look but, of course, it’s an expression of something. That’s exactly what beauty is,” she says. “Aesthetics are part of how someone crafts their public persona, and that is very strategic.”
