Prohibition on Handmaids using makeup or hand lotion

The Prohibition on Handmaids using makeup or hand lotion is a Gileadean regulation that systematically denies Handmaids access to cosmetics and skincare products, enforcing a regime of physical unattractiveness that marks them as reproductive vessels rather than individuals. Driven by the Wives' jealousy and the regime's ideology of modesty, this rule forces Handmaids to resort to covert practices like using butter as a substitute for lotion, transforming a mundane prohibition into a daily measure of hope and a small but significant act of resistance.

Origins and Rationale

The prohibition stems from a decree of the Wives, who do not want Handmaids to look attractive. As Offred reflects, "Such things are considered vanities. We are containers, it's only the insides of our bodies that are important. The outside can become hard and wrinkled, for all they care, like the shell of a nut." The Wives' motivation is rooted in jealousy: "They don't want us to look attractive. For them, things are bad enough as it is." This policy is reinforced by Aunt Lydia's teachings, which frame modesty as invisibility: "To be seen—to be seen—is to be—her voice trembled—penetrated. What you must be, girls, is impenetrable." The regime's ideology extends to the body itself: Offred notes that her nakedness feels "outdated" and that she avoids looking at her body "not so much because it's shameful or immodest but because I don't want to see it. I don't want to look at something that determines me so completely."

Enforcement and Daily Life

The prohibition is enforced through the absence of such products in Handmaids' lives. Offred's room contains no mirrors for her to see herself fully; the only mirror is in the hallway, a convex pier glass that distorts her image into "a distorted shadow, a parody of something, some fairy-tale figure in a red cloak." The red dress itself is prescribed issue, and Offred notes that she "never looked good in red, it's not my color." The regime's control extends to the most intimate details: Offred's hair must be long but covered, and she recalls Aunt Lydia's coy reference to Saint Paul: "Saint Paul said it's either that or a close shave." The prohibition on makeup is so complete that when the Commander gives Offred a magazine from the pre-Gilead era, the images of women in makeup and fashionable clothes strike her as "bold, striding, confident"—a stark contrast to her own enforced plainness.

Covert Resistance: The Butter Ritual

In response to the prohibition, Handmaids have developed a covert practice of using butter as a substitute for hand lotion and face cream. Offred describes this ritual in detail: after dinner, she saves a pat of butter from her tray, wrapping it in a paper napkin and hiding it in the toe of her shoe. Later, in her room, she rubs the butter over her face and works it into the skin of her hands. She learned this trick at the Rachel and Leah Re-education Center, the Red Center, and notes that her predecessor in the room—the woman with freckles who wrote "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum" on the closet wall—"must have done this too, this buttering. We all do it." The butter is greasy and will go rancid, making Offred smell "like an old cheese," but she reflects, "at least it's organic, as they used to say." The ritual carries profound psychological significance: "As long as we do this, butter our skin to keep it soft, we can believe that we will some day get out, that we will be touched again, in love or desire. We have ceremonies of our own, private ones." Offred's description of herself after buttering—"Buttered, I lie on my single bed, flat, like a piece of toast"—underscores the pathos of this small act of self-care.

The Commander's Gift and Its Limits

The prohibition is so absolute that when Offred asks the Commander for hand lotion, he is initially puzzled. She explains, "Our skin gets very dry," and when he asks what she does about it, she admits, "We use butter. When we can get it. Or margarine. A lot of the time it's margarine." The Commander finds this "very clever" and laughs, a reaction that nearly provokes Offred to slap him. He eventually provides her with a bottle of hand lotion, but it is of poor quality—"it smelled faintly of vegetable oil. No Lily of the Valley for me. It may have been something they made up for use in hospitals, on bedsores." Offred thanks him anyway, but the gift comes with complications: she has nowhere to keep it, as the Marthas search her room for contraband. The Commander, ignorant of the real conditions under which Handmaids live, suggests she keep it in her room, and Offred must explain that "they look in all our rooms" for "razor blades, books, writing, black-market stuff." Ultimately, she keeps the lotion in his study, using it there under his watchful gaze—a reminder that even this small comfort is contingent on his whim.

The Prohibition's Thematic Significance

The prohibition on makeup and hand lotion is a microcosm of Gilead's broader project of dehumanization. By denying Handmaids the tools of self-adornment and skincare, the regime seeks to erase their individuality and reduce them to their reproductive function. The Wives' decree reflects their own jealousy and insecurity, while the Handmaids' covert butter ritual becomes a form of resistance—a way of maintaining hope and a sense of self. The prohibition also highlights the regime's hypocrisy: the Commander, who enforces the rules, can violate them at will, providing Offred with hand lotion and even taking her to Jezebel's, where she wears makeup and a feather costume. The contrast between the prohibition's strict enforcement in daily life and its casual violation by the powerful underscores the arbitrary and self-serving nature of Gilead's laws. Ultimately, the prohibition reveals how the regime controls women through their bodies, but also how those bodies can become sites of quiet rebellion.