# Open mouth and mascara **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 4, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347 "2009-11-04T23:15:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/1 "2009-11-04T23:15:26Z")
Why do women open their mouth when they put on mascara? Related: If they don’t, then why not? The list of perplexing things about women never grows shorter… Best regards, Leo ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/2 "2009-11-04T23:19:44Z")
Try opening your eyes wide while keeping your mouth closed. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/3 "2009-11-04T23:40:02Z")
I thought about that before, and tried it. If you stay relaxed, its not really necessary. Nonetheless, in a non-scientific poll I conducted, many women do _not_ raise their heads. But Occams’ razor (insert grooming joke here) I guess applies. ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/4 "2009-11-05T00:00:33Z")
If you don’t open your mouth, the other way to get the eyes open wide enough is to raise the eyebrows. Doing this every day can promote wrinkling of the forehead. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/5 "2009-11-05T02:05:08Z")
I don’t open my mouth, but I do turn my mouth down or just gently pull down the skin under my lower lid to mascara the lower lashes. Try it. It makes the lashes pop out just a little, so they’re easier to get the wand onto without painting the skin underneath the tiny lashes. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/6 "2009-11-05T02:08:12Z")
I don’t do this. Plus even if do open my mouth and widen my eyes, my eyebrows still raise. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/7 "2009-11-05T04:03:42Z")
I always open my mouth when applying mascara but just now did a very scientific experiment–I got my mascara brush and a mirror and put it on with my mouth closed. Easy as pie. So now I wonder why I (and others) always automatically open my mouth. There must be some explanation. ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/8 "2009-11-05T04:18:48Z")
Not sure why. But it sure is sexy. I love watching my wife put on make up. Maybe that is why? ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/9 "2009-11-05T04:32:25Z")
It’s just the tilting of your head that causes the mouth to open. Try it; lean forward, stick your chin out a little, then try and open your eyes wide while trying not to poke yourself in the eyeball with a stick. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/10 "2009-11-05T04:35:15Z")
David Feldman addresses this in one of his “Imponderables” books, although he is not nearly as rigorous and scholarly as Cecil. He offers multiple possibilities and likes the last one best: 1. Aids concentration 2. Involuntary reflex action, though he adds this has been disproven by [some mysterious unnamed] research 3. Avoid blinking 4. No reason 5. Relaxation 6. Tighten the skin around the eyes, a theory supported by two plastic surgeons. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/11 "2009-11-05T13:55:51Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > It’s just the tilting of your head that causes the mouth to open. Try it; lean forward, stick your chin out a little, then try and open your eyes wide while trying not to poke yourself in the eyeball with a stick. I think you might be on to something. When I lean over the sink (closer to the mirror because I can’t see without my glasses), stick my chin out, open my eyes really wide, there’s not much else for my mouth to do but to open. If I’m doing it at a mirror where I don’t have to lean so far forward, I usually don’t. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/12 "2009-11-05T15:07:42Z")
> [@toofs](#): > > Not sure why. > > But it sure is sexy. I love watching my wife put on make up. > > Maybe that is why? I used to do it; it \*seemed \*to somehow aid the operation by opening the eye or stretching the skin or whatever, but anyway, one day a boyfriend asked about it and I got to realize how stupid (I think) it looks and I stopped doing it. I see no difference in ease of application at all. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2009, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/13 "2009-11-06T00:35:30Z")
I tried it this morning, with and without open mouth, and , honestly, found that the deep in breath of open mouth helped me steady my hand at handling the brush. Odd, I’d never thought about it before. Any scientific interpretation of that? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/14 "2015-10-21T19:37:14Z")
Just found this addressed in detail by a popular advisor on YouTube in the friendly rant **Things Boys Don’t Understand Part 3** [- YouTube](http://youtu.be/duio2ZaVr1g). It’s #7, at 5:55 in. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-mouth-and-mascara/516347/15 "2015-10-21T23:06:22Z")
A friend used to wonder why people open their mouths when putting contact lenses in or taking them out. Same idea?