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This man hit back at his bosses after being told to remove his make-up at work

Scott Laplanche was asked to take off his make-up at work [Photo: Facebook/scottlaplanche]
Scott Laplanche was asked to take off his make-up at work [Photo: Facebook/scottlaplanche]

Men wearing make-up is nothing new. And with a focus on equality and diversity in the workplace, it’s surprising to hear that one electronics retailer doesn’t support beauty-loving men.

20-year-old Scott Laplanche has been working for Currys PC World for the past eight months. He has turned up each and every day “as his fabulous self” and has been “complimented” by managers for wearing make-up.

But after the company underwent new management, Scott was asked to remove his make-up – despite there being no make-up policy.

Feeling suitably angry at the request, Scott refused and openly talked about the incident in a Facebook post that has now been liked by over 17,000 people.

“A lot of my female colleagues wear more make-up than I do,” he wrote. “Obviously I’m not going to take off my make-up when all my other (female) colleagues are able to come to work as their fabulous selves.”

“I might understand if my hair was dyed bright red, I might understand if I had bright blue eye liner on, I might understand if I came to work with bright green lipstick on,” he continued.

“It’s wrong to blatantly discriminate for whatever reason that may be.”

Scott said he received support from his colleagues after the Facebook post with most saying he’d “done the right thing.” However, his employer wasn’t too happy, asking him to take the post down.

Scott says that asking men not to wear make-up is discrimination [Photo: Facebook/scottlaplanche]
Scott says that asking men not to wear make-up is discrimination [Photo: Facebook/scottlaplanche]

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Scott said he had vented his frustrations to his manager: “I explained to her that I felt it was discrimination that if colleagues are allowed to wear make-up then I should also be allowed to without being reprimanded.”

“I told her that I would completely understand if a policy meant that all colleagues couldn’t wear make-up. I would have taken it off, but this needed to be a rule for all.”

“If women can wear make-up then so can I. It can’t be one rule for one and another rule for another. It’s not right and it’s not fair.”

Scott has revealed that he will continue to wear make-up to work, adding: “I will not change my appearance for anyone. And I don’t expect anyone to do it either. I don’t want to sound insensitive to other people’s feelings but this is 2017 and people need to become more aware, educated and tolerant of the LGBT community and men wearing make-up in general.”

A spokesperson for Currys PC World said: “This was a local store level misunderstanding that is being dealt with internally. Scott takes pride in his appearance and Currys PC World is proud of its diverse workforce.”

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