Green Bay's Mint Salon gives trans women tools to beautify courageously for Trans Day of Visibility

GREEN BAY -  When Donn volunteered to be beautician Caroline Quinn's makeup model at Mint Salon, he wasn't completely prepared for the sensation of eyeliner being drawn along his lash line for the first time, nor for the audience watching in wonder. 

"It's really weird to have something being pushed into your eyeball," he joked to the group. But when someone in the crowd said "wow" to his final transformation, he was quick to grab a handheld mirror and see for himself a smoky eyed and brow-trimmed face gazing back. 

Later, Donn, who asked the newspaper to not use his last name, told the Press-Gazette that he liked the experience for the ways it demonstrated self-care and how it allowed him to break free from the "confines of the male harness," which he said doesn't fit who he is and how he'd like to identify.

"I've always felt confined by the very narrow path men are supposed to walk. It just never fit very well," Donn said. "That limitation really chafes at me."

The group of spectators, a majority of whom were trans women, plus gender diverse folks, allies, and those who dabble in more feminine attire like Donn, asked questions, took notes and generally absorbed Quinn's makeup tutorial on April 2, as part of the many small-business stops organized for Green Bay's Trans Day of Visibility celebrations. 

Quinn's role, in her capacity as the owner and beautician of Mint Salon, 1234 Main St., was to provide an inclusive beauty tutorial that could better guide trans women down the road of makeup and skincare regimens.

Alongside all the other struggles trans and gender diverse people face, from harassment, isolation, loss and gender dysphoria — a condition where someone endures distress or anxiety in the face of their gender identity not lining up with the sex they were assigned at birth — some trans women also experience the daunting task of navigating the world of makeup and hair, and not knowing a safe place to turn to. 

Quinn said she hopes people walked away from the class knowing ways to soften some of the masculine features they may have been born with and learn how to better lean into feminine expressions of beauty.