I’VE always felt sorry for men.

It’s not because of urinals, although I do sympathise because those things are just disgusting.

It’s not even because of stag dos, which seem little more than desperate would-be bacchanals after which the groom wakes up to find he’s been cling-filmed to a lamppost.

No, the reason my heart aches for the gender is because it’s still unusual for them to wear makeup.

Hear me out. I know many of you will want to turn to the classifieds, but this is of crucial importance (ish).

Generally, the people heading to Space NK in their lunch hour and choosing whether they really need that week in Greece, or if the money wouldn’t perhaps be better spent on a single 30g tub of Le Métier de Beauté Rejuvenating Night Crème, are women.

And that seems to me to be a shame. There’s a long and proud history of men using cosmetics which dates back as far as 3000BC, when both genders stained their fingernails as a marker of their status in society.

But in modern times, makeup seems to have become the preserve of women alone and as such, lots of people have negative ideas about it.

There will be those out there who believe women are required to wear cosmetics so they are accepted socially. Others will see makeup as frivolous and shallow, a pointless indulgence which is expensive both financially and in terms of time. Still more will see makeup as being representative of promiscuity.

These people are wrong.

Makeup can be both joyous and transformative – and men should be getting involved.

Take lipstick, for example.

Famously, Egyptians including Cleopatra crushed bugs to rouge their lips.

During the time of Queen Elizabeth I, ladies chose white faces and crimson mouths.

More recently, as Britain went to battle between 1939 and 1945, women taking on men’s work at home daubed their faces with their own kind of war paint.

As precious supplies dwindled and then ran out altogether, women used beetroot as lip stain and chalk as face powder.

An advert from the time read: “No lipstick – ours or anyone else’s – will win the war. But it symbolises one of the reasons why we are fighting.”

The trend for the cosmetic has persevered and evolved over thousands of years, at one time representing conformity to class, at another rebellion and glamour when all else seemed hopeless.

Today, women put on a slick of red lipstick before a big meeting or an important date.

It represents power and strength, an unassailable armour with which to take on modern challenges.

And why shouldn’t men be able to feel the same way?

Forget Russell Brand’s guyliner and ignore the Tango tans of Britain’s hordes of male reality tv stars. Equally, don’t think that cosmetics are about making men look traditionally ‘female’.

Instead, consider that men should have as much right to look the way they want to as women do. From correcting a blemish to applying bronzer, everyone should have the opportunity to put their best face forward without judgment if they choose to.

Makeup isn’t silly. It’s a powerful tool. And depriving men of the chance to get involved is a pointless taboo.