Makeup giant M.A.C. recently posted an Instagram pic of their iconic Ruby Woo shade of lipstick worn by a model with visible hair below her lip. The pic shocked some users not accustomed to seeing non-Photoshopped models sporting peach fuzz.

The photo by makeup artist Matthew King, M.A.C. said, "Into the woods with Lip Pencil in Chestnut is probably the closest to nature we'll get this year. M·A·C Artist @mttthw helps @nats.vibe find her wild side," hinting that this was no coincidence.

Some Instagram users chimed in with less than kind remarks. "What's up with the moustache?" wrote one commenter. "Upper lip hair showing too much 😂," said another. The pictures, which were far from showing full-on facial hair, seemed to rile users who can’t forgive anything less than perfectly smooth skin on a woman. Remarks also included, "Those hairs on upper lips demand to b plucked," and, "Model forgot to shave moustache."

Several commenters, however, appreciated the realness. "Thank you for not photoshopping the hairs out ❤️," one fan wrote. "It’s nice to show the true face once in a while. Because the reality is more women deal with facial hair than those that don’t! Thank you @maccosmetics for keeping it 💯!!" Others responded directly to the haters, saying, "We all have body hair and each one of us should decide if we want to wax or not."

On August 17, when M.A.C. U.K: showed the work of makeup artist Anna Donegan on their Instagram account, the blonde peach fuzz below the model's lower lip, elicited comments like, "When you show pictures of your lips, please treat the hair around your lips." While others defended the model, saying, "There's nothing 'wrong' with this hair at all. Actually, this picture is so refreshing. Pretty much everyone has this downy hair around their lips and I love seeing it not being photoshopped out. Well done, MAC x."

M.A.C. has yet to make a statement on the recent pictures but they seem to be recognizing that women are not porcelain dolls, but rather human beings that have various types of complexions. While some women may choose to remove hair, others may decide to bleach it, as actress Emma Watson has said she does, or leave it as is.

A 2006 British study showed that on average, women with facial hair spent 104 minutes a week managing it. Two-thirds of the women said they constantly check their facial hair in the mirror and three-quarters said they continually check by touching it.

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The study also found that for women facial hair takes an emotional toll. Forty percent said they didn’t feel comfortable in social situations, and 75% registered clinical levels of anxiety. On the whole, they said that they had a good quality of life, but gave low scores when it came to social relationships. The fact that women are unnecessarily enduring emotional pain when female facial hair is entirely normal says more about us as a society than it does about the women themselves.

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