Q. How can I use makeup remover on Shabbos?
The remover is liquid. When I wake up shabbos morning, at times the makeup runs under my eyes so I want to know if u can clean it up with makeup remover by putting a little on a q-tip or just using my finger.
A. Shmiras Shabbos Kehilchoso (14: n. 79) quotes Horav S.Z. Auerbach's Zt"l opinion that there is no prohibition of memachek or smoothing on the human body and you can remove tar or pitch off the skin. The toldoh (sub-category) of memarei'ach (spreading or scraping) also does not apply, since there is no intention whatsoever for doing it and it is not the way this particular melocho is performed (39 Melochos 3: p. 749: n. 63). When removing an existing colored layer from the body, tzoivea or coloring does not apply either. This is true even if the untreated skin is of better appearance than the used makeup layer now being removed (ibid.).
Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit"a also permits using a q-tip if the liquid amount is small, as it has a handle and there will not be any schita or squeezing done.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit"a
Important Numbers
