Monday Teeny Poll
By Glinda
When I was in 3rd grade, I have fond memories of sneaking into my grandmother’s bathroom while she was in the kitchen cooking. Picture a young Glinda opening the medicine cabinet and furtively applying blue and green Avon eyeshadow from pots with her finger, as well as using the Estee Lauder lipstick in “Rosa Rosa.” The effect was probably fairly ghastly, I am sure. But to my young eyes, it was perfection. I would admire my handiwork, such as it was, and then hastily attempt to use a tissue or four to rub all of it off before she got suspicious due to my overlong absence. I can’t imagine that I was particularly successful at erasing everything, but she never said a word. Then, when I was in 8th grade, by some miracle, or possibly a deal with the devil that I am still paying interest on, my strict parents began allowing me to wear Bonne Bell pink lipgloss to school. I was in heaven! I thought surely that pink lipgloss transformed me into someone who looked like she should be on the cover of Seventeen magazine. I used to pore over every page of that magazine when my older sister was done with it, soaking up the secrets of longer eyelashes and shading cheekbones. This information was to be utilized sometime in the future, but certainly not a near one. The pink lipgloss was all I could wear for a long time. But that was back in the olden days, when there was no such thing as a cell phone, and Dolphin shorts were considered cool. Today, there are many makeup products made with girls in elementary school in mind. Places like Libby Lu focus on “makeovers” for young girls, doing elaborate glittered updos and braids, as well as a full face of makeup. For the most part, stealth applications in bathrooms are no longer necessary for a young girl.
October 8th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
I chose “nothing before middle school” although there is a huge difference between a 6th grader and an eighth grader. I think 8th grade is probably a good age. I had one who started wearing some make-up in 7th grade (after spending 6 weeks with my mother over the summer, that same mother who is horrified that both my sister and I don’t wear make-up at all) but the other one waited until 10th grade.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
The same age as boys, of course! Fair’s fair.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Well, I am a high school freshman. While I never wear make up to school there are many girls in my grade who have been since fifth grade. I think there is a distinct difference between wearing lip gloss and wearing full make up including eyeliner and the like. I think that anything more than a little lip gloss, concealer, and blush is too much even in high school. The place for that is at dances and parties, not in a place of learning such as school. I, however, do not think that it can be expressly banned because that will jut cause an abuse of make up when these girls can use it. I think that being allowed to wear a little bit of make up when they wish is the best way to get young girls used to what is an appropriate use of make up.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:18 am
I voted for the most restrictive path, although I distinctly remember applying some fetching blue eyeshadow from a little compact in the 8th grade. Obviously my mother wasn’t as good a parent as I am!
Really though, I’m hoping my daughter won’t go for makeup in any serious way (and by that I mean mascara and blush) until high school.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:35 am
Liz- Why is it that the grandmas are totally bad influences?
Rain- I’m hoping my son stays away from the blush, actually.
Elena- Hi Elena! There is indeed a difference between blush and mascara vs. a bit of lipgloss. I think the slippery slope occurs when using makeup as a concealer, and then it just ends up snowballing from there for a lot of girls. Most of them figure out a good balance. Most.
dgm- Awww yeah, who didn’t do the blue eyeshadow when we were young?
October 9th, 2007 at 5:18 am
I am both hardcore and libertarian: as in, no, I didn’t do the blue eyeshadow outside of the bathrooom, yet I would allow my son to do so, provided he had a muscular posse.
Blush, though, is totally passe, regardless of gender.