Early Noughties teen mag ridiculousness

@BertieBotts, "fried eggs" was a common insult in our area. I remember being called it in the late 70s by a particular older boy I was trying to impress. I also remember when I was running a girls group in the 90s doing a workshop where we all made life size collage self portraits; one of the girls put pictures of fried eggs where her breasts should have been as that was what lads shouted at her. It was definitely a bit of a thing where I lived.

I used to enjoy Just 17 and then moved onto Cosmo/More in my late teens and 20s. But by the time I was 21 I realised women's/teen beauty magazines were all just there to make you insecure and buy stuff, and stopped reading them.

This is the best thread in ages. I have been transported back in time to the newsagent near to my house; the owner was very strict and was annoyed by most of the kids but she’d always let me browse the magazines.
I remember the excitement of graduating in stages; Twinkle, Bunty, Jackie, Just Seventeen, More. I especially remember how grown up I felt when my mum let me move from Bunty to Jackie.
Oh; the thrill of a free clear lipgloss. And the suspense of waiting until next week for the cartoon stories to play out.
Happy days. So much more gratifying than bloody Snapchat or Tiktok. I actually think my DD has missed a rite of passage

I actually have a photo of me and some of my friends at school in our form room, AND I’m holding a copy of J17! It would have been around 1994 time.

I also met Nick Fisher (who did the problem pages) quite a few times, really nice caring chap and encouraged my career in journalism.

I remember when I was about 14 I sent a photo of my then boyfriend to one of those mags (can’t remember which one) saying how lush he was, they printed it and he was mortified but his Mum thought it was fabulous her boy was in a National girls magazine as a hunk 🤣🤣🤣

Are there any Australians here who remember Dolly? Killed by the internet in 2016, alas, but what a godsend it was to those of us who grew up in the '70s and '80s when there was almost no sex ed in schools and no Dr Google either!

@furries

Early naughtiest?! Now I feel old!
My teen mags were in the eighties

Same lol, my teen mags were late 80s/ beginning of 90s.
Noughties I'll have been in my twenties, I'm in denial at this thread

To be honest though... I mean look at Grazia. Their articles are the same... “are you feeling GUILTY about being a [SAHM] [working mum]” on and on... “how to diet/ how to celebrate curves (and FYI we don’t use “curves” aka normality with our models who are 13)”, “how to live off beetroot juice alone”, “how to embrace comfort food in august”, articles on how ppl feel their friends are richer/ articles on how to holiday in Maldives.... almost makes me miss Mizz:)

The article said to finger-dry your hair before styling/drying with a brush. I can remember sitting in my room for aaaages combing my wet hair with my fingers, thinking that the heat from my hands was what they meant!

^^😂😂😂😂

Does anyone remember clear mascara? They used to make it seem really good! And white eyeliner... there used to be a fab magazine called Elle Girl and it was the best, they stopped it and don’t know why :( it was dreamy

Early naughtiest?! Now I feel old!

My teen mags were in the eighties. Obviously no internet to search, so that’s my excuse. The one piece that has stuck in my head all these years was one on looking after your hair. The article said to finger-dry your hair before styling/drying with a brush. I can remember sitting in my room for aaaages combing my wet hair with my fingers, thinking that the heat from my hands was what they meant!

There’s a website called becoming a teen with agony aunt after reading this thread I had a look to see if the advise has got better it seems it’s even worse now look at this gem

My friends and I were avid 'Jackie' readers from 1975 to 1980. Someone recently gave me an old copy from Feb '75 (David Essex valentine edition - swoon) - but I can't read any of the print! I know my eyesight isn't the best but even with my middle aged varifocals I struggle to read any of it!

I'm sure the content is hilarious and probably very dated and full of blue eye-shadow, but I'll never know.......

Girl Talk, shout and Mizz.
I remember the advice was ' Practice kissing the back of your hand'😂

I used to read Girl magazine and also had the "annual" in 1988. One of the features was about "how to lose weight in '88". One of the tips were that if you were on the heavier side you should weigh naked in the morning and if you were on the lighter side you should weigh fully dressed in the evening; worst part was it mentioned that you were more likely able to keep your friends this way?!?! WTF?

I'm going to blame that feature on my years of forever being on a diet.

Actually that could have been Cosmo (not really any better tho)

I’m sure one of them (probably More) did a feature on a journalist going undercover to become a Escort. I hope it was fake. There was a bit about finally getting a young client and her being relieved after all the older guys but actually having a horrible time with him that stuck in my memory.

I used to read Just Seventeen back in the 90’s.

The one nugget I remember the most was where they told us girls that if a boy was being mean to you, it was probably because he fancied you.

I remember thinking this absolutely must be true, because at the time there was a lad at school that was constantly taking the piss out of me. Eventually he found the bottle to ask me out.

Although I thought about it over the weekend and dumped him on the Monday. So that lasted a grand total of 2 days

I felt SO grown up buying and reading More, reading it cover to cover with all its sexual detail when in reality if a boy so much as looked at me I vomited in my mouth and ran away petrified

This chap
likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/
has scanned every issue of Smash Hits up to the late 80s. What a treasure! I'm not aware of any similar websites for other mags, perhaps they're out there.

Teen of the 70s here and the main magazine was Jackie. All the same sort of stuff in as you all talked about. It closed in 1993.

Highlight year (yes just checked) was 1972 when David Cassidy was in the U.K touring and there was various freebies Cassidy related in the magazine.

Cathy and Claire were the two weekly agony aunts 😃 God I am feeling old thinking of that

Oh gosh. I'd forgotten Catch magazine. I was an avid reader of Shout, Mizz, Just Seventeen, 19, Sugar and More (my Gran berated the po mistress for selling me filth once). Whatever I could get my hands on or swap with friends.

I remember the tiny freebies that I would hoard.

Also, ring of shame in Sugar. How awful, picking out spots or sweat patches on celebs. We were brainwashed/groomed into living to be popular and fancied.

I remember being particularly shocked about the story of a girl who went to a party and was coerced into sex with multiple boys.

I love this so much! The main reason I moved to England was J17! I loved the bonkers advice and the very adult questions on the problem pages and I wanted to learn more about this country where teenagers seemed to live such exciting lives.