To think three year olds don't wear red lipstick, even on stage?

[DrSeuss]

DD has just turned three a few weeks ago and goes to a dance class, which she loves. They have a show coming up, her first and we are all really looking forward to it. However, the kit list specifies red lippy and blusher! DH and I were horrified!

Thoughts?

My teenage DD has worn stage makeup since the age of 3. It's just part of the costume. Even now her stage makeup is kept completely separate from her day to day eyeliner and lipgloss.

It wouldn't really bother me. It's a show.

Like most others have said stage make up is very much not about looking pretty or made up, it's about standing out on stage. I danced in shows in a professional theatre between the ages of 3 and 18. We always had ghastly ark orange foundation, bright blue eyes with red and white spots in the corners and bright red lips. Some of the girls decided to do their own make up and went for subtle browns etc so they could go out after the shows. The director had a massive go at them after the dress rehearsal as you basically couldn't see their features at all. It's just stage make up!

dark orange obviously.

I would say no if they were 10, let alone 3 - so maybe I'm the wrong person to ask!

Agree with everyone else. I made the mistake of only using minimal make up for dds first dance show & she looked washed out. You couldn't see her lips at all

Also if you don't put enough on or don't do it right the chaperones will probably re do it anyway. Or your dd might do as my dd did & just end up putting more on her self.

She's now at full time dance school & some if the 11/12 year old boys are having to get use to the fact that they will have to wear make up too.

i dont see the big deal

It's just dress-up FFS. We used to do it in the Brownies and Guides when we had a show. It was part of the fun.

Don't be so stuffy or puritanical OP

My ds does drama and all of the boys wear make up for the summer show. It's not just the girls.

There's no necessity for red lipstick in stage make-up; I've been performing since I was much younger and yes, 'pancake' is usually essential to stop you getting washed out under the lights, and then you may need lipstick or gloss on top because otherwise you'll have orange lips, but it doesn't need to be bright red.

That said, nothing bad is going to happen to her because she wears red lipstick for a show. It's just another part of costume - nothing to do with 'looking pretty', it's about wearing the costume like the others. When it comes to performance, it helps to look at it as face paint rather than actual make-up.

I hate the idea if it but them th very young children in dance shows makes me uncomfortable anyway. Maybe I've seen the wrong ones but half dressed its wiggling their backside doesn't seem right to me.

Rationally though make up as part of costume isn't really any different to painting their face if they are being, say, a tiger.

I don't think my DS has ever been half dressed on stage, although their is usually some wiggling as part of the dance routine...

Why is this such an issue
If you are in a show, you wear make up. It's traditional. It makes absolutely no sence to say babes and ore primary don't everyone else does.

Most little girls want to join in, with the older ones, they are likely to ask for make up.

You do it lightly so the shy ones who don't want make up and the confident ones who do don't look much different.

The last thing you do with tinies near a stage, with an audience is make a fuss about anything that doesn't matter.

I do remember that feeling of mistrust and doubt when I first had to put make up on DD for a dance show (she was 5 I think). The other parents were reassuring and they're right, it looks normal in the DVD and otherwise their features don't really show up very well, in the glare of the lights. Just pick the colour you're happy with, even a tinted lip gloss is something.

As many posters have said, it's simply a necessity under harsh stage lights. It isn't to make them look "pretty" or "grown-up" or anything else.

Red is simply the color that works to make lips visible under lights. Anything with darker undertones runs the risk of looking bruised. Nude or pale pink will wash out and be pointless.

Also it's utterly impossible to explain to small girls why it's not appropriate for them to wear make up, skimpy costumes or bikinis.

It requires them to understand things they are massively to small to understand.

By the time they are old enough to understand, they are old enough to go to Top Shop and buy their own hot pants.

Gentle steering towards tasteful, age appropriate clothes, hair and no make up outside the house, day to day is absolutely fine.

But let them sense for one second any of this is a big deal and you are absolutely sunk.

"Maybe I've seen the wrong ones but half dressed its wiggling their backside doesn't seem right to me."

I'd say you definitely have! When I said I have been in dance shows since I was 3 I meant classical ballet so not really bum wiggling!

"Maybe I've seen the wrong ones but half dressed its wiggling their backside doesn't seem right to me."

I'd say you definitely have! When I said I have been in dance shows since I was 3 I meant classical ballet so not really bum wiggling!

I should add I have a dance Moms mad 13y, who knows enough about the world and pedophiles etc. you could explain why many people (myself included) aren't mad in that kind of dance.

She'd still think you were stark raving mad. To her it's just a different use for the ballet and gymnastics she does. More modern and fun, that's all.

You need DCs of your own, or massively younger siblings to begin to get it at all.

I too would be horrified and feel a bit sick at the thought :(

"a bit sick"?? Over-reaction or what!

A bit sick really its lipstick for dance show

YABU - it is just a part of the costume

Bloody hell a tad dramatic there. Lots of things in this world maid me really sick and horrified. The gang rape and murder of girls for instance. Lippy on a 3 year old no.