To think my niece should be allowed to wear makeup to school.

[PiperIsOrange]

DN came home rather upset today after being told makeup is banned in school. She doesn't wear a lot just some foundation and clear lipgloss.

The reason she likes to wear it is because it covers all her spots, in the summer holiday she didn't wear any. My sister has taken her to the doctors and tried every OTC lotions and potions but nothing works.

It really boost her confidence and now she is dreading school because of these spots.

I have been to her school to collect school reports as dsis due to work commitments and have seen many teachers wearing makeup, so I assume it's a policy for pupils only.

So what happens if every child is allowed to wear what they like? Piercings, tattoos, make up, blue hair etc. They leave school totally unable to understand the concept of a dress code, there will always be some like that but uniform rules, make up rules etc are part of their education in becoming adults.

I disagree. The evidence of the US, where very few schools have uniforms (but there is generally a very tolerant dress code) and where makeup is allowed points to another conclusion entirely.

It isnt about bullying is about being able to look in the mirror and feel ok. If a bit of concealer helps then that's acceptable imo.

'discipline begins at home' Yes, that what they said about the suffragettes. If rules are wrong people have the right to challenge them, it's called democracy.

I taught for 7 years btw and those who had to scrub makeup off it was caked thickly.

Please stop promulgating this diet and hygiene crap, it's hormonal and hereditary

Amen to that.

Dietary changes can help. As hormones are effected by our diets. If it is hormonal acne, it can anyway.

Orange juice for example, really really aggravates my skin.

I think a combination of cutting that out (oh how I loved it ) and using duac has really helped my skin.

Math what shite! Refined sugar does have an effect. HOw do you explain the results of the recent study in Oz?

link

First link was prior to study

here's more info and unless you're a dietitian or a professor of nutrition or something you can't dismiss it. The study saw a 50% improvement in boys who stuck to the diet.

We're not MEANT to eat refined sugar and processed foods. Eskimo communities had NO acne until the 50s when the USA moved into their land and employed them oh...and FED them the shite they were eating. Within 15 years, acne was part of the community.

I understand the ban but I really feel for your DN. I highly recommend the oil cleansing method on Crunchy Betty's site, it has helped my skin so much. Also the Dr Organic range of moisturisers in Holland and Barratt are good.
Crunchy Betty has natural recipes that you adapt to the type of skin. There are also people on there who say it has worked much better than prescribed treatments.

I also find Bare Minerals to give amazing cover without looking obviously made up. I couldn't live without it now!

My DD goes to a school with quite a strict dress code, which says no make-up is permitted ... but apparently last week their form teacher confided to them that a bit of foundation or concealer was ok. She doesn't need it (lucky girl, she got her dad's ovaries as it were not mine ) but we agreed this seemed like a very humane thing for the girls who do suffer from acne.

Mathanxiety

Absolutely yes but for some baffling reason here in Britain we arrogantly disregard the stats from the rest of Europe and America/Australia/etc and insist on ridiculous uniforms and petty rules rather than let teachers teach and kids develop their own sense of style and identity.

We then start formal education while kids have virtually just started to potty train and talk.

Why we think we are right God knows. Probably why our teens are so bloody unhappy according to the WHO.

Yes let's humiliate teens and not try to understand the fundamental need for them to look as good as they can and the need to fit in with their peers.

So what if they are big haired and fake tanned. They grow last that.

High standards of behaviour and work ethic, empathy and good citizenship are what we need to teach.

The rest is fine.

Of course diet has a role in health but I do hate this assumption by people with good skin that those with acne just need to eat better and wash a but more and it will go away.

It's so patronising because hormones and genes play a big role too.

Dietary changes especially for girls can be hit and miss. What works for one girl can be ineffective for another. Even for boys, diet isn't always a clearcut matter. You could be plugging away a long time before hitting on the dietary solution that works for you, meanwhile going through utter misery.

Many teens get acne that shifts all by itself with no change in diet and only use of topical otc remedies. Then you have the cases of cystic acne that only roaccutane will shift.

I am a little concerned that the study was funded by a group called Meat and Livestock Australia and supports basically a paleo diet, and also only involved teenage boys -- moreover, only 43 teenage boys.

So if you DN applied a good foundation, and no other makeup, would any teacher hand out the baby wipes for her to remove it? Really?

I know thebody. I've had bad skin, as had my younger brother, as has our father. We did not inherit our mother's perfectly clear skin. So hormonal but also genetics at play.

I was utterly baffled when I developed acne when i was 20.

It has taken five years to clear up. It started off as a hormonal issue but it wasn't clearing because of deep bacterial infections under the skin which developed alongside it. So I had the same spots all the time. Even when there was no raised spot, you could still see it, if you see what I what I mean?

The only thing I really cut out was orange juice but that was only in the last year or so.

It's probably a combination of hormones calming down as I've got older and having the bacterial infection underneath treated that has finally seen my skin clear.

I've never had spots either, bar a similar hormone-related episode as an older adult. I do understand how devastating skin problems can be to a young person's confidence though, and I think that schools need to be sensitive to that if the point of their rules is to encourage a focus on schoolwork and eliminate distractions. Cripplingly low self-esteem will affect classroom participation every bit as much as time wasted primping in the toilets, so I think schools need to take a more balanced approach that they do- certainly they should be accommodating of any pupil with a medical note. There has to be a middle ground between insisting the barest trace of make-up is scrubbed away with baby wipes, and of tolerating a teenaged convention of Ru Paul fans.

What about Dermablend on prescription from the GP? That might swing it? (apols if already suggested)

LQ [waves] same here. My grandma had beautiful skin, as does my mother as do Dsis and I. My BF at school had terrible acne, as did her mother. BF had a really strict skin care regime and it made no difference, I was like you. I only every washed my skin with cold water and rarely took my make up off (every licked your fingers and run them under your eyes to get rid of the mascara run and then just gone out?! )

I saw what my BF went through and I get it, I really do. Hers was hormonal, it seemed to improve loads when she went on the pill and she had amazing skin when pregnant.

DD has rotten spots, not acne but still very bad and her dad did too. I wouldnt allow her to wear makeup because it was against the rules. The girls that did now seem to have worse skin than DD who. at 17, has barely any zits at all. The other girls still do and they have scars from picking that DD doesnt have.

I am not unsympathetic to the DN but the fact is that as soon as you bend a rule for one you have to bend it for everyone and down that road anarchy lies.

sorry ever not every! Damned autocorrect!

Anarchy does not lie in allowing kids to wear makeup
They aren't stupid they can tell the difference between a rule that benefits everyone and is there for a reason and petty ones like this.

Update dn refused to go to school. She was sick and felt her heart racing.

I agree with that Itsbetter.

Sympathy for your DN. Hopefully she can get the acne sorted. Roaccutane can really work, though it may seem like a kill or cure solution.

I really feel for your dn - this was effectively me 17 years ago. Luckily we were never banned as I'd have felt extremely uncomfortable without something to cover my acne. To answer a few posts

• school is a place of learning not beauty - if you feel shitty and uncomfortable you won't learn anything

• Boys can't cover their spots - well like it or not, society has very different expectations of men and women, and boys will never experience the same pressure to 'look good'/perfect. Happily for them!

• foundation doesn't make acne worse - it's not the 1990s any more! In fact many have helpful ingredients that actively combat some of the conditions that exacerbate acne.

OP can I suggest that you treat your dn to some lovely products that she is allowed to wear/use just to make her feel a bit better. Eg Liz Earle hot polish cleanser can make a world of difference. For school how about some very subtle mineral powder that most teachers will find hard to spot, or some bb cream? I think the teachers would have to be on their A game to notice that. Likewise there are some lovely lip balms with a slight tint. The school are being highly U in my view.