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.

Of course she should be allowed to cover up her spots. Some teens get spots, some don't. Lucky the ones that don't and absolutely miserable for the ones that do.

There's no justification for the lipgloss though is there?

Of course teachers are different.

She should go back to the doctors and in the meantime try BB cream or tinted moisturisers.

She needs to keep going the doctors or change her doctor. I found the green moisturiser took away the redness (Clinique). Is she can get the make up to look natural it will help with it not being noticed.

YABU.

How can you compare the rules for pupils to that of teachers, do you expect teachers to wear uniform?

Make up will make acne worse, if no make up is allowed then there will be other girls who have the same problem.

You can keep going back to the doctors but actually there aren't many options for severe acne. Most if what is treatable is perceived as severe by the person with it, that's all.

Duac has no research base showing it better than 10% benzoyl peroxide. Hormone pills and antibiotics can sometimes work for a sort time then body adjusts and overcompensates.

Roaccutaane is really all that has a reliable effect but the side effects need to be considered carefully and it can't be taken for long. After you stop, the acne usually (but slowly) returns.

Diet has little impact for this kind of acne.

Make up does not make acne worse.

Yanbu.

My skin always breaks out when I DON'T wear foundation, not sure where the logic is in that but that's what happens! So from that perspective I doubt foundation causes spots or makes things worse. As others have advised tinted moisturiser or a very good foundation that isn't obvious. I don't see the need for light make up to be banned at all. Crikey, my secondary school allowed facial piercings and neon coloured hair!

No wearing make up won't make acne worse, but not taking it off will make spots worse - blocked pores etc. There is a difference between acne and spots.

Unfortunately the rules are there and if the new head is instilling some new ones it is unlikely they are going to relax them this soon into a new term.

There are many reasons for a strong uniform policy.

Most teenagers do not have a clue how to put on foundation - tango man would have nothing on some of them!!!

I'm going to go against the grain here and say yanbu. bless her, if she is really upset about it, I do think the school may have been tactless in the way they handled it.

14 year old girls do not generally see themselves as children.

I agree that make up will only make her skin worse - but banning her from wearing it is probably less useful than explaining this to her in a sympathetic way.

I bet the school would not notice if she wore totally natural looking make up (learning to do this is also a good lesson in not plastering yourself so thickly with the stuff that you look like an orange barbie doll).

YANBU, she needs a subtle cover and to swap the gloss for a salve. Makeup doesn't make teenage acne worse and medicated or tea tree based foundation may make it better.

Get the charcoal soap from lush. It's amazing

YABU and rather daft.
That's all.

You are being very, very very unreasonable. They all have spots. No makeup is a very sensible rule.

When I was at secondary school, I knew boys who wore 'hide n heal'.

I was bullied badly in my early years at secondary, my looks being the focus of much of the name calling eg being called pizza face and being spat on by one boy. Getting my haircut, learning how to apply a bit of make up to conceal some facial scarring and acne I had, and developing a huge fuck you streak of rebelliousness saved the second half of school.

Funnily enough, the vast majority of teachers have been school pupils, subject to school rules, at some point in their lives. It's not like they've never had to wear uniform. Most schools also have a dress code for their staff, which stops short of a uniform.

They all have spots.

believe me, there are spots and there are spots, not all teenagers suffer to the same extent.

Most sec schools pan makeup. I think imposing makeup as a cultural norm on girls is very crap for their self-esteem actually. They grow into women who feel bad about themselves.

YANBU. Dd's school is extremely strict on uniform but even the younger girls are allowed to wear foundation to cover spots. The older girls are allowed any make up as long as it is "discrete."

If you have spots as a teenager you already feel bad and a little bit of well applied makeup helps enormously.

I'm a teacher, and I think minimal make up is fine. What seems to be being missed here, is that makeup is often a social mask that people can wear to hide behind or to feel confident. This is especially important in teenage years, when they are wrestling with so many self esteem issues. I cannot subscribe to any theories that they don't need it, look better without it. I think some do look better without it, but ultimately it is what they need to feel better about themselves, and is it such a big deal anyway? I'm not sure it causes wrinkles either, I actually think foundation with SPF would protect against wrinkles wouldn't it?

Most people look better with a bit of makeup. I could never ever stand in front of a class without makeup, I would feel undressed.

My school allows minimal makeup, too much and they have to wash it off. It is too draconian to ban it completely. And it's fine for boys and girls..

yanbu ,make up does not make spots worse, get her to go to a make up counter where they do make overs and they will get a colour just right so it wont be noticeable .

duchesse, I think you have a very good point.

People wear make up because:
1 they want to make a statement of some sort, e.g. ridiculously blackened eyes, weird stripes on face (this is fair enough, a fashion statement, and NOT appropriate in school)
2 they do not think they are beautiful enough to leave the house without 'natural looking' make up which brings them up to the standard we all expect of women (this is a problem, I personally think, even though I never ever do the school run without make up myself, because I can't face everybody asking me if I am ill..)

trouble is, this view of the way we are supposed to look is imposed by wider society, rather than by allowing 'natural' make up in schools. a make up ban is dispropotrtionately unfair on those who have acne.

I had terrible skin as a teenager (it's still not great), and I really feel for your dn. I wouldn't leave the house without concealer and foundation, and whilst to be honest I still looked awful because it was still obvious that I had spots underneath the makeup, at least I felt better about being in public and speaking to people.

If you have never suffered from really bad skin, I think it is easy to underestimate the massive mental impact it can have. Mine went on for so long, and it affected my confidence and self esteem so much. I missed out on a lot, eg camping and swimming because there was no way that I would put myself in a position where I would be seen without makeup. I remember clearly thinking, several times, that if someone had said to me that if someone magically offered the chance to make my skin instantly better, but they would have to remove one of my arms or legs in exchange, I would have definitely gone for it. I know that sounds really dramatic but that's honestly how I felt.

The effects of having a skin problem that bad are a lot more far reaching than people think. I was actually quite pretty but because my self esteem was so low I thought nothing of myself physically, and as a result ended up with some really unattractive/unpleasant boys/men, as I didn't think I was worth any more than that.

My school (private) had a policy of no makeup, and most of the girls were told to remove their makeup if they were seen wearing it. However mine was very obviously there and I was never once asked to remove it. Years later I was seeing a doctor and he was flicking though my medical notes, and saw a letter in there from my school. I had no other medical problems at that time so it could only be in relation to my skin. I can only imagine that my mum probably asked the school if they could overlook the fact that I wore makeup which is why I was never asked to remove it. I don't want to ask her because to be honest I still feel embarrassed and ashamed 20 years on.

I am so glad that I could wear make up to school, because there was literally no way I could have faced anyone without it. It would have exacerbated the mental trauma so much. I really think that schools should be lenient on the use of foundations and concealers, as they really can make the difference between being able to face the world and not.

Just seen the post above about wrinkles...I have worn foundation every day for 20 years (still have confidence issues around my skin), and at 33 don't have a single wrinkle :)

Every cloud and all that.