To ask if girls should be allowed to wear make up to school

[LEMtheoriginal]

Purely a question for the sake of a question.

My dd is 13 and bought her secret santa some eye shadow as she apparently likes make up. I dont wear make up and neither does dd so its never been an issue.

School allows MINIMAL make up and i was wondering should girls be allowed to wear make up as they choose?

My DPs argument is no they will look like clowns

Mine is a more serious worry about sexualisTion of young girls.

But should they not be able to experiment and express themselves? Oh and have pink hair should they choise?

Minimal make-up is fine. If I can’t really tell they’re wearing it, then it’s hardly sexualising them.

A small amount? Fine.

Looking like Divine? Maybe cut back a bit.

Make up does not sexualise girls.

Inappropriate people sexualise girls.

Minimal is fine especially if they feel a bit more confident. Tinted moisturiser and some mascara is ok. Young girls always tend to go over the top so a line has to be drawn.

Dancemon - that is an excellent point!

Fluffy - i am a child of the 80s so know all about the coco the clown/aunt sally look! but surely thats a rite of passage?

We were allowed to wear makeup to school. Some of us did, some of us didn’t. Some wore lots. Some of us wear makeup now, some of us still don’t.

I do understand your concerns over sexualisation and I would worry about the constant focus on appearance but that is a wider concern about society. I don’t think what kids wear to school has anything to do with their ability to learn. Why not pink hair?

In practical terms a ban is hard to police without undue focus on an individuals appearance which could be embarrassing for the person. I think the general guide for uniform and make up (for either sex) should be 'suitable for a professional work environment'.

I'd say a really small amount of foundation/ powder. No need for mascara etc.
When I was at school I had really bad acne and wore a very small amount of foundation / concealer to hide it and make myself feel better. We had 1 teacher who used to make me go and wash it off. It made me feel horrendous. My mother stepped in and told the school to back off and explained the reasons why I wore it.

I think kids are different these days. With the 'insta brow' fad and every where you turn somebody is a bloody MUA! I've seen kids going to school wearing more make up than I would on a night out!

Fuck I've turned into my mother 😂😂

Time to experiment with looks is at college.

It's not really good for your skin or hair to use make-up and dye/bleach it, so better to hold off until you're older and then your mistakes are your own to deal with.

Minimal makeup? I wouldn't be too bothered by that. But I don't believe it is appropriate for young girls to go to school with a face full of makeup.

Also, age. An 11 year old has no need for makeup whatsoever. A 13-14 year old? Perhaps.

Our school seems to have quite a good setup, officially it is minimal in yr 7/8 and then no rules in the years above except for no false eyelashes, facial piercings etc.

Like a PP suggested, it becomes too individual if you are asking one person to remove and not another. Lots of the girls wear heavy foundation because of acne. Personally I’m all for teenagers being able to express themselves with makeup and do whatever they need to feel comfortable.

Can’t imagine how much time is wasted handing out cleanser and wipes in other schools!

And even with that freedom, most girls still wear what I would call “work” makeup. Foundation, concealer, blush, lipstick and mascara. Very few of them are in heavy eyeliner and eyeshadow.

I've got no problem with make up as long as it is subtle. Year 9 upwards is fine. Lots of young girls are very self conscious about their skin.
I make a point of discussing what is suitable for the daytime and what should best be left for going out. I think it's a useful learning opportunity and make up for the day, applied well, shouldn't be very noticeable.

In this country the TOWIE look is far too prevalent. No make-up at school would at least be a start to end this awful fashion.

I agree with dancemom about inappropriate people, though.

They are much more strict with other things though. Anyone with trainers on and no note has to wear the dreaded “school schools” from lost property 😂🤦‍♀️

I think that if schools completely ignored students' clothing and appearance it would be setting a good example. I would prefer no uniforms, and no rules about what to wear and how to look. Schools and teachers concerning themselves about these things has the paradoxical effect of making it all more important in the students' minds.

In countries without uniforms (most of Europe) I think teenagers dress in a less gendered way, and girls seem less obsessed with their makeup. The clothes they wear look more practical and low key to me, which seems like a very good thing.

When I was at secondary school in the 90's the teachers allowed minimal make up, e.g a bit of foundation/concealer to even out blemishes or disguise acne...I font think they ever allowed eyeshadow though I'm sure some tried wearing it ...I remember at the time the "in thing" at my school used to be carrying pots/sticks of lipbalm and cans of body spray and reapplying both in every class.😂

Children surely?
Some boys might want to wear it, some girls not.

I think probably a bit is fine, but it would need to be a blanket rule.

General point: Makeup is one of the minefield things that girls have to navigate like so much related to our appearance which is shit. In theory it's great to experiment with appearance, colour s and stuf, in practice a lot of people see the wearing of makeup to signal sexual intent or wanting to look better for (someone? men? etc) but that's a separate conversation to this one!

I wore incredible makeup as a girl, it was the 80s

With YouTube etc girls look too good with make up from a young age. They need blue eyeshadow, purple blushed stripes, clumped eyelashes.... we did our time so should they. This is me who is asking the girl at work who is 18 years younger than me to do her make up at Christmas. I’m ok but she is fabulous.

Surely we should be teaching girls to feel less self conscious about themselves, rather than reinforcing the idea that you need make up to feel confident? I dont think anyone should be wearing make up pre sixth form.

I had terrible acne and I expect my make up as a teenager made it worse. My mum bought me foundation at age 14 and I was allowed eye liner and mascara too.

Surely we should be teaching girls to feel less self conscious about themselves, rather than reinforcing the idea that you need make up to feel confident? I dont think anyone should be wearing make up pre sixth form.

Why wouldn't you extend this logic to adult women? Why should they need make up to feel confident?

In an ideal world, teenagers wouldn't feel self-conscious about having acne and nobody would care too much about how they looked. In the world we live in, not allowing teenagers to use make up to cover their spots at school is cruel. Even if you have the good intention of not wanting them to focus on their appearance - it'd have the opposite effect and make them focus on it more, not less.

I have no problem with a ban on obviously heavy/brightly coloured make up at school, but a total ban is wrong.

If I can’t really tell they’re wearing it, then it’s hardly sexualising them.

Oh FFS.

When are people going to realise the only thing that sexualises a child is a paedophile.

Our school has no rules. A couple of kids have brightly coloured hair, more girls than not wear a hefty amount of make up. They still learn.

Am I alone in thinking -why does anyone wear make up to work ? I'm there to do a job - I wouldn't wear make up full stop.

Why does society expect women to look a certain way and wear make up to look attractive -but the opposite of men?

Nothing to do with 'choice'. Or feminism.