What age...

[Paidiske]

The problem with playing with make up as a toddler is that it's more likely to be smeared on the wall than worn appropriately. (Ask me how I know....)

More seriously, Mike, I hope you're kidding, at least a little bit. The "assigned" role of being pretty, in particular, is one I'd want to call into question as to whether it's really a Christian value at all.

 

[Meowzltov]

It depends on what kind of makeup for which age. These are the boundaries I had with my daughter, simply "can't wear more than this." In fifth grade, it is okay for girls to wear a clear lip gloss. In sixth grade, they can add a brown mascara. In seventh and eighth grade, they can add a single shade of eye shadow and lighter or neutral shades of lip gloss. In high school they can start wearing lip stick-- but make sure it is light pinks and neutral tones like nude and mauve (no reds and burgundies for example -- too dark) and the darker the hair, the darker the lip stick shade they can get away with. They can start wearing blush. If they have acne, let them wear a base to help cover up. At age sixteen, let them start making their own choices, but draw the line if they start looking like a harlot, and you know exactly what that means -- no heavy makeup. Have them stay with a translucent base unless they have acne, no black eye liner, no eyebrow pencil just two or three shades of eye shadow at the most and it should look attractive, not gaudy. Keep in mind that a lot of girls won't want to wear that much; many are very practical. My daughter often wore none at all -- she turned out to be quite the Tom boy until whe was in her late teens.

 

[Meowzltov]

I suppose middleschool is appropriate to start really wearing makeup. All of my daughters played with my wife's makeup occasionally starting as toddlers though, and I think that's fine. Kids need to learn their assigned gender roles and I worry a little bit about any girl who doesn't play with makeup when they're young, just like I'd be a bit concerned if my boys had no interest in "playing with" guns and chainsaws and fire and motorcycles/snowmobiles/atvs (with appropriate supervision). Girls have to learn to be pretty and boys have to learn to be handsome and valuable..

Not sure if I'm kidding or not

I played at putting on make up a few times when I was a little girl, always when my mom wasn't home. Hehehehe I think it's normal for kids to role play the same sex parent. It's the same thing as when you were a toddler and put on your mom's shoes or apron. You do it less times than the fingers on your hand, but no one goes through their childhood without such role playing.

 

[Meowzltov]

As a dude, I tend to think minimal makeup is more attractive anyway. My ex piled it on, justifying it because she was a hair stylist, but I always preferred when she didn't wear any (or very little). So I tend to dislike heavy make up on women in general.

Teach this to your daughter when she is little. When she is older she will remember it. Even if she goes through a "phase," the odds are pretty good that you will have an impact.

 

[Meowzltov]

And yet most girls age 13 and over, regardless of their complexion, wore makeup on a daily basis. Not for boys, not for adults, but for themselves.

How very true. Females are innately designed to want to look pretty. When we are three, and have no desire for male companionship, we are dressing up like Cinderella.

 

[sylverpiano]

I am not sure what age would be appropriate. I was a very shy teenager, and did very little to draw attention to myself. I am now 4i, and I still use almost no make up. I use a little to cover up the dark circles under my eyes.

 

[Cimorene]

I've been wearing it since I was in the 7th grade. So age 12, turned 13 that year. That's when almost all my friends started wearing it regularly. I've never heard of somebody not being allowed to wear makeup until they're 16. I know a lot of girls who didn't wear it, but that was bc they didn't want to not bc they couldn't.

 

[Paidiske]

It probably depends a bit on where you are, Cimorene. I think in America most schools don't have a uniform? In Australia, almost all schools have a uniform, and forbidding make up would be a routine part of that. So some of the pressure to adopt make up early (to wear it to school) wouldn't exist here in the same way that I imagine it exists elsewhere.

If that makes sense?

 

[Cimorene]

It probably depends a bit on where you are, Cimorene. I think in America most schools don't have a uniform? In Australia, almost all schools have a uniform, and forbidding make up would be a routine part of that. So some of the pressure to adopt make up early (to wear it to school) wouldn't exist here in the same way that I imagine it exists elsewhere.

If that makes sense?

I'm sure it depends on where you live, so that does make sense. It still surprises me a lot if girls in Australia are forbidden from wearing makeup now. I go to an OHS & students are from around the whole world. I have friends in Australia. We went to Perth & Melbourne in 2015 to visit. Every girl our age wore makeup, like not just them but their friends who go to local schools. Two of my friends even gave me money to buy them palettes when I was in Chicago that summer & mail to them bc they are so much less in the US than in Australia. I went to a magnet (public) school in Chicago that had uniforms & makeup was allowed. Idk that anybody in the grades I was in there wanted to wear it but most middle school girls did. It was K-8. My mom helped my sister learn how to wear it. Then she got bored with it, lol.

Just thought of a question. So no girls can wear makeup to public schools there? Like even if you're 18 & still in school?

 

[thehehe]

I started to use makeup when I was around 13/15 : only a discreet mascara and BB cream. I think this is very important at this age to have a kind of "education of make-up", to know what is ugly or not, pretty or not. My own parents did not allow us to go outside with a big make-up because it was ugly and too much (one brings the other). I am almost ashamed of what I could wear at age 15/16...
I started eye-liner or lipstick this year, when I won self-confidence in my feminity and mostly precision. Actually as a teen, I did not wish to look like a woman but like all others teens with a nice skin, long hair and long eyelashes, so I had no temptation for lipstick in particular.

My girly relationship with make-up evolved : from hiding my face, it became a way to express and to understand my feminity. For this reason, I think parents should allow discreet make-up quite early but be very careful with the way their daughters use it, especially foundation : it must not be a way to hide herself and to give her a bad opinion of her "natural self". For me, at the beginning, it was really not healthy.
Girls really need to be teached how to wear make-up!