Facing Up To Clean Faces: Young Girls and Cosmetics

 Photo courtesy of: Sidewalk Flying

As a child my mother made a rule very early on. She told me "You are not wearing makeup until you are 16." At the age of 5 or so, I thought that was a very weird thing to tell me because I'd never shown an interest in makeup since it "stank". Being a child highly sensitive to everything that smelled bad (from car exhaust to perfume), I wasn't exactly upset. However, as I grew older, it naturally turned to resentment for just being told that it was something I was "not allowed" to do when I could see my peers starting to do it. I didn't want to wear makeup and there are some hilarious episodes from my teens in trying it and finding out it wasn't for me, like the time my mother insisted I learn grooming from a modeling school. I left one afternoon with bright green witchy eyes after being told to lose a quarter stone despite already being underweight - needless to say, modeling wasn't for me, and nor was the makeup after my Nana took over a half hour with brutal toweling cloths to remove it. But what I didn't like most was being told what to do! The real issue for me was having things explained to me properly, not just being ordered about.

My experience as a bewildered teen is why I think it's really important that we talk openly and realistically to our young daughters, sisters, girlfriends, nieces, etc., about why makeup for girls when they're still growing up is not only strange in many respects but also potentially dangerous. It's strange because suggesting that it's OK to wear makeup to try and look older before girls even have a clue what that's all about, is just plain thoughtless. It's strange because healthy young bodies should be exploring painting on canvas, on sidewalks, on walls, on objets d'art, before they paint their eyelids and nails purposefully. While not averse to the occasional face-painted butterfly (provided I can verify the contents of that paint), regular use of nail polish, rouge, lipstick, even lip gloss at an early age are a window into a world of high pressured consuming, objectification and the beginning of conforming to styles that marketing moguls use to convince teen girls and adult women that we're somehow defective or deficient without these products. And it's dangerous because we just don't know what's in these products. The average perfume contains over 4000 ingredients. Somehow I don't think they make labels large enough to accommodate all those unknown ingredients in our cosmetics...

Girls need to grow strong, independent in their thinking, capable, and free. They don't need to be molded to conform to certain standards, well before they can make up their own minds. I see early usage of makeup as being a source of making up not only the face and body but also the mind. That isn't healthy. Yet, 9 out of 10 girls are regular wearers of makeup by the ages of 11-14 according to the Environmental Working Group. So what do we - as mothers, aunts, grandmothers, guardians, teachers, fathers, etc. - do? Do we ban this stuff outright and leave a wake of bewildered, resentful, angry girls in our wake? No, I think there is a much gentler and more sensible path:

1. For girls from birth: For starters, just don't introduce makeup into a young girl's world under any circumstances. If she is given a toy makeup kit, toss it away quietly. You can always explain it was "one-off use" like food and give her something else in place. Be very selective about the use of cosmetic products until your daughter has stopped developing. Often it is as simple as not having the items in the house, period.
2. For girls aged about 4 onward: Spend time talking to young girls about the impact of advertising. I have found that it's never too early to talk conscious consumption with children. You can find the words to explain that "ads are things some people earn a living from; they're not something to live our lives by though". You can ask young girls to think through advertising and to guess at what they're being asked to do and why. Make it into a game while they're young, and as they grow older, they'll be thinking consciously about marketing ploys.
3. For girls aged about 8 onward: Show by example that you are a conscious consumer too. Take curious young girls shopping with you when you buy your cosmetics and openly discuss the merits and bad points of the choices before you. Go to a pharmacy and a health food store for comparison. Show the girls the long list of ingredients with unpronounceable names on the back of them and tell them why you don't use that makeup, using the old adage that "if you can't pronounce it, you can't wear it". In the health food store, choose organic, known-ingredient products, again showing the girls why. Showing what you do right will have much more impact than anything else.
4. For girls aged about 8 onward: Explain why cosmetics are not needed for young people. Don't make it a preach-from-the-pulpit and avoid saying "because I say so". Both those approaches are guaranteed to cause rebellion. Instead, take the time to borrow books from the library that show industrial cosmetic making processes, that show the origins of makeup items in their natural form and the additions of chemicals to transform them, or search online. Read to them about the known problems of some chemicals. You can do this very effectively if you take the time to reduce the language and concepts to their level.
5. For girls aged 8 onward: Have girls research online and in the library about the realities of cosmetics for themselves. If they discover things for themselves, they are far more likely to respond positively to avoiding the use of makeup while young and they are far more likely to proactively seek out healthy products when they grow old enough to try cosmetics. Make it into a project - a poster, a blog, a letter-writing campaign, a leaflet, a class talk, whatever works best.

One final word: Don't forget that the word "cosmetic" is very broad. It's not just makeup - it's sunscreen, shampoo, deodorant, even toothpaste. Being vigilant about what the young girls in your life are putting on their skin, an organ that easily absorbs creams, fats, oils, etc., is vital. And explaining why is just part of the age-old tradition of passing on wisdom from those of us who have learned, to those who need to know.

Further resources:

• Protecting Girls from Harmful Cosmetics
• Cosmetics Disrupt Prepubertal Development in Girls
• Teen Girls' Body Burden of Hormone-Altering Cosmetics Chemicals (the EWG report)