At What Age For Daughters To Wear Makeup?

[sonogirl]

At what age do you start letting girls wear makeup?

 

[Serena]

To me it depends on what kind. I allow my 12 yo to wear lipgloss as long as it's not obvious. Mascara and a little blush would be next in the coming years.

With my oldest daughter. My criteria for allowing her to wear make up was frankly, if it was so obvious that I noticed it before she walked out the door, then she had to wash it off. She's a senior now and does wear more eye makeup, but she does it pretty well.

 

[Kallison]

Well I've noticed the more mature girls start wearing it in 6th. I refer to them as the "all that" girls. Very stylish, into boys, look at me I want to be popular. In 7th I would say about 1/3 of the girls wear it on a daily basis where you can notice it, eyeshadow, eyeliner, shiny, shiny gloss.

 

[winniedapooh]

DD 13 almost 14 started wearing lip gloss at 12. When she turned 13 she began to wear a little mascara and sometimes a lightly colored lip gloss. Now that she will be 14 in a month and a half she has begun adding a little color to her eyes-using those frosty crayon type things. She does it very lightly and it looks nice and not everdone at all. I went to her school the other day to drop something off and saw some of the girls in her class and almost dropped my teeth! Wow-she looks young compared to some of them.

 

[janette]

My 12yo wears lip gloss & a little eye shadow. This is one thing I decided a long time ago that just isn't worth a battle. She does care about style and I've also let her have hilights in her hair. It helped to have someone who has been cutting her hair since she was a baby do the hilights. They are very sutle but she loves them.

I'm glad though that at least for now she's not interested in boys.

 

[TalkisCheap]

Well, all I want to say is, I'm just 13 and I wear lip gloss and a little mascara/eye shadow. I mean you can barely notice and then you see these girls that are my age that look STUPID! First of all, I'm no makeup expert but, at least if you're gunna let your girls wear the makeup, at least help them the first time to like put it on. These girls my age look REDICULOUS! They can't apply eye liner, mascara, or eye shadow to their actaul eyelid/eyelash area. IT IS ALL OVER THEIR FACE I mean come on...it not only are terribly noticable colors but they're not even on the right facial area! Plus a little is never enough with most of these girls. They just keep adding more till most of my friends have a hard time keeping a straight face because you KNOW they think the look SOOO good with this face FULL of makeup. My best friend is 11 and her parents let her wear makeup, but she doesn't. Then there are these kids she is friends with whose parents don't let them wear makeup and as soon as they get to school go in the bathroom and CAKE it on. It is better to just let your girls wear SOME because I know a lot of girls who wear makeup but don't tell their parents. But, limit them because hey im 13 and even I know how stupid some of these KIDS look with more makeup than most adults I know! Not to be mean...but I laugh at the parents who let their kids wear any makeup the want anytime and as much as they want. Do you not SEE what your child looks like?!

 

[Mishetta]

I'd say 25 years old. Just 10 years before she can date! Just kidding! Actually I have 2 boys so I shouldn't even respond to this thread...but, I have 2 nieces. One is 12 & she's very immature. She also has had no desire to wear any makeup. My other niece (who is now 17) was already into makeup at 12 y/o. (She was a mature 12 y/o.) She applied it lightly & she was one of the last in her class to start wearing makeup!

I wanted to wear makeup when I got to the 7th grade. My Mom said "NO!" So I just brought it to school & applied it there. I got home before my Mom after school, so I got to remove it before she caught me. I was the ONLY one not wearing makeup by the way!

 

[Pig Pen]

I let my daughter wear make-up as soon as she wanted to....it was probably way too early, but she stopped soon and is now 24 and NEVER wears make-up.

I don't leave the house unless I am in full war paint.

I am of the philosophy of if you say no, they will do it anyway behind your back, so you may as well negotiate up front and know what is going on.

It always worked for me - with my son and my daughter.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Good question. The elementary school carnival was Friday and several of DD#1's 6th grade friends were there (they are at the jr. high now). DD#1 was babysitting. I noticed a couple of these girls wearing eye makeup. I asked one of the moms "did I miss the memo that 6th grade was OK for makeup?" I only think lip gloss is OK myself at this stage, esp. if the eye makeup is tacky.
Robin M.

 

[Gupsmom]

I don't believe much in set ages for things like earings, make-up, dating etc. There are too many individual things that go into deciding when it's the right time. Also, I think it's very easy to back yourself into a corner by stating a hard fast rule about things like this (esp if you have more than one child).

I guess I'm kind of laid back.. If it was done tastefully I don't think I'd have a problem with a 12 yr old wearing make-up. I would probably want my DD's to wait longer for mascara, but subtle lipstick, eye shadow and blush would probably be ok. I would definatly be more picky about how it was applied than at what age they started wearing it.

Jess

 

[ShuisFan584]

I think it just depends on the girl and how much makeup it is. I didn't start until I was about 17 and it wasn't much, just some eyeliner and mascara. My sister started around the same time as me, but she's 3 years younger so she was about 14. As long as she's mature enough and isn't painting her face with it, then she should be fine.

 

[janette]

My DD happened to see my post and I asked her if she agreed with what I said. She did, I also asked how the girls that aren't allowed to wear make-up feel. She said they do sometimes resent it. She knows one girl that uses make-up every morning provided by a friend and washes it off before going home.

Like others have said, I'd rather make sure it's done tastefully than risk what they might do on their own. Also would not want to risk the temptation of deceipt over something like this, communication and honesty are to me the most important things to keep open with teens. I'm hoping we can achieve that, I'm just at the very beginning though.

 

[powellrj]

I am also pretty laid back about this kind of thing. If they are old enough to ask, we are ready to talk about it. The same holds true for dating, going by yourself places.... When they ask we will come up with a plan at that time. My 2 cents is I think middle school is when most girls my kids hang out with will start wearing light make-up.

 

[always quiet]

I made a rule for my daughter's LONG before they could even walk or talk! 13 is a perfectly acceptable, non-negiotable age to start wearing make up outside of the house. They are allowed to experiment with it in the house all they want. I even brought my oldest DD (she will be 13 in Sept) a 'real' make up set that had gone on clearance at Target after Christmas. This way, she would know how to put it on when her time comes. I do let her wear that flavored lip gloss (clear) when she goes to school. That is more because her lips always really dry out in the winter months. She tends to take better care of the lip gloss than the chap stick, which really doesn't come out of the dryer too well!!

 

[Lorix2]

My DD almost 12 is only allowed lipgloss.

I stand firm at 15 for mascara, eyeliner and blush.

There is just no need for my 12 y/o old to look 18 in the 6th grade.

Why do our kids want to be adults so soon?

 

[pw2pp]

I think my daughter was 12, but she wore hardly any.
She is almost 16 and she still hardly wears any makeup.

One thing I don't like is if she wore mascara the day before, and then the next day (after her shower), she has some black (even just a little) under her eyes, I make her remove it with a Q-Tip with soap on it. I just say "don't forget to get the black out from under your eyes". I have to admit I am a little compulsive about it.

 

[browneyes]

I was 12 yo when I first started wearing make up publicly. I'll probably let my dd wear it at that age too. Sometimes she tries to sneak it on now though.

 

[pw2pp]

Of course, (when she was little) if she was in a dance recital (or something like that) they wear a ton of make-up to those - that was okay or to play with make-up with her cousins (they usually weren't leaving the house with it on).

 

[missypie]

This thread made me laugh because my DD (11) made the dance company this year and they have their first competition this coming weekend. They are supposed to wear full makeup - foundation, powder, eye liner, etc. etc. We went to Wal Mart and spent almost $50 on the stuff. Last week I gave her eyeliner and mascara lessons - tonight it's foundation and powder lessons!

 

[cruisnfamily]

This may be slightly off topic but I can't believe makeup is allowed at school!

DD11 is in 5th grade and they certainly are not permitted to wear makeup in elementary school. Next year will be middle school and I guess I'll see what's acceptable but I was just assuming make up wouldn't be permitted at school until high school.

Hey, the dress code prohibits so many things(including hair colors that "don't occur in nature" and dog collar bracelets/necklaces and limit ear piercing to 1 per ear) I just assumed makeup would be a no-no. Guess I'm living in the dark ages, huh?

Now, to answer the question, DD wears and has been wearing makeup any time she wants to around the house or neighborhood for play but she is absolutely not allowed to wear it out of the house/neighborhood. She's currently in the "looks like a clown" stage, thinking more is better. She does wear clear lip gloss to school.