Not addressed to me, and I hate to drag us off-topic, buuuuuut, three thoughts --
1. I am one of those women who looks a lot different in makeup than she does without it. Without any makeup I look a lot younger, for one thing. While I am sure that in a decade I will be happy about this, for now, I work in a professional environment, and looking like a child is not really beneficial. At this point in our cultural development, looking put-together and appearing to take care of yourself is important. For some, lucky women, this impression can be given by combing your hair and good nutrition so that you look naturally radiant. Other people just aren't this lucky. In this respect, then yes, you should be knowledgeable about cosmetics and how to look like you care about yourself. It tells other people that you care enough about yourself to look presentable, and like it or not, in today's world, your physical appearance gets tied to people's
impressions of other aspects of your personality. Now, I am well aware that there are plenty of brilliant people who never look good, and I am not at all saying that you have to be beautiful to be a good employee/smart/a good person. However, there is a cultural tie between the two. Why else are we expected to dress nicely in certain environments?
/emoticons/
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2. Tying in with (1), I think it is a real disservice to us beauty-lovers (all of us included) to generalize (and I am not targeting anyone in this thread at all), even for young children, that wearing makeup sexualizes by default. This also goes for "full face makeup = girl is acting like a tramp = beauty ignorant = bad self-esteem" in some combination. First of all, this assumes that beauty products, and women's beauty in general, exists solely to make women more sexually attractive to men. This is frankly untrue, and it ignores point (3)...
3. Again, I think that mothers in general and some of the people on this thread kind of tackle cosmetics and girls' efforts with cosmetics in the wrong way. First of all, again, beauty and how you put your cosmetics to use is not just a reflection of how girls see themselves as too fat/thin/not pretty enough without cosmetics, or anything else like this. It is, when done right, an instrument of self-expression. In this respect also, girls need to learn how to apply cosmetics, and need to make some mistakes as kids and teens, to learn to express themselves in a flattering and pretty way that
they appreciate as older teens and as adults.
End of rant -- moms (or dads who have this stuff down pat -- I know they're out there!) need to realize that they need to instruct and
guide their daughters (or sons, hey -- I ain't judging
/emoticons/
[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> ) in skin-care and beauty and cosmetics routines. It shouldn't be a chance to deliver sermons on young people's self-esteem or sexuality (again, not that anyone in this thread is expressly doing this). If a young person is interested in beauty, then the opportunity ought to be taken to teach and to help them, instead of trying to make it a bigger deal than it needs to be. If mascara or eyeshadow (or whatever) is not "allowed" at some point when a girl wants to try it, it should not be a maturity issue -- it should be because the mom hasn't had the chance to sit down with her daughter and help her find the best (or safest) cosmetic for her.
And jeez, I am so glad I started moisturizing early! If nothing else, get the girls some skincare products.
/emoticons/
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