i was looking at another link on PC&E that featured an article about how girls are getting into hair and make-up earlier and earlier. and it got me thinking about the teen.
i've always taken her for haircuts with good stylists as far back as i can remember. and i let her start wearing mascara and shaving her legs at 12. i suspect she started with the makeup earlier than that, though. heh. i took her for her first eyebrow wax last year after her 13th birthday. she was allowed to do this stuff when it started to bother her.
i think i've always cared about my hair (mostly because my barber dad regularly gave me boy cuts till i was in the 5th grade), but i didn't do make-up and shaving till 8th grade.
how about you? and, do you think i let the teen start this stuff too early?
Re: when did you start wearing make-up and doing your hair every day?
I started wearing makeup regularly and getting my hair done around 8th grade.I started shaving my legs when I was 10 because the hair on my legs got freakishly long.I was in a wedding and was asked to wear panty hose and was REALLY embarassed so my mom and aunt shaved my legs.
I dont think you let the teen do anything too soon. Especially if it was bothering her or is she was showing interest, it would be much different if you 'forced' it on her or something.
I was in middle school when I started wearing makeup. I don't think I started shaving my legs until 8th grade. My mom was weird about that. However, I didn't really know how to apply makeup very well until I was out of high school.
As for haircuts, I pretty much always had a blunt cut no matter what length. I always went to an okay stylist, but with 4 brothers and only my dad working, we didn't have much of a "style" budget. Any makeup I wanted I bought for myself. And we went clothes shopping once a year for school, spending maybe $40 per kid. I blame this frugalness on my now shopaholic tendencies.
I don't think it's too early. That seems a pretty reasonable age. I remember my cousin starting shaving at about 10, and my aunt just shrugged and said, "You have to pick your battles."
I went to a Catholic school until 8th grade, so hair and makeup options were pretty limited: chapstick, clear nail polish & bangs could be no higher than 3 inches (shut it -- it was the late 80s). I started being interested in makeup though around 7th grade and would wear it on the weekends. Once in high school I started wearing it nearly every day.
Hair was a different story. My natural texture is a very tight curl, but there was no way my parents were everg going to shell out for a good stylist or specialty products. I'm going to age myself here by saying that this was back in the day before straightening irons and good straightening serums were readily available. So I just let my curls grow out as long as possible (to weigh down the possibility of frizz) and trimmed the bangs and ends myself.
I started worrying about doing my hair around the 8th grade (and shaving too). I didn't wear any make-up until around age 17 (senior yr). that was only lipgloss/lipstick and some CG powder. It wasn't until after HS that I started experimenting with eyeliner and mascara. I have a 13 yr old neice and she's already into eyeliner and mascara, and gets up like 3 hrs earlier than she has to just to do her hair before school. I don't think there's anything wrong with wearing a bit of eyeliner or mascara when you're around 13. I just hate when the girls over do-it.
I should note that "doing my hair" meant that I could finally use hair styling products. I had curly hair which meant I always had f'd up hair (in my opinion) and no access to any good hair straightners or serums until after HS. Teens are more stylish these days than I ever was.
First of all, what are you doing on the P&CE board?
I didn't even know such board existed until you mentioned it.
?
I didn't start wearing makeup regularly until 3rd or 4th year of college, and now that I've moved I seem to care less (mostly because I don't think I'll run into anyone I know here). I didn't start getting that 50-dollar haircut until I started my post-graduation job (didn't have money before then).
?I'm probably a bad judge though since as you know I was never popular in high school and I'm still not stylish even after all these years. Also, my mom wasn't into fashion / makeup so that probably contributed to my late introduction to makeup.
I think I got my hair cut once at a place right before high school and did not go back again until after high school. I did not start going regularly until after college. Sadly, my mom cut my hair my whole life. I had straight long hair so she just trimmed it.
I think starting in high school, I wore a little eyeliner (teal green was a favorite-scary) and some nice light pink lipstick. I look at other people's pictures from that same time and everyone did the same thing. I started to wear more makeup in college. I still don't know what I am doing with makeup but I try.
I did not start getting my eyebrows done until about 7 years ago.
I don't think people cared or knew about a lot of the stuff they do now.
sometime around maybe 8th or 9th grade? since i danced, we had to wear makeup for shows/competitions so it was natural for me to play around with it and experiment some at home. i didn't really want to start wearing it to school though until a bit later.
as for hair, we had a local girl that my mom liked and she started cutting my hair in high school. before that, my mom did all my trims at home.
My mom wouldn't let me shave my legs until freshman year. I think I was allowed to use Nair starting in jr. high. Why? I have no freakin' clue.
As for make-up, I didn't start experimenting with it until college. My mom used reverse psychology on me with "You're too pretty to need make-up." And I still don't wear it regularly these days. Maybe some blush and concealer, although Lord knows I could probably use more.
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I completely agree with us. We had my H's 16 year old step-daughter out with us over the holidays and HOLY COW have kids changed. She lives in a podunk town in Michigan and had fake Chanel earrings and a fake Dolce & Gabbana bag, and I was like, "Who really believes you can afford something like that?" All of her outfits were so accessorized and she spent a good hour styling her hair and makeup every morning. She does a smoky eye better than I do.
I still neither wear makeup nor do my hair.
xoxo,
Almost 32-year-old
Hair -- started at-home dyeing freshman year (the night before the Northridge quake -- I thought God was punishing me!), then graduated to expensive salon cut and color at age 16 when I got a job. I never really started styling it until about a month ago...
Started shaving legs in 6th grade -- I am a hairy mofo.
Makeup -- wore occasionally starting in eighth grade, then a little bit every day sophomore year, then really caring about it sophomore year of college.
When I subbed last year at high schools I was amazed at how styled the teens were. Curls, perfected eyeliner, and ya, I even asked them how they did it. I think image is a lot more important these days, more exposure to media, magazines, blah blah. I didn't wear more than mascara until after high school, didn't do the "full face" until later in college. I was a jock and was in softball clothes most of the time. DH saw a high school pic of me and told me "I so would NOT have dated you. Look at you back then!"
I do not wear make up or do my hair or shave in any kind of regularity to this day.
For the sake of your question, though, I was allowed to shave in junior high and make up (except events) in freshman year of high school.