One of the 12-year-old junior high girls I work with at church has 27 tubes of lip gloss—and counting.
I am not kidding. She had everything from Bonnie Bell to Bath and Body Works and even Sephora in her make-up case. I know this because a few months ago she proudly, almost lovingly, laid each tube out on a table and said, “See? I was serious. I love this stuff.”
She’s not alone.
From 2007 to 2009, the percentage of girls 8 to 12 who use lipstick (and/or gloss) rose from 10% to 15%, according to the NDP Group, a consumer research company. And the percentage of girls who use mascara and eyeliner nearly doubled, from 10% to 18%.
It makes me remember when I was 16 and got scolded by an older woman at church for wearing eye makeup. “You’re a naughty girl,” she said, her index finger wagging wildly at me. Parents and authority figures today, however, seem to be choosing their battles, and if a tween or young teen wants to wear makeup, a mother is more likely to purchase it for her. In fact, 66% of tween girls polled by NPD said a family member or adult friend had given them makeup.
Maybe these tweens feel they must wear makeup. Stacy Malkan, author of Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry told The New York Times, “There’s relentless marketing pressure on young girls to look older. Not just from magazines and TV ads, but from shows like 90210. Those kids are supposed to be in 10th and 11th grade, but they look 25.”
Indeed.
How do you feel? Is it appropriate for a tween to wear eyeliner, mascara and lip gloss?
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