When is the Right Age to Let Your Daughter Start Wearing Makeup, Colour Her Hair & Wax etc?

You may have seen the recent article posted here where a mother praised a staff member at Sephora for helping her daughter pick out some basic makeup. The sales assistant was young with a full face of make-up (mum noted that she looked “just like the girls who had been picking on her daughter at school”) who spent a long time with her, was super friendly and issued several compliments to her daughter about her natural beauty. It was a lovely story but it struck me as a little odd that the mother took her to buy makeup reluctantly despite repeated requests from her daughter to wear makeup and have her unruly brows attended to. She was 15…….

Let me start by saying that I wear makeup. Every day. It just makes me look better and feel better and I totally get there are LOADS of women who don’t wear it, don’t want to wear it, don’t need it, don’t care. This is not to say that your daughters won’t feel a need to start wearing it, particularly when their peers start to, along with getting their hair done and attending to hair removal so I wanted to talk about when is the right time to start.

My daughter’s secondary school had a blanket no-makeup policy but as far as I was concerned, using concealer to cover up some pimples at any age could not be breaking any major rules. I still remember what it felt like when I had a red, angry pimple appear: like I had a flashing beacon on my head screaming “I’m growing a second head!!!”

I think there is a world of difference between allowing a 13 year old to use a bit of concealer, mascara and a slick of gloss to letting her trowel on foundation one inch thick complete with blush, bronzer, highlighter, winged eyeliner, false lashes and siren red lipstick to attend Geometry class. The last thing anyone wants is for their daughter to appear older than they actually are but makeup is fun and I think it’s fine for them to play around with that stuff on the weekend with some good YouTube tutorials or even better, a makeup lesson from a professional for a birthday present.

As for hair; once more, there is a big difference between allowing a few subtle highlights in hair that has lost its’ natural youthful colour thanks to adolescence than allowing them to go full platinum blonde (besides the maintenance and expense that would require).

And if your daughter is 10 years old and sprouting underarm hair, as far as I’m concerned you need to notice and act (unless of course she wants to rock the French look, then leave her to her own devices). And similarly if she is concerned about a mono-brow, hairy arms, legs, face – please for the love of God help her out before she gets teased, picked-on or bullied for it. Because you can bet it will happen if she’s turning up to school with a bit of a ‘mo or participating in the swim carnival with hair sprouting out from her togs. And I’m not suggesting anyone “gives in to the bullies” but they are always going to be a sad fact of life and if you can prevent in the first place, then shouldn’t we?

So basically I think the time is right when they start asking (within reason of course, I am aware than little girls want to wear makeup but that’s not what I’m talkin’ about) and pointing things out. Mum – my legs are hairy. Mum, I hate my hair. Mum, can I please get my eyebrows waxed? Sit up, take note and if necessary, take action and by that I mean, take them to a professional to get things done right, the first time before they take to their brows in the bathroom with a pair of tweezers and create a disaster.

Just my thoughts. xx