by Kimberly Foster

Created on: September 18, 2008

The "age-old" question of when a girl can wear makeup has much more to do with our fears about sexuality than it has with a young girl trying to grow up too fast.

Makeup has been given an incredible amount of power. A female child's first cosmetics are almost a rite of passage. We've made a child's first lipstick their "bat-mitzvah". "Here's some mascara welcome to womanhood." It's truly ridiculous. As a young girl, before she left for work my mother would give me a kiss on the lips so I could share her lipstick. I assume this was a practice many young girls experienced. It's a sweet memory. It also says alot about how girls view make up.

When you're small all you want to do is be big. You want the freedom and power that you perceive comes from being grown-up. All the female grown-ups you see where makeup ergo wearing makeup equals being grown-up. At least in the logic of a child. So makeup has been given a certain power that isn't real. We reinforce this belief by saying, "No, you're too young." But what if we take makeup's power away. What if we treat makeup like it is, a grooming tool. It really isn't anything more than that. Why should we make it more?

Once upon a time, I had some neighbors with twin girls that I absolutely adored. When they started school, I would drive them on my way to work. They were five years old and wonderful. They were of course enamored of makeup. They always wanted some of my make up before they got out of the car to go to school. Every morning I would sit in my car with them and put a bit of lipstick and eyeshadow on each of them. You really didn't notice it, partly because I gave them shades that blended nearly completely with their skin tones and partly because I never put that much on them. I also let them raid my old makeup case and go crazy with it. This was my attempt at demystifying the whole makeup thing.

Makeup shouldn't be anything more than what it is, part of a grooming ritual that's been done for thousands of years. Let them wear a bit, it's not important, being a woman is more than eyeshadow and mascara and blush. Do not make becoming a woman about the damn makeup. Being a woman is about being strong and beautiful on the inside. It's about character and smarts and standing up for yourself. Makeup is just the stuff that goes on the outside, if a $10 lipstick thrills your 7 year-old, big deal they'll be on to something else tomorrow. Don't make it into anything and neither will they.

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