Should little girls use make-up?
Kim Kardashian is taking flak again over Nori’s appearance – but are adult hairstyles and make-up really bad for kids?
SHE’S no stranger to criticism for the way she dresses her daughter. How much designer gear does one kid need, people have asked. Is that a real fur collar? And that Louis Vuitton handbag – whatever next? Then there was the corset she was spotted wearing over her dress last year. Age-inappropriate much, people protested. The child is just four years old!
Well, North West is five now and the controversy just keeps on coming. Kim Kardashian (37) was dissed from a dizzy height recently for straightening her eldest’s curls into a sleek ponytail, a look the internet leapt on after mom and daughter stepped out for ice cream in New York.
“Ya’ll . . . Kim really straightened out her baby’s hair,” one Twitter user said. “That’s sad. What is she, like six? Leave her natural hair alone.”
At the other end of the scale is actress Halle Berry (51). She feels so strongly about maintaining 10-year-old daughter Nahla’s naturally curly mane she took her ex-boyfriend to court in 2014 for changing it. Not only did model Gabriel Aubry (41) have the girl’s locks straightened, he had highlights added too – and Halle was outraged.
She believed it was an attempt by Gabriel to stifle Nahla’s biracial identity, and a judge agreed. Neither parent had the right to change the girl’s hair from its natural state, the court ruled.
So Nahla’s hair is safe – but what about Nori’s? Is Kim wrong to straighten it? Is there an age when it’s okay for moms to suggest their children change their natural hair or introduce them to make-up?
NATURAL PRIDE
Olivia Davidson, a Cape Town style expert who heads Davidson Image and Style Management, agrees with Halle’s stance.
“Young girls should be made to feel proud of their natural hair rather than spending their childhood longing for something they don’t have.”
She believes it should be up to the child to decide what they want to do with their hair. “They can start experimenting when they develop their own style.” This usually happens when kids hit their tweens – between the ages of 10 and 12.
Even so, you have to be careful, Davidson warns. Straightening a young child’s hair by blow-drying or flatironing damages the strands.
“Heat will definitely damage hair over time and cause it to become drier and brittle. Hairdryers and straighteners need to be used correctly with the right products, and these can be expensive.”
The occasional blow dry or flatiron for a special event is okay – but no more than that.
PREMATURE MATURING
Nori’s controversial corset matured her beyond her years, critics said, and made people wonder if Kim would allow her daughter to step out in make-up next.
Actually, when North was just one the reality TV star shared that her baby loved to powder and paint her little face.
“She’s obsessed with make-up and watching me get ready and getting ready herself. She just loves the process – she couldn’t be more girly-girl,” Kim said.
But since then she’s said Nori will have to wait until her tweens before she starts experimenting with cosmetics.
It’s an age Davidson agrees with. “The appropriate make-up age is different for everyone but puberty would be a good start,” she explains. “That’s when it can help with self-confidence and expressing yourself, especially if you start developing problem skin or need braces.”
But parents should teach their children good skincare with age-appropriate products to ensure the make-up doesn’t prematurely damage the skin.
“A good skincare routine and address- ing problem skin before it gets worse is the most important factor.”
CONFIDENCE BOOST?
Getting too used to make-up can damage self-esteem, research suggests. One in five girls who’ve worn make-up between the ages of eight and 18 feel unattractive when their faces are bare, a survey by the Renfrew Centre Foundation in the USA found. The girls felt as if there was something missing from their face whenever they went without make-up.
Of the girls who wore make-up, 65% started wearing it between the ages of eight and 13. Another 27% never leave the house without make-up.
This is worrying, as low self-esteem in young girls is on the rise, says Astrid Martalas, a Cape Town-based psychologist. “One of the culprits is the media, which tells girls what they should look like and girls are presented with an objectified body consciousness. If they don’t or can’t conform, there’s an increased risk of depression, anxiety and eating disorders.”
Wearing make-up and sexualised clothing is often an attempt by teen girls to conform and be more acceptable when going out, she adds.
“Developmentally, the preteen years are the time when young people have to establish their own identity and they’re easily influenced by their environment,” Martalas explains.
So it’s important for girls to form close and healthy relationships with family members. “Girls who partake in sport and other similar activities tend to have a healthier and more realistic self-image.”
Davidson agrees that when girls start wearing make-up from a young age their self-esteem is bound to suffer as they grow older.
“Most girls will at some stage want to play around with their mom’s make-up and walk around in her heels. That’s all part of growing up,” she says.
“But I think a mom putting make-up on a five-year-old before she has even grasped the concept of what make-up is, is a bad idea. At that age it should be used only to play with, not in a serious way.”