STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

CarrieS · Marc Jacobs

I can't help but be shocked by this...

Kitty · Hermes

I think that's disgusting...

Bastet · Kate Spade

That's awful. Then again, I see shows on the Discovery channel where moms and their 16 yr old daughters get plastic surgery together. So, unfortunately I'm not terribly surprised.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

yep.

I have the same reaction to Moms bringing in their 10 year olds to get their eyebrows waxed though- give me a break- you're 10! Shouldn't you be outside playing in the dirt or something? I think I would have been horrified to know that waxing even existed at that age...

-- Edited by ILoveChoo at 12:17, 2006-08-14

sephorablue · Marc Jacobs

funny you should mention this--there's an article in the NY Times today about a movement to restrict the age of people using tanning beds. A lot of dermatologists would like to see an 18-year age restriction; they feel it's identical to cigarettes, being a known carcinogen. A mother signing a twelve-year-old up for it is disgusting. Do what you want with your own body, but don't deliberately expose your child to something so dangerous. But then again, you could argue there's little difference between doing that, and banning your child from tanning but tanning yourself--it's like smoking or drinking or binge dieting: your kid will still absorb the idea that it's a cool thing to do.

Hedvig · Coach

That's horrible! A 18-year age restriction really does sound like a good idea.

Kitty · Hermes

It's also sad that little girls seem to be growing up faster and faster.

I see these little girls at the mall who are like 8 and 9 and they're walking around with designer purses and high heels. WTF?

Lilykind · Hermes

I'm sad but not shocked. I would only consent to it if the 12 year old knew the health risks to a T...I know very few 12 year olds who'd even care about the health risks though.

In LA, I've gotten totally numb to little girls carrying designer purses thing too. I remember when I first moved here at 17 I was appalled that 10 and 11 year olds were wholly obsessed with Juicy Couture. When 14 year old celebs are endorsing these items and wearing them all over town (read: Emma Roberts designing a bag for Dooney & Bourke), it almost seems inevitable. Damn smart of the companies, but so sad for the girls.

I will say that I think it's cute/sweet if a 12 year old goes in with her mom for something like a mani-pedi or any other spa treatment that doesn't come with any major health risks. Also I had terrible acne when I was 12 and would've loved to gone in for facials. Most of my friends started wearing nail polish at 10 and I started wearing makeup that wasn't Bonne Bell Lip Smackers when I was 11 to try and hide the acne. My BF says it sounds like I grew up really fast and it had everything to do with me being from near New York City, but I personally highly doubt that...

Kelly · Hermes

Lilykind, I don't think you grew up super fast. I think I started wearing nail polish when I was 10, and I know plenty of girls who wear nail polish at 4!

I agree that it's kind of cute when moms and daughters get manicures or whatever together; I wish my mom had done that, because when you're just starting to get into beauty stuff, you don't know what you're doing! But it's a shame to bring a young girl to a tanning bed. I do think it's akin to smoking, but I dont' think many people really understand the dangers, and 12 year olds definitely can't. I don't look down on people who smoke or tan - but I would look down on a parent who allowed their children to do either. Parents are supposed to be protecting their children from the world, not encouraging harm onto their children.

ETA: This might sound really cliche, but I do believe that if my mom started me tanning at 12, I think I wouldn't have very good self esteem. If, at 12, my mother was already telling me that I wan't good enough as is, I can't believe what kind of emotional problems that could cause.

-- Edited by ttara123 at 14:03, 2006-08-14

halleybird · Hermes

I totally agree about the tanning thing. There should be an age restriction, although of course, it won't keep them from laying out.

Lilykind - I don't think you grew up too fast. As long as beauty treatments (like mani/pedis, facials, etc) are a small part of a kid's life and not what their childhood is centered around, I think it's fine.

FYI, one of my sisters started getting leg waxes at 9 or 10. She has super fair skin and almost black hair, and the kids at school teased her mercilessly about it. My stepmom didn't want her using a razor, so she got waxed. My other sister had a vicious unibrow that she was teased about, so after she begged him, my stepdad plucked it for her when she was about 8. But neither one of them was very appearance-centric as a kid.

scarlett · Marc Jacobs

sephorablue wrote:

funny you should mention this--there's an article in the NY Times today about a movement to restrict the age of people using tanning beds. A lot of dermatologists would like to see an 18-year age restriction; they feel it's identical to cigarettes, being a known carcinogen.

Time magazine just had a story about that too -- it said girls were tanning at younger ages and doing it all year long now, as opposed to just in the summer, and mentioned the age restriction. I started shaving my legs when I was 11 (fair skin with dark hair, so it was embarrasssing) and wanted to wear makeup when I was 12, but wasn't allowed to have much; I understand the interest girls have in looking more grown up and experimenting. But tanning at age 12 is too much, IMO, and I fear we are heading more and more into dangerous territory with things like this. It's teaching girls they need to physically improve themselves in so many areas and be way too concerned with that at such a young age.

Maat · Kenneth Cole

This just shows how vain we as women are and just how early it starts. It's so tiring. You have to have perfect hair, perfect skin, a perfect figure, wax all hair from your body, and be fashionably dressed at all times just to get noticed. And if you don't do all this stuff, everyone else is and that puts you at a disadvantage in dating, at work, at life in general. Same goes for these young girls. I can only imagine how hard it is to be the mother of a girl today. How do you tell them not to tan or wax when the parents of their friends are letting their daughters do these things? Sometimes, I wish that we could all just agree to throw in the towel and say take me how I am! ::End of rant::