For me, make up has never been about fitting in or 'hating' the way I look and trying to look another way. Make up is a ritual and I love it! it's part of my routine as much as brushing my teeth or putting on deodorant. It makes me feel ready for the day and it's a habit that has been shaped by identifying as a clean and put together person. I always found it cruel for teachers to be able to control that part of my identity and I never understood what was so wrong with wearing make up. On a deeper level I think it has to do with the acceptable way that girls are able to express themselves. Our culture likes girls to be invisible. We love you if you play sport, don't care about how you look, have a lot of male friends, act chill, basically just be one of the boys. No one wants young girls to wear makeup because we think of make up as a sexual advertisement for men. We let women wear makeup because they're allowed to be viewed as sexual objects so if girls are not allowed to be seen as sexual objects then they shouldn't wear make up? Maybe we should change the narrative around wearing makeup and cut the internalised misogyny from school rules.