What every 8 year-old needs: skincare and make-up

Do you use skincare products and make-up? When did you start? Before you got your period?  If so, you probably played with your mother’s makeup and looked a lot like a clown. I certainly did that. But a US department store (that also sells guns, don’t get me started) has released a new line of make-up and skincare products (including cleansers and exfoliants) especially for pre-teens.

Author Rebecca Sparrow understands teenage girls, hell she’s even written written three books for them and gives motivational and self-development talks in high schools across the country. When a US department store chain announced this week that it would be stocking a new range of cosmetics for the tween market, Bec had something to stay about it …

I remember wanting many, many things when I was eight. White roller-skating boots. The Barbie Campervan. Raspberry lollies.  Shaun Cassidy. And the chance to try on my mother’s best swishy black evening dress. (The good news is she let me try it on once. The bad news? I looked like Klinger from MASH).   One thing I’m pretty sure I wasn’t hankering after however was anti-aging products.  Silly me.Times have changed. Of course they have. The anatomy and physiology of our skin, however,  hasn’t.

This week US multinational department store chain Wal-mart announced it would be introducing Geo-Girl – a new make-up line targeted at girls as young as eight. This is nothing new.  Disturbing? Yes. But not new. The Olsen twins launched their own tween cosmetics and jewellery line in 2006. Geo Girl is set to replace the Olsen Twins’ line.

What’s especially alarming in this instance is that Geo Girl has incorporated “anti-aging” products into their cosmetics line. Anti-aging. For eight-year-old girls.

The Daily Mail Online reports:

“The new ‘Geo-Girl’ beauty line is said to be aimed at the ‘tween’ market of 8-12 year olds, and will include blusher, mascara, face shimmer and lipstick that is ‘mother approved’, as well as anti aging products. According to the marketing team behind the line the formulas are designed for ‘young skin’ and contain natural ingredients like white willow bark, chamomile, lavender and calendula, as well as anti-oxidants which are said to prevent aging.”

First, let’s get some pesky facts out of the way. Eight-year-olds (and twelve year olds and even nineteen-year-olds) don’t have naturally deteriorating skin.  It’s not until your twenties that collagen production slows and the elastin in our skin has a bit less spring. You can read more about that here

Sure external aging can be caused by things like smoking and sun damage. What this means is the only thing our kids and teenagers need to put on their faces is some sunscreen.

Then there’s the sheer insanity of sending girls the mixed message that they need to both embrace and reject aging. Look older but don’t look older!  (And PS you’re not leaving the table unless you eat at least three bites of broccoli).

But there is a bigger picture here.  The gradual eradication of early adolescence. The fast tracking of childhood.  The “adultification” of our kids. We live in a time when 10-year-old child-star Willow Smith has a personal stylist and a distinctly adult music career aimed to appeal beyond the tween market.  A time when day spas that target tweens are booming.  A time when even Bonds started peddling “bralettes” to girls as young as six. (Thankfully consumer outrage saw Bonds withdraw the product line immediately.)

It’s hardly surprising then to learn the tween make-up market is worth $24million in the US. Lipstick, mascara and eye shadow are reportedly the biggest sellers.

How old were you when you first started wearing make-up?  Do your tween-age daughters pester you to wear lipstick? If our kids are going to wear makeup is it important to offer them an all-natural cosmetics range? And what the hell is “face shimmer”?