Going to the Beauty Shop has always been a mother/daughter tradition in my family. We get up early in the morning, trudge up to the hairdresser who treats us like queens and makes us feel, even if just for one day- Magnificent. We're pampered beyond belief- someone washes our hair, massages our heads, paint our nails and maybe, if we're lucky, throw in a bit of town gossip!
No, I didn't go get my hair done in the 50's, I'm not that old, but it almost seems like that's what I'm describing. My mother and I recently went to get our glam day and I observed how much things have changed.... there are no nail techs in hair salons anymore. When I asked why I was told they couldn't make money with all of the nail salons open now. Hmmm. Well that just stinks! Instead of talking to me the shampoo girl talked to her co-worker who stood on the other side of my head. There are partitions between the clients so never the others shall meet. I could pass most of this off as signs of the times- until IT happened.
The phone rang...someone on the other end of the line had an emergency. A botched hair-color job sprang to my mind. I have tons of friends who try to do this at home and ulimately regret it. Nope, that wasn't it.
About ten minutes later the troubled client rushed through the door. Panic lit up her face. Her hands rubbed together. The fright in her eyes was almost comical. One of the girls rushed her over to the owner who took one look and told her to go to the sink where the 'expert' could help her. Come to find out this girl had shaved part of her eyebrow off trying to get them perfectly even and symmetrical. Being a woman who doesn't wax I had no concept of this problem but it was intriguing. They worked on her for a few minutes and then broke the news: give it time, it will grow back in. She broke down-cried even. In fact she stayed several more minutes to make sure there was nothing they could do. I wondered how they could see her eyebrows through the caked on make-up that she wore.
Once they convinced her to leave the raw spot alone for a few days she went to the waiting area and had her dad take her home. Ummm, yes, I said her dad. The girl was ELEVEN. Just turned the ripe age of 11 in fact. I was flabbergasted! I'm fairly sure that I still played with Barbie dolls at that age. I know for a fact that I didn't wear makeup, jewelry, and mini-tight clothing with a push-up bra. I know that I had no clue what went on in a Hair Salon at that age.
Now, here's where I admit that I don't have a daughter of my own. I have a son. Is that why I don't understand this? I see three and four year old girls wearing high heels and makeup at the store. Okay, I see young boys with painted nails but that's a whole other issue. Playing 'dress up' is one thing. Being a grown up at eleven? Totally different.
You tell me...where have all the little girls gone? Is it possible they all grew up to write erotic romance?
5 comments:
It is almost a little scary. Last year my daughter had an awards ceremony for school. I'm sitting next to this girl thankful that I was next to her and not my 16 year old son because everytime she shifted, her mini mini mini skirt was in danger. Thankfully she kept the awards sylubus in her lap. I was shocked when she stood up to walk up from and accept an award. She was also an 11 yr old still in elementrary school! I would have sworn she was 16 or 17. I noticed a couple of other women look at each other in amazement also. After the ceremony I saw the middle school principle talking to her and suspect it was to warn her that skirts need to be several inches longer.
At the same time I think these girls do want to still have Barbie style fun without the teasing or the Barbies. The next door neighbor would come over and play with the *little* girls and their Polly Pockets. My daughter is now 13 and all of her friends still *collect* Littlest Pet Shop toys.
I agree that it's hard for girls to know what to do. Should they keep playing with dolls and be girls or try to attain the 'stardom' of the magazines they see. Peer pressure is worse than ever these days so I'm wondering if some do one thing at home and another at school or in public?
Kissa
Kissa,
I believe a lot of how a young person looks begins at home. Some little girls are dressed in scanty costumes and entered in every beauty pageant that comes along.
Look at Jon Benet Ramsey and how her life was over at such a young age. I'm wondering if her mother (a former beauty queen) had let her stay a little girl, would she be alive today?
I say let a kid grow up in a normal setting without trying to push glamour down their throats at an early age.
I agree with you, Mary Suzanne. Let kids be kids as long as they can be! My daughter is eleven. She still plays with her dolls,etc, although she's developing into a young women.
I think a lot of it is how they are perceived by their parents. What comments they make. I have no desire to urge my child into adulthood any faster than necessary. I find it sad to see a ten or eleven year old wearing makeup and clothes designed for adults. :(
I so agree with you Lisa and Mary-Suzanne. Let kids be kids. It's the same way at school. Kids are being pushed continuously to do more and more that just isn't developmentally correct- that's a whole 'nother subject.
Kissa
Post a Comment