Makeup was certainly looked down on in my extended family. My mother wore it, but her parents considered her the rebel child of the family. She had two sisters. One managed to wear some makeup, applied minimally. She made it look like she didn't have any on, similar to what Muddy Boots said above, so very little was said to her about it. Her other sister made a big deal out of the fact that never touched the stuff, as if that made her morally superior. Good grief, it was makeup, not illicit substances! Of course, as I developed into my teens, my extended family tried to shame me out of wearing it too. That continued into my adult years.

Comparing this to my earlier posts, I suppose I see a pattern. My mother is still, to this day, hung up on what "statement" a person's appearance makes. She had been taught to think that any and all use of cosmetics was a sign of being a loose woman. Maybe she thought she was being progressive by allowing me to wear nail polish at all. But red, specifically, was outlawed because she couldn't shake that "wildcat on the prowl" connection, and didn't want to see her preteen daughter that way.

I've got cousins who have been allowing their children to dye their hair whatever color they chose, since elementary school. When I was that age, family would have blown a collective gasket if I had changed my hair color to anything other than what I was born with. I'm naturally dark. When I was in seventh grade, my mother did allow me to color my hair a dark shade of auburn. The change was noticeable only in strong sunlight. But she told me, if her parents asked, to say it was "highlights" and avoid using the word "dye," or they'll "start having heart attacks." I suppose I can sympathize. She was a grown woman, and afraid of what her family might say about her parenting decisions. Since then my hair has been every shade from burgundy to strawberry blonde, and she thought it looked "bizarre" and "not normal." I wonder what she would say about my cousin's daughter having pink hair at age 11.

The next generation came along, and she did the same thing to me. Policed my parenting decisions, I mean. My kids wanted to grow their hair long, and I wanted to let them. But my mother would take them out "for lunch," and ask me if she could take them to have their hair cut while they were out. I'd say no, they're growing it long, and she'd do it anyway "because it looked bad." Boy, did I resent the snot out of that, but looking back, I can see where she learned it.