Girls and make-up

KATHMANDU, May 16: For Prasansha Bhattari, it began with the soft stuff. Here we are talking about gajal and mascara. She began using them when she was in her seventh grade.



After a few years of using these, now in her 12th grade she applies eye shadow and other kinds of eye make-up. She uses it on a daily basis.[break] In fact, it is part of her daily routine.



Her mother, Ranjana Bhattarai noticed the make-up on Prasansha´s face from the very first day. Her first instinct was to immediately ask her daughter to remove the gajal she was wearing to school, but she reconsidered and instead kept quiet.



“I thought about it for a while and then decided to let her have her way,” she says. Ranjana is of the belief that if you try and impose orders on your kids, they don´t learn anything; rather they revolt and end up doing the worst thing they can.



She then began buying the make-up products for her daughter. She still does so. She explains that cosmetics are a part of every teen and she asserts that no matter what she said or did, it would not stop her daughter. At that time she thought the best thing to do was to buy quality make-up stuff so that her daughter´s skin would not get damaged.



True to Ranjana´s belief, regular use of certain cosmetics is rising sharply among teen girls; it is no uncommon sight to see middle school and high school girls with skin and eyes that are definitely not natural.



Meanwhile, women of all other age groups, mostly the ´earning´ group report using less make-up. Rojita Pokhrel, 23, says she uses make-up only at special events and not when going to office. “I don´t think it´s necessary to put on make-up every day,” she says. Women are also cutting back on beauty products to save money and because the earning class have other priorities. Unlike the teens, they are feeling less compelled to do their face every morning.







So how does the ´non-earning´ group getting away with the money factor? Well, surprising as it may sound, it is the parents who are buying it for them. At the cosmetic section of Bhat Bhateni Supermarket, Renuka Niraula, in her seven working years, has seen immense growth in her teen customers. She now counts young teens as regular customers.



“They do the shopping themselves, but mostly it´s the moms buying them cosmetics,” she says claiming that the use of cosmetics has increased significantly in the past few years. She adds that these days the teens are definitely not sneaking these things.



So, it is not only Prasansha´s mom, moms all over are buying chemicals for their young ones, but the question arising here is: Is it progressive parenting or poor adult judgment? Dr Dipendra Gurung, consultant dermatologist and medical director of DI Skin Hospital and Research Center, judges it as the latter.



Regular use of cosmetics can not only damage the skin in the long term but also make your skin prone to allergies. Even the simplest and the most common form of make-up Kajal contains a chemical namely, PPD (Para-Phenelyn diamine). The chemical is responsible in bringing out the black color in the kajal. Lip gloss another of the most common cosmetic has ´silver salt´ in it. The prolonged use of the chemical leads to darkening and discoloration of the lips turning them bluish grey.



There are also many other diseases related to the continuous use of make-up products. The extreme case is skin cancer. The consequences are dangerous, but are the parents really unaware of it?



Apparently not. But the knowledge, however, has not stopped parents from buying the stuff. Mom Ranjana believes the bad chemicals are used only in certain brands. “I make sure to buy products of the best company in the world.”



Dr Gurung disagrees with Ranjana. He argues that, firstly, cosmetics are not strictly checked before launching in the Nepali market. Secondly, these are market driven products, they only look good because of the celebrities advertising for them and no one can guarantee their quality.



Young girls on the other hand seem least bothered. All that seems to matter is being able to look pretty and look like their favorite celebrity.



“I search through You Tube for make-up tutorial videos; I mostly like doing my eyes like Jerssica Alba and when I want a more glamorous look, I copy Megan Fox,” says Prasansha Bhattarai.

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