Lovelyish

This actually happens in almost all Hong Kong schools…except they still get their mirrors.

Girls just can’t put on make-up, or at least very minimal, natural make-up. And all students are not allowed to dye their hair.
Food for thought!

If anything, it will just make them feel self-conscious and distract them. When I was that age, I felt better if I thought I looked good, and if I wasn’t worrying about whether I looked good, I could concentrate better. And considering that teenagers are known for getting zits and then feeling very self-conscious about them, taking away makeup sounds almost cruel. (yes, I know that makeup makes the problem worse, but when you’re 14 and wake up with a zit the size of Mount Everest on your face and you aren’t allowed to cover it up, then that’s just a disaster!)

     If a woman wants to wear makeup, then let her.  But, sometimes wearing makeup has problems.

Sometimes wearing make up is a distraction in  school. There are so many girls putting on makeup during class and it was a huge issue in high school.

Well I don’t think wearing it so much is a problem, but putting it on during school is because they’re supposed to be learning.

they took away the mirrors…:o

what if your pen explodes on your hand and you don’t notice the ink until it’s already been smeared all over your face?? how will you wash it off??
yes, this happened to me x_x

@galadrielspitcher@xanga - dont your friends / classmate tell you that you have something on your face ?

I’m all for this policy but taking away the mirror isnt that a bit* too much ?

I think this is a great decision.  I only wish schools in the U.S. could get their acts together…

diiiislike.
if they did that to my school i’d die. 
i honestly rarely wear make up anymore, but when i do… it’s for a reason… BECAUSE I HAVE A HUGE OOZING ZIT ON MY FACE. and i’d like to protect people from seeing that. 
oh i also like to have people recognize i have eyelashes and eyebrows. they’re too blonde to beseen without make up. 

This is dumb. 

I could cope without the make up because I don’t wear it that often anyway, but I know girls whose whole confidence is built behind this mask of makeup who just wouldn’t turn up because they’d feel so shy.

Also, I think taking away the mirrors is a bit ridiculous. You’ll just get girls carrying their own mirrors and pulling them out every five minutes in class.

I love when places impose idiotic rules like this to be jerks.  It teaches kids an important lesson – that people in positions of authority are total asshats who aren’t deserving of an ounce of respect.  And Britain wonders why their students like to smash, burn, and steal things?

I understand banning makeup, but I have a problem with no mirrors. Sometimes at my uni girls cover the mirrors in the bathrooms to show “us girls” that “we don’t need to be so obsessed with our looks and makeup and looking good for guys.” I don’t wear makeup, nor am I obsessed with my face. But I like to know that I don’t have crap all over my face or that my hair isn’t askew from the wind so I can fix it and not look like a bum in class

That’s funny.

A lot of schools in England have “banned make-up”. My school did. Nobody listened to it and 99% of girls still wore it to school anyway.

@carpeD_M@twitter - @travelingwoman@xanga - @haley1262@xanga - @Shy___Away@xanga - A lot of schools in England have “banned make-up”. My school did. Nobody listened to it and 99% of girls still wore it to school anyway. Just saying. It probably won’t make any difference. Girls will just learn to be more subtle with their make-up, which is generally a good thing anyway!

At my (Australian private) school, we weren’t allowed to dye our hair unnatural colours, wear nailpolish (this was detention-worthy) or wear anything more than foundation and clear mascara.  Must say that didn’t stop me though, I was notorious for wearing black nailpolish (meh, I hated lunch breaks anyway), and bright coloured eyeshadow and eyeliner (looking back on it, ewwww), and my hair is not naturally red, nor purple a small part of me misses those rebellious days…

I wear contacts and sometimes they would get irritated and come out in class. No mirrors would definitely be an issue.

Didn’t read the article, but strikes me as totally misogynistic…for the reasons you mention and further, women (on average and in general) have a desire to express their beauty.  To ignore or even denigrate that desire is destructive to one’s self-worth and journey to discover true self.

“Daily cosmetic check?”  Uh, wow.  Seems a little bit anal-retentive if you ask me.  Are they allowed to have mirrors in their bookbags?  Probably not.  What if you had something in your eye or a problem with your contacts?

The whole thing seems rather silly, but I guess if makeup and primping were actually interfering with their education, then okay.  Personally I’m going to let my kids express themselves via outer appearance however they’d like as long as they’re still obeying the rules of the dress code.  And I probably won’t send them to a school that would enact this sort of tightass policy.

I think girls can wear makeup to school, but shouldn’t bring the products with them. You go to school to learn–not play makeup artist. In high school I hated when I tried to just wash my hands and I had to fight my way just to get to the sink because the girls were all standing in front of the mirror, applying more mascara & eyeliner to their raccoon eyes. Thank goodness I haven’t seen this occurring at my college so far.

Banning make up is fair enough, although personally I would say have restrictions, like nothing more than foundation and mascara. And whilst I think banning mirrors is a bit extreme (and does that include compacts by the way?), I don’t think anyone needs to reapply during the school day. The toilets in my school are full of girls who dump their handbags between the sinks (and glare at you if you splash a tiny bit of water on them when actually using the sink area for it’s intended purpose) and cake themselves in more orange gloop, spidery lashes and raccoon eyes.

On an aside though, the school in question here is only like an hours drive away from me…

It won’t reduce narcissism, but it might have a positive impact on self-esteem. What’s the problem?

This whole thing is stupid. If girls want to make themselves look
better in order to make themselves FEEL better, then they should have
the right to! It’s not distracting or affecting anybody, it’s not going
to make them NOT learn anything in school.

@Semper_medusa@xanga - How does that make sense when the girls will just be paranoid about their face the whole day since they can’t use a mirror?

i think this is a great idea.   i think cover up and foundation should be allowed, bad acne can be a self esteem killer, but the rest is totally unnecessary in school

@phuck_diz_shiz@xanga - sure they do! but then, cleaning it off yourself is hard if you have no mirror to see in!

Lol all I could think of while reading this was the Georgia Nicolson series.

This isnt a big deal… you’re not gonna die if there are no mirrors at your school where you’re supposed to be learning, not worried about what you look like. People need to get over it. If they are just SO worried about what they look like all the time, then they could buy a compact mirror in their backpacks.

That’s one of the dumbest things I have ever heard.  Makeup should be a reflection of who you are, and to have a mandatory makeup check kind of takes away the fun and individualism.

There’s a right side and a wrong side to this. Wearing dramatic cat eyes, having an orange face and WAY too much lip gloss would be an appropriate reason for banning makeup. But if it’s just a little eyeliner, mascara and lip balm (which is what girls that young should wear), it’s retarded.

I would understand not allowing the girls to bring the actual make-up to school, but not allowing girls to wear make-up at all is a bit much. They are concerned that girls are spending too much time doing their make-up at school, right? So don’t allow them to bring it to school. Having make-up on isn’t distracting, the act of putting it on is. 

I think it feels better when you are not looking yourself in mirrors.

Who cares about vanity.  What self-respecting institution of academics can lay claim to that title while supporting DAILY “cosmetic check”s?  The only thing that should be daily checked in high school is reading comprehension and rote mathematics.

Are they going to ban guys from shaving and putting on cologne? Styling their hair? I think if they take away something that distracts the girls, they should take away something for EVERYONE and not just the girls. It seems a little unfair and, as another commenter mentioned, misogynistic. Not to mention that if you’re used to wearing makeup everyday, you feel completely naked and horribly ugly without it (I know I do). I wouldn’t want to go to school if I couldn’t cover up my imperfections. I wouldn’t even care if I could see others’ imperfections – I’d still feel like the ugliest girl in school with all of my acne. It won’t help self-esteem and it definitely won’t reduce narcissism. It will just make the girls (or the ones who are used to wearing make-up) feel extremely uncomfortable and insecure.

@LoveeLikeASunset@xanga - Because they have to learn how to be comfortable with their natural selves and are actually comparing themselves to REAL people and not illusions. The mirror ban is only temporary, so it just gets people out of the habbit of constantly checking themselves, and the makeup ban is fantastic. I will say, that today is the first time since I was 12 that I have gone out in public without being caked in makeup….and that’s just sad. It’s a good lesson for these girls…to learn that they dont have to be fake to be accepted.

How will they check to see if they have period blood on their pants? =\ I mean come on, I get the no make-up in school but the no mirrors is a LITTLE much.

Ahahahahaha

How much makeup and spending in front of the mirror-congregation did the girls in that school do to have the board act so drastically?

Did the boys get to keep their bathroom mirrors?!!

Schools can make whatever dress codes they want. This one seems reasonable to me. I’m all for getting rid of makeup. It supplements girls’ already problematic self-esteem issues.

Shouldn’t they be putting all that time inspecting kids for makeup towards teaching education or something…. like honestly. If they’re distracted by makeup that’s THEIR PROBLEM. -__- They’ll probably find something else to be distracted by anyways really, and it’s not your job to hold every child’s hand and get them to study study study. As a responsible student YOU have to make the decision to focus and to study, mom and dad won’t always be there.

@Semper_medusa@xanga - lol you can’t just say to someone who wears makeup, “Alright no more makeup! You’re now magically comfortable with yourself!” And besides… I hate all this ‘comfortable with yourself” crap. What if I like it because I feel it expresses who I am? or uhm I’m doing it for MYSELF to make ME feel good. Or what if I just enjoy the whole process of putting it on? What’s the difference between that and people wearing their favourite clothes to school? It’s just such a waste of time to go to such lengths for nothing. It doesn’t promote any sort of change and the time spent checking these girls should be used towards education instead.

It is possible btw to be completely comfortable about yourself while wearing makeup. What if you just like getting dressed up It doesn’t always equal low self esteem….honestly. I don’t get up in the morning and thing my face is hideous must hide must hide! It’s just a natural process I go through because I just like everything about makeup. It’s like getting to be a different person everyday! Fun I’m still me but I get to change the way my hair looks or the way my eyes look(bigger or more awake).

In Korea they have mirrors everywhere, are pretty vain, and everyone tries to look perfect all the time. It drives the economy.

A lot of private schools around here do that. 

now they’ll just wear even more makeup out of school and look into mirrors more. they shouldn’t completely ban it but maybe limit it. 

I think it will do them some good, people dont realize how much they constantly look at themselves and judge their own apperances everytime they catch a glimpse of their reflections.  However a small 2×2 mirror would be nice for when you have an eyelash in your eye it just sucks when you cant get the thing out.  The mirror ban is temporary but a good reality check there should be a week every year when public places remove mirrors i think it would be cool to see the reactions of people.  As far as makeup goes i think its good that its banned from schools, im also a supporter of school uniforms, your there to learn not impress boys or start cat fights.  There will always be cliques but not to the extreme if everyone has to dress the same and appear in a natual state (makeup/haircolor) it takes away distraction. 

*ready for angry replys*…i think at a certain age school should be optional. i really don’t care what anyone says…school screwed me up for life and i learned hardly anything in the process. and the people in charge at school try to control everyone and it is none of their business.

@MarteenMullins@xanga - You only have to go through school till 16 in the UK.

School isn’t about getting to do whatever pleases you.