Woman Interrupted | Putting on a face: The girl child – Episode 39

Women Uninterrupted is a podcast by The Hindu, hosting uninterrupted and intimate conversations between women, with an inter-generational focus.

In this episode, we speak to psychotherapist Rohini Rajeev to understand the motivations and the impact of makeup marketing, specifically on the girl child

Host: Anna Thomas 

Guest: Rohini Rajeev

Title music: Maya Dwaraka

Editor: Jude Weston

Putting on a face: The girl child

Women Uninterrupted asked Dr Swathi Shivakumar, dermatologist, about the impact of makeup ingredients on paediatric skin.

Paediatric skin is more sensitive than adults and more permeable to chemicals – Dr Swathi Shivakumar

What’s a good age at which to begin using cosmetics? Which ingredients should we avoid when we buy cosmetics for children?

Dr Swathi: There is no specific age cut off to specifically say it is safe, but it is better to deter makeup use for as long as possible. Paediatric skin is more sensitive than adults and more permeable to chemicals. Adolescent skin is acne prone. We need to keep in mind that many ingredients can irritate their sensitive skin, trigger allergies and some molecules have found to be endocrine disruptors and carcinogens. In general, these are the ingredients that are to be avoided in paediatric cosmetic formulations – parabens, synthetic dyes, perfumes, talc, sulphates, formaldehydes, alcohol and lead.

Are there any circumstances in which you would prescribe make-up for a paediatric patient?

Dr Swathi: Many cosmetic issues like vitiligo, acne, large nevi/moles affect the young patient’s confidence, cause depression, anxiety or feelings of judgement from peers. In those situations, I would consider suggesting cosmetic camouflage, like tinted skin care products for temporary use, while emphasizing treatment and counselling of the disease and its course. If a cosmetic is marketed as a cosmeceutical, does it mean that it’s safer? Dr Swathi: A cosmeceutical undergoes more rigorous testing of its core ingredients than an OTC cosmetic so safety and efficacy wise yes, it is better.

What’s the difference between paediatric and adult skin? Is it safe for an adult to use cosmetic ingredients that cannot be used on children’s skin?

Dr Swathi: Paediatric skin is thinner, more sensitive and more permeable to chemicals compared to adult skin. Adult skin is more resilient than paediatric and geriatric skin but in certain conditions like atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, or those with sensitive skin, it is better to use milder formulations for eg, a product without perfume/alcohol/sulphates that can dry out and irritate skin or trigger allergies. Also, not all patients have the same allergic triggers, so only on careful history taking and on examination are we able to pin point on most occasions what the patient may be allergic to. There are some so called ‘natural’ ingredients as well like neem, sandalwood, aloe vera, which irritate the skin and cause sun allergies; so, keep in mind that what is natural on earth may not necessarily mean its natural while applied on the body.

Podcast Transcript

The way you address yourself influences the way your child addresses herself – Rohini Rajeev, psychotherapist, social impact entrepreneur & non-official member, Karnataka State Mental Health Authority

Host: Welcome to episode 39 with Rohini Rajeev. We are talking today of an industry that has traditionally targeted the woman and her facial appearance – the makeup industry. It’s part of a $20 billion industry that has been primarily targeted towards the young Indian population and marketed by makeup influencers through YouTube reels and Insta tutorials and product reviews. So, to talk to us, I have invited Rohini Rajeev.

Rohini is a psychotherapist, and she is also a social impact entrepreneur. She founded The Able Mind. She is a consultant with Manipal Hospitals and a non-official member at the Karnataka State Mental Health Authority. Welcome, Rohini, to Women Uninterrupted…Rohini, I invited you here initially because I wanted to talk about how the makeup industry targets women’s facial appearance. And then you told me about how the industry has now been targeting children. For instance, there is this website for kids’ makeup in which a client talks about how her seven-year-old daughter wanted makeup. So, she found safe ingredients in this brand and she’s so happy about it.

From a psychological standpoint, what impact does this kind of messaging on beauty have on a child’s image of herself, her self-worth, her identity?

Rohini: Anna, going younger than 10…I’m not sure what exactly we’re trying to convey to children of that age. However, I think right now, in 2026, children over 12 and 13 are seen to be using makeup, especially in the West and now we’re going to…!

Basic skin care – if you’re using makeup to enhance how you’re feeling, helps you with your self-esteem a little bit – that’s all right. As long as you know what’s safe for you and, you know, a little bit of, I don’t know, SPF – sun protection – or a lip balm perhaps, or a kajal, which is very Indian for all of us. As long as that helps your child feel more confident and okay, and it’s not meant to achieve a certain sign of perfection or a certain body image. So, I think it’s important for us to address: if the child is asking for it, why is the child talking about it? And if the parent is wanting it without the child asking, I mean, there are more deep-rooted issues there. But under 10…I’m not sure what to say about that, but yes, you’re right. There are a lot of companies, especially in India right now, which are targetting beauty products for children. Shampoos, nail paints, lip gloss, eyeliners, et cetera. Are we looking for perfectionism? Are we teaching our children that you’re not accepted the way you are; you have to be a certain kind of person? So, what is the intent? I think it’s very important.

Host: Makeup brands are using a language of empowerment: self-confidence, self-esteem, sustainable, safe ingredients, as well as creative expression and chemical-free. We are also talking specifically of girl children here, not about boy children. Traditionally, that is the market that the makeup industry is targeting. So, how early is appropriate for a child to use full makeup? Or rather, how can a parent approach this conversation without invalidating a child’s concerns? It could be real concerns.

Rohini: Right.

Host: Peer pressure.

Rohini: Right. So, the first thing is if the child is asking, like I was telling you before, then the parent absolutely needs to listen, talk to the child as to, why, what happened, what are you asking for, why do you need makeup? Don’t dismiss the child, don’t get all judgmental that the child is asking for – whatever kinds, forms of makeup the child is asking for. Listening to them will also give you an idea of whether the child is dealing with self-esteem issues. Is she – because you specifically mentioned girl child – is she trying to cover up what she feels is not a great feature? Is she trying to cover up a flaw? Is that how she’s looking at it? Does she have access to social media, where people are talking about a fairer skin or a sharper nose or a pinker cheek or, you know, anything that is an ideal image, or the Korean beauty standards of glossy skin and straight hair, you know. So, listening to your child about it…pay attention to why she’s asking for it, and work through the, you know, the harmful effects of heavy makeup, and then take her through…okay, what is it that…we can come to a common understanding of what you can and cannot use, where you can and cannot use it, et cetera, to start with.

Heavy makeup – absolutely not encouraged for children until they’re 16, 17, maybe 18, if possible. 12, 13 – I’ve read up a lot about it as well. A lot of cosmetologists – who are friends, who have seen this – it’s highly recommended by them that you don’t do any sort of heavy makeup on teenagers. Maybe a light – like, a sunscreen, maybe a lip gloss, eyeliner, etc. It’s still all right. There is a certain therapeutic benefit as well when they feel that, okay, I feel more confident when I’m like this compared to, you know…because maybe my peers are doing the same thing, especially in a metropolitan or cosmopolitan city where they have access to something like this. So, if you look at it from those terms, Anna, having access to safer makeup, as they call it, where there’s not a lot of chemical components, that is a better bet. Definitely no heavy makeup.

And also, why are they wanting this? That’s a very important aspect. Is it because their self-esteem is getting affected? Do they feel that they’re not okay the way they are?

Host: And are there other ways to address self-esteem issues?

Rohini: Sure, which is why the conversation is really important, right? Like, for example, if your daughter is saying that, okay, I want to use lip gloss or because my lip is too dry or when I’m going out for a birthday party or whatever, that’s fine. But if she feels that she cannot step outside the house without putting on something on her face or looking a certain way, then we’re definitely looking at some sort of deep-rooted issue that you really need to address. Is she feeling that she’s not good enough? What are the concerns? And that needs to be addressed for sure. You can’t ignore it. You can’t yell at the child and say: okay, a city like Bangalore has spoiled you. You cut Instagram, you take away the phone. You know, parents can go in very extreme ways in the way they react. So, we’ve got to be able to be careful about that. Yeah.

Host: So, I was looking at those kids’ makeup websites, and on one of the websites, there is a young girl saying that she is scared of playing in the sun because she could get tanned and that her mother might scold her. And this is colourism. It’s fear of getting dark, not fear of… like, clinical skin damage. This is a peculiarly South Asian cultural attitude towards color – skin color. How do you address this? Because I spoke to a few parents before this podcast, and one parent told me that her daughter is depressed because she feels that her skin is dark, and that is why her friends are ignoring her. Or there was this primary school child who watches YouTube shows and she wants, well, blonde hair and white skin, as opposed to fair skin. So, what can we do better? Are we literally covering up a cultural attitude – a problematic cultural attitude – with layers of makeup?

Rohini: Well, the answer is yes, we absolutely are. And this goes a very long way as well. I mean, we are known for stigmatising or segregating people according to skin color, beauty – while it is skin deep – that’s a very strong aspect as well, you know, how you appear. Young girls, not just in Southeast Asian cultures, even when you go outside of India, I think there’s… how do you differentiate between communities? People look at the skin color and then differentiate, right? I mean, oh, you don’t look Indian, or you don’t look… What are they talking about? It’s skin color. So, there is so much deep-rooted bias against someone who’s of a darker skin. And everyone wants to sort of beat that inner prejudice that everybody carries. They feel that if their skin color is not a certain shade, then they’re not probably… you know, good enough, which again comes back to the same thing. How are you comparing yourself? Are your standards of perfectionism so skewed that, you know, you can’t accept yourself for who you are? Are you hearing it from your relatives, from your – even from your parents sometimes? Don’t go in the sun and, you know, you’ll become dark, or apply oil or apply this or apply haldi, you know, which is all skin lightening measures. Interesting thing also is that that if you go to take a passport photo, a lot of times the picture that you see is three shades lighter unless you ask them not to do it. We have to build that confidence in children that, you are who you are, no matter what color of skin or color of hair or facial features you have. Take care of yourself for better health. Like you said, it’s not about whether the sun – UV rays – affect you. It’s about becoming dark, not about being sunburned, for example, right? You want to tan yourself. Westerners go and tan themselves. There’s an exotic connotation to having slightly darker skin. So, it’s always about skin color, which is a very, very wrong way of, you know, social construct around colorism. Like you say, it’s borderline racism, isn’t it? And I do think that we should be very mindful of that, about how we talk to children. What’s the first thing you tell a child when you see them? What are you talking about? Are you saying: what a sweet child or are you saying what a beautiful child? Are you saying what a cute child? Because cute, beautiful, fair, are all beauty standards. We’re not talking about the character or the behaviour of the child. So, the way we address children, I think, Anna, needs to change so that they start looking at, okay, nobody cares what color I am. Whether you’re brown, you’re black, you’re peach… Apparently, peach is one of the colors. Children talk about it all the time because that’s what they…

Host: Yeah.

Rohini: Glass skin.

Host: Yes.

Rohini: Okay. The kindergarten rhymes as well, right? Yeah. Rosy lips. Yeah. Dimpled chin. So, we haven’t moved from there.

Host: So, we need to change the vocabulary around how you take care of your skin as opposed to, well, use makeup to cover up your…to cover up your flaws.

Rohini: Your flaws, right? Are we focusing on the flaws? Are we focusing and not accepting ourselves for who we are? What are we seeing when we look at the mirror? That’s what the child is looking at as well. So, it’s not really about how you address it with your child; it’s about how you address it with yourself. If as a mother, I’m going to say, oh my god, I’ve become so dark, my child is watching me. My child is going to think that, oh, it’s not okay to be dark. I may never say that to my child, but he or she is watching. The way you address yourself, your self-concept, influences the way a child looks at himself or herself as well. So that change also has to happen.

Host: So that was Rohini Rajeev on Women Uninterrupted. She has 24 years of experience in the mental health space behind her. And we were talking about the influence of the makeup industry on young children – young girl children specifically. Thank you, Rohini. Signing out from the Women Uninterrupted podcast, brought to you by The Hindu.

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