Kibishi

Last week my friend was telling me about a private blog she wrote, but couldn't post, about something that upset her at school. The reaction she couldn't share was a response to the discovery that the eye make-up that her female high school student were always using was actually glue. She was essentially disgusted by the fact that these otherwise pretty girls felt they needed to thinly apply a strip of glue to their lids in order to create a crease, and the illusion of having "big eyes" (like a westerner).

To be honest, I have seen girls on the train applying this glue (and have been seriously worried they were going to poke their eyes out with the sharp applicator), but I didn't know what it was at the time either. Now that it's been brought to my attention, however, I have realized they sell the stuff everywhere and a lot of young women do use it... except possibly for my students.

After talking to my friend, I was pretty meticulous in scoping out my own students for the glue the next day... and surprised when I could not find a single girl in my school sporting the stuff. I have noticed shaved eyebrows (on both boys and girls) on many occasions, but make-up is a line most students are too afriad too cross. My school is one of the most strict in the Prefecture (20 years ago they used to have uniform haircuts, army style) and there are consequences not worth testing if you break the rules.

I read this one one kid's journal today: "I think my school's rules is very hard. It makes me sad." (and this kid is doing well and goes on to talk about how much he loves school).

While I should not be surprised to find an absence of eyelid glue, it not only opened my eyes (no pun inded) to this cultural issue (wanting to look "western" when the girls are pretty on their own) as well as serving as a reminder of how kibishi my school is compared to some of the local public schools my friends work at. I just hope these girls grow up to realize they don't need to apply GLUE their face to be beautiful (although it is apparently more common than I realized with asian girls all over the world - see below).

Anyways, here is a video of the eyelid glue if you need more of a visual image (see #3). Just a warning that it can be a little hard to watch, even if it is common:

http://makeupforlife.blogspot.com/2006/02/how-to-make-eyes-without-crease-look.html