Perfume for 10 Year Old? Just B/c I'm So Sick of Bath and Body Works!

I liked loves baby soft when I was young. You can find really small bottles to try it out. Or maybe try some of the milder smelling imposter sprays. Very cheap, and they smell great! At 10 she really shouldn't be wearing anything too strong.

The best advice I EVER got about perfume I got when I was about your daughter's age from my best friend's mom.

"Honey, you want people to step CLOSER to you to smell your perfume. That's why you just use a little. NEVER satisfy someone's curiosity from across the room. That's just low class. May as well walk around topless."

She then went on to demonstrate... not how much to use... but the "proper smelling distance" (By having us "smell" her at different distances. I'd always associated her perfume with her, but I'd never really noticed before that I knew what it smelled like because I HUGGED her every time I was at her house and leaving it). How perfume is/should be intimate. Only your closest friends, family, and boys you *wanted* smelling you should know the smell of it. Hugging distance ONLY.

Then she dumped both of us in the pool to wash off the stench of us (we'd been rather freely experimenting with perfume eariler), had us shower and scrub, and then use some of HER perfume (in single half drops) at our pulse points. Wrists, ears, décolletage. (LOL... she did show us, but at 10, there wasn't really much of a décolletage). We DID complain that we 'didn't' but she said (god that woman had grace under fire) "That's not for anyone else. That's for you. Only your nose will be able to smell it, because it's right under your nose." Which, while true in part, completely bypassed someone else's face being there so much easily that it didn't occur to me for a few years that she sidestepped a "Whoops".

The very nice 'side effect' to subtle perfume (aside from people stepping closer :), is that your nose doesn't acclimate to it, the way it does if you spritz. You can BATHE in perfume and in a few minutes to a few hours you can't smell it anymore, although everyone 5 blocks in either direction can. Keeping perfume subtle means you're always catching whiffs of it as you move about, because it's NOT a constant smell that your brain just filters out.

It also prevents most people who are allergic to it from getting ill, and for hospital environments and no scent zones, it's very very easy to scrub off (5 half drops) for those who are highly allergic to perfume, although I prefer to go bare skin if I know ahead of time, sometimes it's unavoidable, but a quick trip to the bathroom takes care of most of it, and then you just stand on the other side of the room.

Soap, water, and a very mild bubble bath is ALL a 10 year old needs. If you want to give her a small spritz of your GOOD perfume (and I DO mean small) every now and then fine.

Ask you husband's mother to keep it to bubble bath items for CHILDREN. She probably means NO harm, but if you don't like the scent....pour it our or put it in the garbage. The kid does not have to know all the details.

Your house, your rules.

Blessings....

My 10-year old is into perfumes too so I think it's natural for kids her age.

One thing I've noticed is that my daughter doesn't know when to stop spraying herself! One day she put on some perfume from Justice and she sprayed herself 10 times because she didn't think she could smell it. Well, within a few minutes the whole house had to be aired out! YUCK!

I threw out all the Bath and Body works sprays because they are really strong. I got her the Justice perfume and I think the scent (when used as just a tiny squirt) is fine for kids her age. I used the 40% off coupon and it was maybe around $8? Perfectly reasonable and she loves the bottle.

I also allow her to use scented lotion. I get cheapie scented lotion at Target and the smell is not very strong and doesn't last as long. I stick with the fruity scents because they seem appropriate for a younger person. She loves putting it on her hands. By the time the smell has worn off she's lost interest in smelling good anyway!

Good luck!

Get her something expensive and mild. It's not worth the headaches. She wants to smell pretty like you do!

I feel your pain, I have no one but myself to blame, at Christmas I thought it would be a great idea to get her a bottle of Love's Baby Soft Perfume and stick it in her stocking, I had worn it when I was young....UGH...each time she sprays it on I get a headache. It seems overly strong to me, I am not sure if she is spraying more than one spray or not. I agree with the scented lotions...they are much more tolerable. My daughter has always felt cheated because she cannot use bubble baths and not many soaps. I would make rules for wearing perfume, like only on certain occassions ( not daily that is for sure!) One squirt and ask permission first...I would definitely say its normal though....most girls at my daughters school are wearing perfume and have started with a little make up. Thankfully the only thing my daughter cares about is lip gloss and nail polish ( for now!) = ) Good luck.

Yes, get her some perfumes of her own. When I was a young girl, I had a few bottles of drugstore perfume. Take her shopping and let her pick mild, age appropriate scents.

Why not find one that is absolutely right for her. Muguet is one that smells good and is light. You could get a high quality rose oil that she can use very sparingly.

I didn't let my daughter wear any kind of perfume or body spray until she was almost 12 years old. I just didn't think it was necessary. By 12, however, showering daily was no longer an ideal but a necessity and perfume/body spray was not a bad habit to start at that point. I bought her a candy cotton scent body spray (she picked out the fragrance) one day when I bought myself another scent and told her she could wear one spritz per day. That was fine for a couple of months and then one day, I kept smelling this horrible smell and I couldn't figure out what it was or where it was coming from. It smelled familiar, and sickeningly sweet, but I couldn't figure it out. Finally, after tracing the genesis of the scent to the bathroom, where at that point it reeked, I realized she decided she needed more than one spritz that day and stunk up the whole darn house. I made her take a shower immediately, as I was almost gagging on the stuff, and told her again, the rule was one spritz. I will have to share with her the story one of the other mom's mentioned about not wanting people to be able to smell you unless they are "within hugging distance." Love that! So, I personally think 10 is a little young for perfume, but if you've already let her, pick a scent that you can stand and then you just need to teach her that very very little goes a long long way.

Blessings,
N.

Awww. I remember Love's baby soft. :) I wore that when I was 10. My Grandma (named Love!) gave it to me. It's kind of a light powdery smell. Age appropriate smell, lol.
LOVE the advice Riley got from her bf's mom. PERFECT.

I'm not sure any of the perfumes you like are going to be appropriate for her age. She may feel the need for a scent since she's nearing puberty. Get her some nice smelling soap and/or lotion and skip the spray stuff. This will keep her from over-scenting.

It saddens me to know that you have a young daughter. I found this comment because like you I have a 10 yr old who is now wanting to have an girly smell to spray on her body and I also love expensive perfume and don't think she should wear those adult only scents at all but I wanted to know was 10 to young to start her on bath& body works. Regardless of the price, they have a variety of kid friendly scents that will fill her needs and as a mother keeps you from taking from her innocence. I'm glad your mother in law is in her life bcus with your mentality she would Dooley be focused on what's said to be good in life and not what's good for children

My daughter always gets a bottle of Love's baby Solft, or Love's sugar Kisses, or Love's Berry Sweet in her Christmas stocking. They are very soft and sweet, and age appropriate (IMO). You can find them at Walmart at Christmas time, for under $5, and gift sets for around $10, the rest of the year, I see them places like Beall's Outlet, Big Lots and pharmacies like Walgreens /CVS.

Perfume, like make-up and the reason for wearing slips or camisoles... are a rite of passage for any little girl and are times in which we just have to teach them... how. And in reflection of their age.

My girl is 8.
She has tons of perfume "samples" and testers that her Aunty gives to her. I don't mind.
Because, my daughter does not go around dousing herself with it. She keeps it all neat like precious jewels, in her drawer. And myself and her Aunty, taught her... all about perfume and how to put it on. And she only 'plays' with it, at home.

Its fine.

One day, your girl will be putting on your lipstick and high-heels.
It is simply, an older-girl's way of playing dress-up and pretend.

I remember going through that too.
Looking at my Moms make-up vanity, and poking around it and trying things on, make-up, perfume etc.
So fun, nice fond memories.

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