Everybody knows that today’s teenagers are a long distance from Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, one way or the other. Just how far comes through loud and clear in a survey of the species conducted by Scholastic Magazines Inc. The resulting picture of U.S. boys and girls in grades seven through twelve (roughly age twelve through 17) is calculated to gladden a merchandiser’s heart and strain the family’s charge account at the drug store. Items:
> 87% of the boys use a shampoo and 90% use a hair dressing (two-thirds of them once a day or oftener).
> 50% of those who shave use an after-shave lotion, and 63% use an electric razor.
-> 66% of the boys use a deodorant or antiperspirant, 58% use mouthwash, 69% put something soothing on their chapped lips, 30% on their chapped hands, and 19% on their chapped faces.
> 85% of the girls use hair spray, and 67% get permanents—41% of these in beauty parlors exclusively.
-> 84% use nail polish (the median number of shades owned is 3.3); 87% of them use lipstick, and 59% of them use eye makeup.
>93% use deodorants, and 87% gild the lily with toilet water, 71% with perfume as well.
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