Preposteroushypothesis
Wed 19-Dec-12 19:26:17
Trying to keep this brief so here we go!
I was having a leg and bikini wax the other day and my waxing lady told me that she gives girls as young as 9 full leg and bikini waxes!! My first reaction was to be completely appalled and saddened at how young girls are being forced to grow up so fast these days etc, however, she made an interesting point which has led me to doubt this reaction and wonder whether it is ok in certain circumstances.
Firstly, she said that some girls are swimmers and are obviously very self conscious of having hair poking out and getting teased, I thought this was very understandable if the girl in question has developed particularly early.
Secondly, she said it is apparently very big with girls who go to boarding school (which is a lot of girls in the area where the wax lady works). Apparently, her clients start as soon as they get there first hairs there and get the whole lot off, not just 'neatened up', because 'no one wants to be the first'.
Thirdly, she said that although she does have some pushy mothers who are obviously driving this most of the mothers say they resisted but the girls will just shave if they don't take them to be waxed and then end up making a complete mess of themselves.
I think my conclusions are that:
I wouldn't take my daughter to be waxed completely just so she's not the first, I would encourage her to accept the changes in her body as natural and nothing to be ashamed of.
I would however, consider letting my daughter have a basic bikini wax to stop excess hair poking out the sides if it was causing her great embarrassment.
I also think I would encourage my daughter to choose to be waxed at the time she starts to consider shaving her legs to save her from a lifetime of hardship with the evils of shaving...but I can't decide if I have an age limit for this...
So I'm putting it to the mumsnet jury: AIBU to think that a bikini wax on a 9 year old could be acceptable in certain circumstances?
i would say when she comes home sobbing and refuses to go to school taka.
dementedma
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:35:03
pube removal at nine is just awful. Mind you, i dont get the whole pube removal thing in adults, so what do I know? a hairless fanjo in an adult looks pretty horrible to me, but I accept that others are ok with it.
As for men waxing their chests - wouldnt go near one. Give me a bloke with chest hair any day.....
SchroSawMummyRidingSantaClaus
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:35:12
Christ.
I can see it from both sides, I started puberty really early, I actually blame this for me being so short. I had lots and lots of hair everywhere and would shave in secret with disposable razors I had nicked from my DGM in secret. Because no one had told me how to do it properly I did end up with cuts, got called on it and eventually came clean.
I think a wax every so often would have saved my sanity a bit, I was horribly teased for my boobs and hair and a million other things so hair removal probably wouldn't have made too much of a difference.
Don't agree with full waxes though, just enough so it isn't visible when changing for gym/swimming.
1605
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:35:16
Personal preference: I hate a bare chest on a man. Is that the cultural norm at the moment? Clearly not, or DS's mates and Married's boy wouldn't be doing it.
I hate a moustache on a man, too, despite growing up in the 1970s and 1980s when Tob Selleck was the hearthrob du nos jours.
SchroSawMummyRidingSantaClaus
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:39:22
Spuddy I am really fair (Scottish/German), natural blonde and all (including my pubes) but there's enough of them that you would and always have been able to really notice them. Plus, when I say blonde, I mean gold. 
OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:42:01
I'm not liking the sound of boys wanting to get rid of hair 
I don't like hairless men at all.
me neither, i love a good beard and chest rug 
BinksToEnlightenment
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:47:41
I don't think it's ideal - but I also would not want to go swimming with bush. And if I wouldn't, why is it ok to make anyone do it?
It's just a wax. I don't think anyone's daughter is going to come to them weeping at 20 because they can no longer grow a full array of leg pubes.
AnyFuckerForAMincePie
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:48:28
Message deleted by Mumsnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.
PiccadillyCervix
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:51:11
Should it be even legal to touch a 9 year old's vulva for a non medical purpose?
1605
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:51:55
Anyfucker Having been a 9 year old girl in a similar position, I didn't have a problem with it then or now.
So I'm struggling to understand why you have an objection just because it seems odd to you, who has no experience of a similar situation, but are getting indignant because Caitlin Moran or some other media moran told you its WRONG.
FFS right back at ya 
PiccadillyCervix
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:52:24
No anyfucker, and it's not sexualised or sexist at all to assume men can be hairy bastards, but little girls aren't allowed to grow pubes/
PiccadillyCervix
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:53:14
If my 9 year olds pubes are hanging out and she wasn't comfortable. I would put shorts on her! gasp shock awe
BinksToEnlightenment
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:53:35
A bikini wax is hair that grows beyond the bounds of a bikini. It's technically an upper leg and lower stomach wax.
It is young, but if I'd grown hair there at nine, I wouldn't have wanted it.
Who would actually want it?
PiccadillyCervix
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:54:05
If boys on the swim team can swim in shorts so can the girls, why do girls need to show so much skin their fucking vulva is hanging out anyway?
FromEsme
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:54:20
When there are 9 year old boys being booked into waxing salons to have their pubes waxed, that's when I will accept that this is nothing to do with sexism/sexualisation.
1605
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:55:44
Chest hair is pubic hair too, though.
It's only because boys don't mature until later that they start waxing it or shaving it at 17 or 18, rather than 9.
AnyFuckerForAMincePie
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:55:52
9 yo's are children, that is why
no other explanation required
getting all "oooh, I like a hairy man rah rah" and perpetuating the idea that the natural development of secondary sexual characteristics in a healthy young girl is disgusting is fucking reprehensible
some of you say "it's not a porn/sexual thing" (to remove hair) but are happy to conflate the two very different scenarios in the same thread
cop on to yourselves, seriously
1605
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:57:19
So why are they being teased by other 9 year olds, Anyfucker?
AnyFuckerForAMincePie
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:57:35
chest hair isn't pubic hair
pubic hair is pubic hair
AnyFuckerForAMincePie
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:59:52
1605...answer me this
why are 9yo's seeing other 9yo's pubic hair ? (in the small number of 9yo's that have it)
because they are are wearing clothes that are too sexualised for them ?
because they live in a society that is sexualising children too early ?
because people like you perpetuate it ?
PiccadillyCervix
Wed 19-Dec-12 20:59:52
puberty can actually hit very early in some children before 7 or 8 right? So a 5 or 6 year old who suddenly gets some pubes...would you rip those out too?
1605
Wed 19-Dec-12 21:01:28
"Because people like you perpetuate it"
Anyfucker, I really think you're talking bollocks and the sentence above proves it.
Until you've walked a day in my shoes or anyone else's, keep your half-wits to yourself.
BinksToEnlightenment
Wed 19-Dec-12 21:01:30
No it's not a porn thing. That's total bollocks. It's a nine year old wanting to look like a nine year old = sans giant prominent bush.
Are you seriously going to say, no you swim with full beard! Your embarrassment can take a high jump compared to my principles!!
Nooo thanks.
