Hairy legs on 5 year old girl

[Miggins]

My 5 year old daughter has hairy legs. She has recently become self conscious about them telling me they are hairier than anyone else in her class, also that another child told her they were hairy. I hate to see her upset about something like this at such a young age and don't really know how to deal with it. Anyone else with daughter with similar concern?

[JustFabulous]

At 5?

My dd is 9 and has never said a word about anything like that.

As for dealing with it, you tell her it is normal and everyone has hairs on their legs.

[Spinaroo]

Yes, my daughter is also very hairy, both arms and legs. When she was younger she had a really hairy back as well but less so now. I do the usual , tell her to let people know if they say something to upset her but let her know everyone is different and that this is not an issue. Kids will always sound cruel when sometimes they are just voicing an observation.

[LynetteScavo]

"Kids will always sound cruel when sometimes they are just voicing an observation."

At this age some girls will be much more hairy than boys, and as most women have smooth legs, small children will find this different.

I'll be watching this thread to see at what age people think removing leg hair is acceptable for a very hairy daughter.

[ogredownstairs]

DD (6) is the same - it's blonde, but thick and v.noticeable on her arms and legs, much more so than other girls her age. Runs in the family a bit I think as DB was similarly hairy, although his was also on his back. She gets a bit upset when people ( usually boys in her class) comment on it. Not thinking too far ahead about it at the moment - sort of expecting it to lessen as she gets older. If it doesn't and she's bothered about it at 12 or 13 we might look at removal. If she stays blonde I don't think it'll be a big problem. (DS (9) is the same but no-one has ever commented.)

[mummabear1]

Hi there,

My two daughters are the same. I would wait for a bit to see whether its a passing phase. Sometimes kids notice things and then forget all about it as they get used to seeing it.

Next, if still having issues .... I would maybe try a hair lightener. This is what we did initially but the cream was always a little itchy on my daughters skin.

So ... at 6.7yo my eldest daughter began veeting her lower legs with my help. They were like mans legs (also hairy on the thighs) and she was wanting to pull out of swimming because of the comments and stares. I would hang off as long as you can though as its a bit of a hassle. I kept my daughter in capris and 3/4 leggings for most of summer and that hid a lot. Also good for when you are upside down on the jungle gym and not wanting to flash your knickers :)

My daughters legs were very hairy and dark at 5 too but its around 7ish I think the hurtful comments can start. My eldest daughter is very shy and sensitive and it doesnt take much to hurt her feelings. My younger daughter I think will tell someone to nick off if they make a comment on her hairy legs and probably wont give it another thought. It really depends on how you think your child is being affected by it.

At the end of the day its an easy problem to fix and nearly every woman de-fluffs her legs eventually anyway. Who cares if your daughter chooses to do it a bit earlier. Its no ones business but yours and hers anyway. Pre-kids I would have thought my daughters would have de-haired themselves at around 12 like I did but they were hairier at 5 then I was at 12!

My daughters are hairy all over and this was an area that was easy to remedy and made a huge difference to her. Not sure what we are going to do about the arms, backs tho!

Good luck :)

[PeskyRat]

My 8 year old DTD's have this also. They are both quite dark skinned and of mixed race with dark hair on their legs (and also back and arms, but they don't seem to notice this).

One has been upset by it due to having been teased a bit at school.

The other is not bothered by it at all.

I told my upset DTD that I think she is still beautiful, most of us have hair on our legs and due to the colour of her skin I felt that the hair wasn't too noticeable.

I then asked her how she felt about it. She said she didn't mind it herself, but just felt embarrassed and upset if others mentioned it. We then had a little chat about responses she could give if teased again and she has been fine about it ever since.

I have also told both of them that at any time, if they themselves start to feel uncomfortable about the hair, there are many things we can do to sort it (I mentioned special creams, lightening etc).

I would personally go down the lightening route with mine first, as the hair is quite fine but dark and their skin is quite robust.

[Fifiduncan]

My 5 year old has very hairy legs and she is quite conscious of them, she often comments on them and how she is different from her friends in class but the other problem we have with them being so hairy is that she finds it uncomfortable to wear leggings or tights. I took us a while to realise that this was her reason for not liking tights, but one day when I was putting leggings on she kept saying not to pinch them to pull them up her leg, I told her that I wasn't pinching her legs just the material so she was being silly and that's when it all became clear - I was pulling the hair along with the material to get the leggings up and on. I too would be interested to hear suggestions on hair removal for a girl so young xx

[MetallicInk]

When I was younger my sister was obsessed with the hair on her legs. It was an issue from about 5 too and I shaved it off for her when she was 6 ( I was 12) at the time my mum went nuts but looking back she said it wasn't really that big a deal. It made my sister feel better and done her no harm.