What age did you or let your dc shave their legs

[onelastgoatthis]

Dd is 12 and asking to shave her legs, I'm sure I was around 14 when I started to shave...just after opinions

Can't even remember. But when she wanted to I bought her a shaver. Can't really imagine wanting to control that. Why would you?

Do you let her choose her own clothes and make up?

@Sameproblem and @sarah13xx, it seems we were all in the same boat. I. went through so much shame and embarrassment, all of which could have been avoided. I wish my mum would have dealt with it differently.

My 8 year old that the time shaved her arms without me knowing and was pleased with herself when she got out of the bath. She's 10 now so I assume she will just be telling me when she's going to shave her legs. But she knows what to use and has watched me do mine. I would just buy her the things, explain how to do it and let her get on with it.

This is a fascinating thread.

I’m actually surprised to see how young girls are starting to shave and it makes me a bit sad that they feel they need to but I suppose the correct way to look at it is that it’s them making a choice about how they want their own body to look and that’s a good thing. The way it should be. Just seems like they grow up too fast!

I can’t remember what age I was but I remember it being quite a big deal and I had to work up to telling my mum I wanted to. I’m really not sure how my daughters will handle it. I would hope they could come to me or maybe it’s better if they don’t even feel it’s something to be discussed!

I was 12 (summer of year 7) when I started using veet. 14 before my mum trusted me with a razor though (have always been very clumsy/possibly dyspraxic though so she had a point).

I got up the courage to ask when I was 12. I had a lot of dark hair. She said no I was too young. I went to a lot of effort to hide my legs in PE. Even getting into trouble for wearing tracksuit bottoms instead of my skirt but I couldn’t take the bullying.

I saved my pocket money and bought myself a Venus razor. It must have been a time they weren’t age restricted! It made my life so much better. My mum was also the same about deodorant and eyebrow plucking!! It was miserable!

I have boys myself but I’ll do my best to listen and help them with these tricky areas of growing up.

But I would possibly advise her to wax

I’m not sure many 12 yo could manage waxing. It’s pretty painful.

Mine was in year 6, she has dark leg hairs and was self conscious.

I think if she's old enough to be thinking about it and ask and have already made that decision for herself then that's fine.

They're her legs so ultimately it's her decision surely?

My DD was 12. She was too self conscious and miserable when wearing shorts during P-E.
I got her a wax machine and we did the legs together. She now shaves and wax but only in summer.

I was 14 but had had really dark, thick hair on my legs for about a year before that. (Diagnosed with PCOS shortly afterwards). It did get noticed and I got bullied for it.

I'm as feminist as they come now and in fact normally don't bother removing hair from my legs as an adult. However I do wish that my mum had shown me how to shave or wax sooner. It's not fair on a self conscious young teenager to ask them to educate their peers on misogynistic body standards.

My very hairy DS used one of mine and did it himself as he was self conscious. He was 10 and I had no idea.
He had told me how he and his friends laughed about being hairy. Obviously it had become something else.
We went out and got shaving gel and his own razors.
He's 12 now and I hope as his male peers all start to get more hairy he'll feel more comfortable in himself.

I was too lazy to shave my legs and got to about 17 before anyone noticed and made comments. I do shave in winter but only because i go swimming once a week

But I removed the hair under my arms from the moment it appeared - which was probably about 12.

I’m actually surprised to see how young girls are starting to shave and it makes me a bit sad that they feel they need to but I suppose the correct way to look at it is that it’s them making a choice about how they want their own body to look and that’s a good thing

Are they making a choice though or is it because they get teased and bullied if they don't shave?

Why does she have to ask?

I shaved my legs at around 12 but my mum gave me an electric one. I don’t think I used a proper razor until I was 14 or so. I think it is important to ask as a razor is a sharp utensil so I’d want to know if my 12 year old was using it and some advice on how to use it safely wouldn’t go a miss. Razor cuts can be nasty.

It's totally not a free choice and while I think we should support girls if they want to do this, we should also explain that society makes us think female body hair is disgusting when actually it's not. I removed my body hair as a teenager but I haven't removed anything for 25 years - don't mind going swimming, no trouble finding partners and no time or money spent on shaving, waxing etc.

I secretly used one of my mums razors and when she found out she went absolutely nuts at me, shouting about how i'd ruined my legs. I was probably around 12 at the time.

i will certainly not repeat that behaviour with my daughters.

I think most girls at that age are making the choice partly out of peer pressure but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t fully support them in it. At 12 what your peer group thinks is everything and hair grows back. When they’re older they might decide not to remove some or any of their body hair but it’s at lot easier to do that at 22 than it is at 12.

If she wants to, or feels pressure to (mine was very conscious of people pointing out hairy legs in the school changing room) then she will do it anyway. Far better for you to show her how to do it properly.