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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

11 year old girls having their eyebrows done?

123 replies

TheHouseOnBellSt · 18/07/2015 08:56

By "done" I mean waxed....my sister has just had her 11 year old's brows done at a local salon because "she's going to high school isn't she....she can't have messy eyebrows."

Is that usual?

We're about to move abroad and my DD who would, if we were staying in the UK be going to secondary school would look at me like if I suggested she have her eyebrows waxed!

My niece didn't have big, bushy eyebrows or anything...they were normal!

Is this a thing people do now? I'm genuinely interested as none of the girls in my DDs school have done eyebrows at this age. The girls attended different primary schools and my DDs was a very rural one.

OP posts:

CaptainHolt · 19/07/2015 11:22

I'm not saying that you don't have to maintain them, I'm disputing that they grow back 'quicker'. You can't have it both ways, having them growing back thicker and quicker and not growing back at all.

I don't even understand the maintenance argument. I get washed even though I'll get dirty again. I have my hair cut even though it grows back. It's completely unreasonable to say to someone else that they shouldn't do something that they want to do because they will have to do it again.

XiCi · 19/07/2015 11:54

I thought I'd explained that captain they only don't grow back at all if you damage the follicle somehow. And I think the maintenance argument is relevant when you are talking about an 11 year old. When you are older you understand that a beauty regime takes time and effort
Anyway I'm off to tame my unruly regrowth with my eyebrow razor before I can go out in public today

merlehaggard · 19/07/2015 17:04

I had dark thick eye brows with blonde hair as a child. I was teased and my mum never suggested plucking them - hence I encourage my daughter have hers done now. Over the years, my eyebrows have got thinner and I have to do very little with them now. I have not experienced them growing quicker and faster at all.

Doobigetta · 19/07/2015 18:17

I think it's great that it's normal now to respect your daughter's right to do what she wants with her body. My mother still thinks it's fine to question me in front of other people about why I've ruined my "wonderful" eyebrows by plucking them. I'm 39.

BigRedBall · 19/07/2015 18:46

No it's not too young. I'll probably get Dd's done before she starts big school. I'm going to be doing her upper lip this summer using philips lumea to kill the hairs. She's 8 soon and I don't want her bullied for it. She's already had a few things said to her about her lip hair but she's brushed it off as she's very confident. But how long can a little girl remain confident over something like this?

Purplepoodle · 19/07/2015 20:25

For all hose who say no. Before my mum took me to get professionally de haired I had done the following

burnt my top lip with hair removal cream
burnt all my arms with hair removal cream
tried to shave at my eyebrows
cut myself quite badly with razor

All in first year of secondary school. Mum now wishes she had took me before big school as my confidence was totally knocked as well as hurting myself.

I have very pale skin and lots black thick hair

julesldn · 19/07/2015 21:22

The hair removal makes your hair grow back quicker and thicker is a complete myth.

Hair has 3 stages of growth. If you remove the hairs (from the root) in the first stage of growth, this is the time when you are most likely to damage the blood supply from the follicle enough to prevent a hair from growing again.

Hair removal from the root (whether waxing or threading) also helps most people regulate this hair growth - if you get into a routine it is likely you will have to do the area every 3-6 weeks, depending on the individual. With something like brows or an upper lip, this should only take about 10mins Max so not really a big ask.

Tweezing in between appointments or just in general everytime a hair pops up is likely to require more maintenance as you will be doing it throughout the month. Likewise with shaving as all hairs will have different cycles of growth and you are cutting them off at their thickest part so tends to look more prominent.

I have many clients that have been waxing for years and now will come to me for a leg or brow wax maybe once every three months because the hair is now so fine and irregular they don't even notice the regrowth.

None of my clients have ever mentioned that their skin has aged in a particular area of their face more than another area because of waxing. If you're really concerned, always ensure that hot wax is used as it's generally more gentle. Preferably a good brand such as lycon, Perron rigot or outback organics.

Sorry for the essay all, it's just a shame to hear these urban myths being thrown around when so many are based on little to no facts... X

bonbonours · 23/09/2017 21:10

Plucking them does not make them grow back thicker or quicker. I plucked mine which met in the middle for years and now I hardly need to apart from the odd stray hair.

Also shaving any part of you does not make the hair grow thicker it's just feels coarser because it's growing through with a blunt end not a wispy soft end. Whilst I'm on the topic, cutting your hair (on your head) DOES NOT make it thicker (I have been told this by many hairdressers). Hair grows from the root not the end that is cut. What you do to the end has no impact on the new hair coming out of the root.

sadiemm2 · 23/09/2017 21:13

My daughters have quite a lot of dark facial hair, their dad is from chennai. They go regularly to get threaded. The eldest has PCOS too, so it's fairly excessive. It's normal within some Asian families to get threaded in your teens.

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 23/09/2017 21:13

Dd was probably 13 or so when she started plucking her eyebrows

Both my boys were about 14

I was 12/13 when i had mine done...back in the 80's

Hoppinggreen · 23/09/2017 21:14

My daughter is 12 and has hers waxed regularly when I go to get mine done. She also has a slight tint
She used to try and pluck them herself and use powder to darken them so I much prefer that she has this done instead

BringMeTea · 23/09/2017 21:30

This thread is so depressing. In a few cases where the hair is very noticeable and has become a monobrow I can understand it. That does not seem to be the case for everyone. A friend's niece was being taken for brazilians by her mum aged 15 as, in her mum's words; 'All the boys she hangs out with watch porn now, it's expected'. I do know the discussion is about eyebrows but it's part of the same script. So sorry for young girls in current times.

Bluelonerose · 23/09/2017 21:40

I wish my mom had took me. I'm very dark haired and seemed to be abnormally hairy (had Drs test everything's "normal" )
I remember being in high school being bullied relentlessly about my unibrow, moustache and my underarm hair. Looking back now i can see how I was still a child in terms of not realising why I was shaving every part of my body just to stop being bullied. My dd is lucky that she is into the girlie stuff and her friend is better at shaping eyebrows than I am coz she's just as me but a lot more clued up.

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 23/09/2017 21:42

bring

My children have inherited a monobrow from dh and i

FenceSitter01 · 23/09/2017 21:53

It's an urban myth that hair grows back thicker, stronger, darker. This is the 21st century, this sort of misinformation should well and truly be put to bed.

Shaving makes the blunt end feel thicker but it isn't. Plucking and waxing eventually destroy the hair follicle with the repeated ripping out - as those with perma-arched thing eyebrows will attest to!

Rachie1973 · 23/09/2017 22:04

It always surprises me that people see fit to criticise other peoples decisions regarding their children so frequently.

My daughter doesn't pluck.... because like me she was blessed with very nice eyebrow shapes. (Only bit of me that is a good shape I'll add). That said she does love her manicures and has been known to have French polish acrylics in the past from the age of 11 or so.

Its all well and good going on about 'what are we teaching them' etc, however when you allow them no body autonomy.... well seems just as bad to me to be honest. And throwing around words like 'tarty'. Well no wonder we have issues.

I have a kid that likes nice nails, she doesn't like make up though. I don't care. I let her choose for herself, so long as she fits in with school rules.

BringMeTea · 23/09/2017 22:07

rufus you are exempt from my wrath!

SuperBeagle · 23/09/2017 22:09

I got mine done at that age, after wrecking them by trying to pluck them myself.

My brows weren't thick or overly unruly, but it was obviously the thing I was focused on at the time. You can't rationalise with insecurities.

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 23/09/2017 22:12

bring

Thanks

I absolutely take your point though

Dd at 15 isnt really into makeup or hair or nails...shes a free spirit, well thats what she told me the other day

That and 'a strong and independent 21st century woman'

NotReallyYouKnow · 23/09/2017 22:14

This trend - beyond weird. I can't get my head round this.

Just goes to show what people class as "normal" has completely changed to the (relatively) free time I remember of the 1970s. I think its desperately sad that girls are worried about their appearance at this age and conforming and paying through the nose commercially for the privilege.

ILoveDolly · 23/09/2017 22:21

My 11yo dd has scraggly hairs on her eyebrows I am just dying to pluck or wax off but bless her she is a clueless ingenue, I am loathe to mention it as I find her lack of concern regarding her appearance charming and age appropriate. If only she would wash more!

SocksRock · 23/09/2017 22:27

I have very heavy eyebrows, which I'm perfectly happy with, DD1 has inherited them. I would absolutely take her to get them shaped. I've already told her (she's 9) that if she ever wants to shave her legs, she's not to and I will take her to get them waxed. I was bullied relentlessly at school for being hairy and I won't have that happen to her

MulberryTree47 · 23/09/2017 22:31

I used hair removal cream on mine at 14. I was made fun of and ver embarrassed. I would have been so grateful for a mother who took me to have them waxed. I do think 11 is too young though.

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