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See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Duncan Bannatyne vs JustineMN

72 replies

MmeLindor. · 27/09/2011 08:34

Bannatyne is going off on one this morning

Daily Star story about his spas offering leg and underarm waxing for girls of 13 to 16yo.

Funny that he only RTs those who agree with him.

"Mumsnet co-founder Justine Roberts said: ?You?d hope there?d be a longer period of grace for girls to be girls and not obsess about being hairless.?

What do you think?

OP posts:
tabulahrasa · 27/09/2011 10:32

I prefer it for me I mean

TottWriter · 27/09/2011 10:32

My mum noticed my leg hairs were a bit dark when I was 13, and told me I'd have to start shaving. I tried shaving, once or twice, and got a dreadful shaving rash (my mum was of the "quick fix" mentality, so it wasn't for years that I realised shaving dry legs with a disposable razor is hardly ideal). It put me off, and I didn't bother for the rest of my teens, although I will admit to being at an all-girls school and being one of the "weird" kids anyway. I shaved under my arms, but never my legs, and only shaped my eyebrows when I occasionally remembered.

Now, okay, I was a weird kid, in many ways, but honestly, I was not unhappy because I had hairy legs and didn't wear make up. No one picked on me. (Well, not about my legs, anyway.) And now, here I am ten years later, 24 and about to get married with two kids. I can't be the only one who just doesn't get why people bother. I shave my legs if I can be bothered or is I was going to a posh do, but other than that? Heck no. I used to wear trousers all the time to cover them up, but in the last couple of years I've stopped bothering. No one notices, and if they do they don't say anything. It also takes ten minutes off my shower time.

My DD is only 1, so a long, looong way from all of this, but I shall certainly not be encouraging her to start shaving and waxing from a young age. I think it is disgusting that so much pressure is put on young girls to conform to some esoteric beauty standard which only photoshop can achieve. I was "lucky" in that I was a bookworm and largely unconcerned with boys, but I know other girls genuinely felt under a lot of pressure to look good when they were at school, and shaving legs and shaping eyebrows came into that. (Along with taking hair straighteners to school even though they were banned, but that's another issue. Hmm There are so many...)

I would wholeheartedly back any campaign to ban advertising or offering these services to girls under 16 in this country.

AngryFeet · 27/09/2011 10:40

To be honest I am going to tell my DD all the options when she gets to the age where she wants to remove hair and she can make the decision. I wish I had starting waxing young instead of shaving (in the end I started having waxes at 16) as I am very very hairy, DD will be similar I think.

In an ideal world we would not care about hair removal at all but we don't live in that world. I don't see why waxing is shocking - if the teen is given the choice and would rather have a little pain than shave every day then that is up to them. It's not like I would encourage DD to have brazilians but why not wax where she would normally shave.

I think people are getting a little OTT about this. It is not that big a deal.

herbietea · 27/09/2011 10:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

SardineQueen · 27/09/2011 10:53

Even the quote in the article though:

"You?d hope there?d be a longer period of grace for girls to be girls and not obsess about being hairless.?

What's to argue with? I can't see anything wrong with that comment.

MmeLindor. · 27/09/2011 10:58

Ha. So the whole fuss is based on a misquote of a misquote.

OP posts:
MmeLindor. · 27/09/2011 11:00

And my objection is still there, btw.

Allowing your child to shave is one thing. Having that childi influenced by ads for spa is another

OP posts:
KatieMumsnet · 27/09/2011 11:04

Just to say Star are changing the quote

EggyAllenPoe · 27/09/2011 11:07

surely this is nothing new?

i remember the nasty 'do you shave/veet your legs' inquisition at school - from about age 13. I remember some girls going on at length about home waxing (i think the preferred product was Body Shop Sugar-Wax.)

agree that bullying is the problem in essence also.

TheReturnoftheSmartArse · 27/09/2011 11:09

Haven't read it all but I don't think 13 is too young. 9, yes, but 13? Definitely not. FWIW, my two asked to start shaving their legs when they got to secondary school, aged 11/12. I said please don't shave and waxed them for them instead.

JuneChollySawcutt · 27/09/2011 11:26

Duncan Bannatyne is ver ver ver teeny tiny. (not relevant, just painting a picture).

But am cross with him as he took a tennis court out at our Bannatynes to construct his 'spa' on. (In fact, the court is still there, they just constructed a kind of prefab office on top.). Is v weird to see ladees in dressing gowns sitting on the tennis court.

Also, our Bannatynes is covered in those kind of 'at the discretion of the management posters' you know the ones I mean, all officious missives plastered everywhere - only the missives are all about kids (these include children up to 16, so not teeny-tinies) and what they can't do - can't go in the cafe, can't exercise next to an adult in the gym, can't go in the steam room, yada yada, yada (ok. we know! Stop telling us!)

(Glad to see kids are welcomed at the 'spa' though. Hmm)

TottWriter · 27/09/2011 11:31

herbietea - but that is different. I class shaving your face as an aesthetic choice, and let's face it, some boys can choose not to shave if they don't want to. In fact, a lot of teenage boys are fiercely proud of their beards, especially as a thick one used to be good for getting drinks (DP often boasts that he had a full beard at 16). I would say a female equivalent might be...I don't know, shaping your eyebrows maybe. That's an aesthetic choice you make about your face too.

Would you ask your 14yo son to shave his legs? Or to wax his chest hairs off? After all, male models rarely have chest hair. Maybe he should get rid of any that grows there so he looks like them...

I would never tell a 13yo not to shave, if that's what he/she wants to do. But I would never give them the impression that it was expected of them either, and I would stand up for their right to choose not to as well. Bullying is WRONG. plain wrong, and that includes if the victim has chosen not to fart about with a razor or some wax strips and actually enjoy what little of their childhood they have left at that point.

If my DD decides not to shave (and let's face it, I'm her current role model and can't be arsed, so there's a fighting chance) I will be there giving her all the moral support she needs to face up to witless bullies at school. I won't discourage her if that's what she really wants to do, but I certainly won't be painting a picture of it as a normal activity for a schoolchild.

CalatalieSisters · 27/09/2011 11:33

My Bannatyne's gym has a sign up saying "No shaving in the sauna." So there at least we are free from his glabrous imperatives.Grin

Incidentally the only person I've seen shaving there was a bloke who was shaving his head, because his girlfreind liked it completely smooth in a manner that only a sauna shave could provide. So I absolutely think Bannatyne should offer head waxes to teenage boys.

diddl · 27/09/2011 13:37

Well I´m obviously missing something as it is offered to 13-16yrs old & Justine is talking about pre teens.

I don´t think that 13-16 is too young, especially if parental permission is needed.

Voidka · 27/09/2011 13:41

Obviously trying to deflect attention from his impending divorce.

SardineQueen · 27/09/2011 13:43

I would divorce Duncan Bannatyne in a heartbeat Grin

allibaba · 27/09/2011 13:48

I am 32 yo. When I was 13 I was told by my mother on not account was I allowed to shave my legs, I would have them waxed instead as she said that the hair would grow back fair lighter and I wouldn't have stubbly leg hair. We had a mobile beauty lady come to our house and my younger sister (2 years younger) had our half legs done.

I was more than happy with this as at 13/14 I was very consciuos of the fact that I had leg hair, wasn't wearing a bra (didn't have boobs!) etc etc - all the NORMAL things teenage girls worry about.

I've never looked back, have waxed consistently since then for EVERYTHING and now have very sparse hair growth on some parts of my legs and up until recent pregnancies, bikini lines too.

Get a grip everyone - surely we should be more worried about the accessibility to porn on the internet for teenagers then this!!

TottWriter · 27/09/2011 14:15

But, allibaba, what exactly is wrong with having leg hair? Why is it considered this unsightly thing that even little girls need to be rid of?

Oh yes, because the porn and beauty product industries decided that body hair was evil because it got in the way of certain camera angles, and they could flog us a whole heap of expensive products to remove it and they make a fortune!

The very fact that people don't even consider it an issue is the reason it's a problem. If we can't even make up our own minds about the minor aspects of our lives and appearances, how can we ever expect to win the big victories? And if we are indoctrinating our children to believe that spending vast quantities of time and money over their lives on removing hair is normal for women, what hope do they have?

CristinadellaPizza · 27/09/2011 14:21

I have had my legs waxed once. Why anyone would want to put them or their children willingly through that level of pain and skin damage is beyond me

MmeLindor. · 27/09/2011 14:23

allibaba
Maybe I am older than you but when I was a teenager NONE of my friends waxed or shaved their legs until they were at least 15 or 16. And certainly none of my friends would have had their bikini line waxed.

Nowadays, it is so the norm to trim or wax your fanjo - last time I was in the gym there were almost no hairy women at all.

The influence of porn in our society had made it seem normal but up until about 10 years ago, it was totally normal to have body hair.

Legs, underarms - yes, but the rest?

OP posts:
TheReturnoftheSmartArse · 27/09/2011 14:25

Does it damage your skin? I've been waxing for 30 years (giving away my age!) and it doesn't seem to have made any difference. Like Allibaba, I'm now almost bald on my legs and it doesn't hurt anymore either! My mum also told me never to shave and I think she was right, which is why I have invested in a machine and now do my own and my DDs' half-legs too.

TheReturnoftheSmartArse · 27/09/2011 14:28

Oh, and I only do my legs and bikini line (a modest bikini line at that!). And I haven't done the DDs' bikinis because (a) they don't need it yet (17 and 14) and (b) that would be a bit weird!

But yes, MmeLindor, I do agree about the influence of porn having made it seem normal to have a bald fanjo, but I don't like it and certainly won't be doing it to please any man. Perhaps some women prefer it, though? I don't know. I've never asked anyone!

CristinadellaPizza · 27/09/2011 14:28

Well it brought me up in a horrible itchy rash. I can't imagine our skins are supposed to have hot wax stuck to them and ripped off although I'm sure skin eventually gets used to it.

I am someone who doesn't like the trend towards complete and utter hairlessness for women either

MmeLindor. · 27/09/2011 14:34

ReturnofTheSmartArse
I don't mind a bit of tidying up the ladygarden, tbh, I do it myself but don't get the complete hairless thing. DH commented that it would be weird, and why would any man want to sleep with a woman who looked like a pre-pubescent girl.

I waxed my legs a couple of times and it was uncomfortable afterwards so no way I would do it to my DD.

And don't get me wrong, I am not a hairy vegan cheesecloth and birkenstock wearing lentil weaver.

I am groomed, I shave my legs (when I can be bothered) my underarms, pluck my eyebrows and use make up.

But I am in no rush for my daughter to start doing this.

Btw, I found this list of Spa treatments.

Why would anyone do that with an 11yo? I can get it for a 15/16 yo, that might be fun, but 11yo?

OP posts:
TheOriginalFAB · 27/09/2011 14:40

Criticising mumsnet is the new sport.