Duncan Bannatyne vs JustineMN

[MmeLindor.]

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?

Children have such beautiful skin - why on earth would anyone want to cover it in gunk?! But yes, older teens are different (and do whatever they want anyway, no matter what their DM's say!).

My DH said the same, Mme - that it would be like sleeping with a child!

I don't shave very often either and it doesn't hurt :o

anyway, as mmelindor says, it's the normalisation/commercialisation of it for young teenagers that's disturbing.

Dd had her legs waxed at 14 as she plays a lot of sport and felt self conscious. She now epilates.......doesn't bother her in the least.
I have just had my legs and bikini line lasered and am so happy to be hair free. If she wants it done at 16 that would not be a problem.

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

sniff.....and we were getting on so well, MmeL

blimey, Mme- just looked at your linky

no wonder Bannatyne's been getting batey on Twitter. He's obviously making a lot of money out of this

Yes, big business. Let's not pretend it is about girl's right to chose.

This from the guy who, as BeerTricksPotter said earlier, has stated that he would disinherit his children if they smoke.

Sorry, Huw. Have I betrayed the sisterhood by chucking out my Birkies? They were smelly, I am afraid.

I will positively encourage my dd to wax her legs rather than shave them (if she wants to remove the hair from them, that is) but would prefer her to start off with home waxing instead of spending all her pocket money at a beauty salon, tbh.

Have never understood waxing armpits. Surely it takes about 1 min to shave them in the shower?

As for her minge - well, sadly, she lives in an age where pubic hair is seen as abnormal. I am incredibly sad/frustrated about that and will be dead proud of her if she decides to keep hers. If she doesn't - that's her choice.

I remember being ripped to shit by feminist chums for having the temerity to shave my legs

oh, the 80s. I would love my daughters to be able to grow up like that

the only pain we suffered to look the way we did was that from breaking in a stubborn pair of docs

I was a teenager in the 70s and we all removed our leg and underarm hair.

I dont go big on get rich business types. But I liked the way he anounced
the break up of his first marriage. I had a miserable drive home. Sat on the sofa....said to the wife...its not working...and burst into tears....

she agreed....that being so it was it was time to say goodbye.

While I wish women didn't have to remove body hair by 13-16 I was shaving my legs and underarms, having my eyebrows waxed, bleaching my upper lip and tidying my bikini line for swimming. Removing body hair is something that women have done for a long time so I dont think we can blame it all on the porn industry. If he was offering Hollywood waxes then that would be different but they are offering something that they would only try at home anyway. I remember when I sliced my leg on a bic razor cos I was trying to shave my legs secretly.

I don't think removing leg and underarm hair is sexualising teens.

My DDs are are 12 (almost 13) and 9

DD1 has just started to remove the hair on her legs because she was getting teased - she uses Veet and it seems to be the norm amongst her friends.

She's not that hairy as she's fair haired though.

DD2 is going to be a different ball game - she has INCREDIBLY hairy legs. At the minute she thinks it's funny "Look at my hairy legs mummy" but I envisage she will get teased a lot if she doesn't remove the hair.

I am of similar approach to MMeL - I'm 41 and when I was at school we didn't start to do that sort of thing until 15 or 16, and definitely the only fanjo grooming that went on was a trim and tidy up so there weren't any stray hairs round swimming costumes.

FrillyMilly - I agree completely.

Fluffy - I'm a similar age to you and by 13 all the girls had started shaving their legs.

It's a 'right of passage' not a sexual thing.

Big difference between what they quoted & what Justine actually said

I think a lot more danger is done to young girls' self-esteem when their parents refuse to let them remove leg and underarm hair on the spurious grounds that they are too young than by offering such services in a salon.

It does no one's ego any good at all to be denied the opportunity to make oneself attractive in a way that is socially normative.

I don't have any problem with it whatsover. Any beauty salon will wax a 14 year old if you ask them.

13 to 16 is not preteen . Clue is in the teen after the number when you say it!

DD is nealry 12 and has a lot of hair under her arms which she doesn't like so I epilate it.

Have left the blonde hairs on her legs but will probably get them sorted if they get darker.

Not a big issues IMO.

Lenin - I grew up in the 70s and 809s and it din't seem to matter, as you say.

I am a very very (dark) hairy person, and started shaving my legs at 14. I don't recall anyone ever mentioning it to me, let alone bullying me, apart from my brother, who teased me once or twice.

My arms are also very hairy - but for some reason I don't remove the hair from them, even though they are more visible. I have no idea why. I think I get a perverse pleasure from not caring about what other people might think about them. I feel attractive in most ways.

I think if I had a daughter, I'd allow.encourage her to wax if she wanted to.

I think that some people who think hairiness is no biggie are not very hairy themselves.

But I also am uncomfortable with lady-garden removal, I think mostly because it reflects, in part, a pornification of our culture