hair removal for pre-teen girls

[oseejay]

My 9 year old daughter is very self-conscious about the hair on her legs and arms. She may have slightly more hair than other girls, I wouldn't say she was abnormally hairy or anything, but her hair is dark which makes it really noticeable. The last couple of years she's felt really aware of it, I think some comments were made at school. She now goes right through the summer with full length leggings, socks and trainers, and won't take her cardigan off at school. She will no longer wear skirts/shorts or short-sleeve tops.

I've tried supporting her through this, and until now have been trying to find a way for her to learn to accept herself as she is. But I am now feeling it's time to think about teaching her to remove the hair so she can feel comfortable and confident (and stop over-heating!).

I don't think she'd cope with waxing (she squeals just taking off a plaster!). Are hair-removal creams safe for girls so young? I'm not sure what is in them and whether it's good for young skin. Is there a cream that is gentler and doesn't have the very strong chemicals in?

Otherwise it's shaving. If she starts before she even hits puberty, will it affect hair growth later on? (maybe kickstart extra hair growth or something?). Sorry, sounds daft, but I worry about it!

Any advice much appreciated!

[JimblyBob]

Be careful with the hair removal mitts. I used them when I was about 12-13, on my arms for some reason (I'm not particularly hairy) I basically sanded all the skin off my arms. They were glowing red, hugely sore, and faintly weeping all over. Smooth? Yes. Attractive? Not so much, especially when it went all scabby.

I should add I do have very sensitive skin, but still, maybe supervise their use. Advise them to stop before they hit bone.

[cariadlet]

dd is 12 and has been going on about her hairy legs for months and months. She has fine, light hairs that don't even show unless you peer closely at her legs. But it bothers her so I gave in and bought her some hair removal cream.
I'd rather that she was happy with the way that she looks naturally, but she was so pleased with the effect that I think it was the right thing to do. She kept stroking her legs, saying how smooth they felt.

I wasn't so impressed with the state that the bathroom towel was left in. They look permanently stained where she must have wiped off excess cream with the towel instead of the scraper.

[justanaveragegirl]

Went shopping with my DD (11yr) and she chose a Sensitive Skin Veet hair removal cream with a sponge. Hopefully it will work well and she can stop feeling self-conscious (although her leg hair is so fine you can hardly see it but it is how she feels). She said she is a bit scared to use a razor and personally for her age, I think cream is the first step.

Kids are growing up so early and quick these days or am I behind the times [shocked]

[Liska]

Thanks for this thread! I just came on to search for advice for dd, who is only 8! She has very obvious, very dark hair on her legs, due to her dad's Meditteranean(sp?) heritage, and she's beginning to be self conscious. Not helped by mil commenting during the summer holidays that it was 'long enough to plait' (along with loudly pointing out her beginning breast development, and telling her that she was too old to sleep with a teddy). This thread has helped me realise that discussing it properly is the way forward: hopefully I can hold off the Veet until next summer. It's such a shocker, though - my development was so much later!!

[WhoreGasm]

DD became conscious about her hairy legs when she was in Yr 5. Luckily she is fair haired but the hairs were quite thick and I suspect comments were made at school?

Overnight she stopped wearing shorts and skirts. We discussed it and we decided to use Immaac which worked a treat. I know in an ideal world she would have a towering self esteem which would allow her to thumb her nose at the world and flaunt her hairy legs with panache.

But in the real world she was a 10 year girl with an upsetting problem that a £2 tube of cream solved in 10 minutes. And as we both live in the real world I bought her the cream.

[dementedpixie]

Dd is 11 and has shaved her legs and pits a few times as she was self conscious about them

[Vernonon]

We used veer when dd was 9. She was happy then someone commented that her legs looked weird devoid of hair so she stopped. She's at secondary and just shaved for the first time.

Dd2 hates the hair on her arms but I'm uncertain about that - it's blonde and not excessive though a bit more than the norm. She's been talking about it since 7 (dd1 started at 6). It's a bit sad.

[Dotty342kids]

My 10yr old DD is mixed race Asian British so is fairly covered in dark hair, bless her! A complete contrast to me, so hard to know how to support her with it.
She's been having her legs waxed for about 7-8 months now, every five weeks as she didn't like the hairiness of them and it seemed the best solution really.
She shaves under her arms occasionally, but doesn't seem so fussed about this - presumably as it's not so obvious to others.
Weirdly though, she flatly refuses to do anything about her very obvious moustache! Despite having had some teasing about this, she will not allow me to do anything to remove it. We tried facial hair removal cream a couple of times and it worked fine but she didn't like the stinging sensation. She won't entertain the thought of waxing or threading it. I'm partly proud of her for being so un self conscious about it, but the other bit of me really hates it and wants to remove it! Terrible mother I know

[4happyhours]

Having similar issues with my 11yo DD and her 'monobrow' as it's been called by some lovely boys who are her 'friends' - banter, eh? One of them actually started calling her 'pussy' because of it. And he actually knew what it meant ... not one of her friends, I hasten to add ... They still tell her which of them 'love' her too as I check her instagram messages every now and then (she knows I do). This was at her last school ... we've now moved, and there are far more girls to go round so she mixes more with girls, who actually seem kinder ... however, she 'hates' her eyebrow (as she calls it - she refuses to acknowledge that there are two as they join in the middle) and she just wants that middle bit removed. - to wax or to pluck, do you think? I will take her somewhere to have it done ...

[tumpymummy]

I am a hairy chimp too and have unfortunately passed my hursuitness on to DD. I have been plucking her monobrow since she was probably about 8 years old because she didn't like it. I know she was young but I figured she was going to do it herself as some stage anyway, better to shape it properly myself and avoid any comments at school. She got self conscious about her legs around Year 4 or 5 but we agreed that it would be weird to do anything because everyone would notice if one day she was hairy, the next day she was not, and I really didn't want her to start the cycle of having to remove hair at such an early age. So we agreed that we would start when she transferred to secondary school. We use an epilator which did hurt her at first but it does mean that the hair grows back so slowly that she now only has to do it approx. once a month. I gave her the option of creams, but she has excema so we were worried the chemicals would make it worse. I know all these girls seem young for hair removal but my feeling was why put them through years of feeling uncomfortable when they will start at some stage anyway. I just remember how awkward I felt as a child and I didn't want my daughter to have to go through that too.