DD thinks her legs are too hairy

[nada29]

She's been wearing thick black tights to school these hot days and it looks like I'll have to give in and have her legs depilated. I'm thinking about waxing or cream depilators. What would you do? The fact that her legs aren't so hairy is irrelevant as she is convinced they are. Thanks for all suggestions.

How old is she? Not that it matters TBH, I'd let any child dehair if the alternative was wearing tights in this weather.

I'd get some Veet - that is what my dd uses.

Waxing is the best thing to do because the hair will grow back finer than with shaving. I use the Veet strips but it's probably less painful to get it done with hot wax in a salon tbh - it's not an expensive treatment.

My dd is 13, and is fair skinned but a few months ago she was mentioning wanting to shave her legs and said she felt that whatever was there was noticable during pe.

Tbh, like you, I couldn't see a problem but it was bothering her and that was the issue.

So I showed her how to shave legs and under arms and she now does it herself. We haven't gone down the route of creams or waxing; she doesn't have much to take off anyway. If she wants to do it that way, she can buy the creams etc when she's older but she seems happy with this. If she was darker haired or it was more noticable I might have considered other ways but this works atm for her.

DD1 who has very dark hair started using Veet in Yr5, DD2 who is honey blonde started in Year 7, the first couple of times I supervised - it was all very fun and giggly.
They've both taken to shaving instead, which I only discovered when my own razor and shaving gel had mysteriously moved in the bathroom. No cuts or other disasters.
I personally don't get on with waxing, as I get in-growing regrowth no matter how much I exfoliate, so the kit isn't in the house to experiment with.

This topic always brings back so many memories for me.

I wasn't allowed to shave my legs, as my DMum decided that shaving was bad, that she was stuck in a shaving cycle and she wished she'd waxed from day one. So she decided, for me, that I should wax. I am olive-ish skinned and have very dark hair and thick hair on my legs (and arms, but I wont go into THAT) and the thought that I would have to wait three weeks minimum to be hairless was awful, let alone the fact that waxing hurt.

Our secondary school insisted girls wore bare legs and ankle socks in the months after easter, so for three months of the year I'd hate hate hate going to school. PE was gymslips, all year round, and I only signed up for Hockey as I could cover most of my legs with shinpads and hockey socks. In winter, i'd wear two pairs of opaques at a time to stop the hair poking through.

Within a couple of years, I took to doing it by stealth. I ended up wrecking my legs, pretty much, as no-one showed me what to do, how to do it safely, with creams etc. I really wish that my DMum had appreciated how much I hated my hairy legs and helped me feel confident about myself.

I got so into the habit of covering up, year round, that I still find it hard to bare my legs, even though I obviously can now keep them hair-free.

I know this isn't a massively helpful post, but please please help your DD by seeing it from her point of view. She obviously feels very self-concious, hence the tights in swealtering weather, and something as simple as Veet, or learning how to shave well will help.

Thank you ladies! You are fantastic. My DD is almost 13 and until now this hasn't been an issue but I see, and especially after your post GnocciNineDoors that she is suffering and want to help her. I personally shave but think she should start with some gentler alternatives, either Veet or wax. I really felt for her this morning when she put thick thights on. I was hoping that she would realise that she is not so hairy, silly me, should've done something at the weekend.

Don't beat yourself up- it's no biggie! Will you get some stuff before she comes home or go shopping with her?

I'm sure I've seen similar in Boots etc, but when I was a young teen my mum didn't want me shaving my legs so she got me these things called Silky Mitts, which are like sandpaper for your legs . Sounds weird but basically they rub off the hairs and leave your legs really smooth, so no harsh chemicals and no shaving rash.

Veet can be really harsh on sensitive skin.

See which option she likes best, maybe one her friends are all using, for example, and go with it.

Many girls that age have already gone through puberty, it's not too young to allow her to get rid of hair she doesn't want.

My (fairly hairy DD) is in year 6 but is worried about her hairy legs. I bought her some veet, and told her that when she wanted to de-hair we'd do it together. I think the fact that I was taking her seriously was enough for her, as she doesn't yet want to use the veet. But it's there when she does.

I also had this problem from about 12 years old and it is awful, it's really good that you are taking it seriously. I really suffered with this problem and wasn't taken seriously.
I recommend WAXING... much better in the long run.

Silky mits can wreck you legs though- I'm not very hairy and used them, but I got lots of timy broken veins. DD1, who is on study leave says veet- you can't cut yourself and by the time you're 15 she won't care anyway!

I would just go for shaving - Immac stinks and makes a mess (I remember the dark day when dd did her legs, bloody cream halfway up the wall). I wouldn't never bother with waxing as it is a faff, expensive and bloody painful. Just buy her a decent razor and some cheap conditioner, quick, easy and cheap.

I was another one who wasn't allowed to shave legs as a teen for some misguided reason that it would make me more attractive to boys , so feel strongly that young girls can do what they like when they start feeling uncomfortable about their leg hair.

I wish someone had shown me.

They could have mentioned that clearing the hair out of the razor using your thumb was not a good plan.

Another one here that really struggled with hair removal because my Mum had misguided views over why I wanted to remove it. Try having thick dark hair everywhere :(

I used an ancient male razor and cut myself terribly :( I also got so hung up on hair removal that I began shaving my chin (normal white hairs) and now in my twenty's have dark stubble :(

I would contemplate using something thats better in the long term than shaving.. and explain that its good to restrict how often to shave too

Well, I spent my lunch hour in Boots today and bought Veet. I'll tell DD that I got it if she is desperate to use it this evening though I'm praying for some rain and cool weather till weekend. If colder she can wear her thick thights and then we do waxing at the weekend.
Thank you ladies.

Oh, and as a now regular shaver (apart from during pregnancy when weirdly my hair just totally stopped growing everywhere) I find men's razors better and buy them instead of womens. Maybe it's because they are designed for faces, but they leave my legs much softer and a closer shave.

Glad to see I wasn't the only one with a hair obsessed mother

Do your teenage daughters buy their own razors? My dd just asked me to buy her some because she says that the law is that you have to be 18 to buy razors! Surely under 18s buy them?

Nope, not allowed. They dont even have razors on most shelves, just a box that you take to the counter and they exchange.

Cant even buy a set of cutlery knives (blunt as hell) underage.

I've been asked for id when buying a kitchen knife - I showed her my grey hairs! Hadn't connected razors though. I don't use them often so have always just used dh's - he bought a massive bag of disposables, and then got a nice safety razor and blades - I guess the rest of us have just reached the end of the bag!

I have no idea why de hairing arms and pits is such a biggie these days.

when they get bothered by it deal with it.

My girls had a ladyshave - the youngest at 9, because being the only kid in year 4 with hairy pits sucks big time.

She does her legs and pits now (she's just 13).

Ladyshave because the rest of us do want to get in the bathroom sometime!

'the rest of us do want to get in the bathroom sometime' Lol. Since my dd turned 13 the queue outside our bathroom is a permanent fixture.

The arguments about it are a regular thing here

I do remember being exactly the same though. Nowadays I of course have no privacy in there - people just walk in and out. It's like bathing in the middle of Waterloo station