Hair Removal for a 12/13 year old

[Bettyj69]

Help please Mums. My 12 year old (13 in Aug) has asked can she 'shave' her legs. She doesn't want to shave them, having had a few horror stories from friends who have cut themselves shaving.

Any recommendations as to what is the best form of hair removal for ones so young?

Much appreciated.

[lairymum99]

Agree, diamond. It's madness.

Unfortunately, my DD is above average hairy and developing fast in the sprouting hair everywhere department. She gets teased at school because of her underarm hair, her monobrow, her moustache FFS!!

WWYD?

As a caring mum, I am concerned. What can I do? So I wax between her eyebrows when it gets too bad, and we veet her underarms now and again.

I try to treat it as a rites of passage thing, bit like starting her period. Make her feel that it's great to be a woman. Whether we like it or not, depilating is basic grooming these days.

[NormaStanleyFletcher]

"My niece, now 17 has been waxed since the age of 11 then switched to laser at 13. Lucky girl now has zero underarm or leg hair and a very tidy bikini line.

Lucky girl"

That really wants to make me cry.

[Alouiseg]

Why??? Do you think she wanted to be hairy??? No she asked her Mum about waxing her legs and they looked into all the options and made a very adult decision.

She definitely doesn't regret it now and it will save her a fortune in waxing throughout her life.

[AnyFucker]

dear god

what is wrong with some parents ?

there is a word for when young girls want to do something way ahead of the right time...

...no...

waxed from 11yo ???

like body hair is something shameful and best hidden from sensitive eyes??

shame on you

[upahill]

I was 12 when I started the hair removal process!! Had eyebrows plucked, 30 odd years later it is threading. At 12 I was shaving under my arms and legs but stick to mostly waxing now. Of course she should be hair removing if she wants to. It's all part of the grooming ritual.

Although I don't have daughters I remember how I felt. My dad found out about me shaving my legs and disaproved and gave me (yet another ) lecture about 'once you start doing that you will have to do it forever' I answered back 'yeah like I have to clean my teeth every day and take a shower and wash my hair!' It's no big deal just buy a tube of Veet while you are in Tesco.

[AnyFucker]

agree with shiney

extreme cases...whatever

the usual slightly, softly hairy 11 yo, which is what my 11yo was...no way

[upahill]

But Shineon It was perfectly normal for me, my sister and friends and this was 30 odd years back.

It was part of our normal grooming routine because we went swimming several times a week and nobody wants tuffs hanging down!
I certainly didn't want underarm hair ( I still don't) so it took a mtter of seconds to get shut. No problem and sorted.

[Sazisi]

11 year olds can make adult decisions???

[upahill]

Hair removal is hardly about 'making adult decisions' It's about personal grooming.

[piprabbit]

Can I refer this thread to the MN campaign to let girls be girls?

[AnyFucker]

please do, pip

what next ?

thongs for 11yo's because that VPL is sooooo embarassing in the schoolyard, innit

[upahill]

Well it sounds like nothing has changed in 35 years tbh when me and my mates wanted Not to have hairy legs because we were girls being girls and didn't want to go round like hairy lads.

[AnyFucker]

upahill ? when you were 11 ? seriously ?

I was 11 33 years ago, and I was still riding my bike and skinning my knees

removing imaginary hair from parts of my body was the last thing on my mind, I can guarantee that

then again, if my mother had suggested it, I might have thought again

think about it

[piprabbit]

Done... mostly because of the sale of services such as waxing and laser hair removal to very young girls. If we are campaigning against clothes with 'sexy' written across the bum of an 11yo, then perhaps we should also campaign against said 11yo being given a brazilian.

[upahill]

AF
I'm dead serious. That is the honest truth.

[LeSingeEstDansLarbre]

thank god this thread took a turn for the saner better, i was reading it like this .

[AnyFucker]

upahill, I believe ya

just not my experience

and not the experience I would wish to give my own dd

[upahill]

I honestly don't see the problem and I am quite a strict parent BUT I remember being really self concious about the hair when it became unsightly i.e the sprouting tufts.
Like I said it was just part of mine and my sisters grooming.

I would imagine it would be worse now because of the 'perfect' body image that is everywhere from teen magazines, MTV etc.
For the record I am very fair skinned back to when I was 11 I was quite blond but did have and still have extremly thick hair. I remember being 14 and my aunty on one summers day when we were sat in a park commenting on my toes being hairy. Something else to shave then!!!

[AnyFucker]

upahill, that is very sad, seriously

is your auntie Katie Price ?

[wubblybubbly]

It really is sad that at 11 little girls are concerned over body hair. Have times really changed so much in 30 years?

I reckon I'm a fairly hairy woman and I know I had hairy legs in my early teens, as some little horror kindly pointed out, but I'm fairly sure I first shaved my legs and underarms at around age 14 and it would last for weeks!

We wore short skirts and shorts all summer long but at 11, 12 and even 13 I really wasn't that conscious of my body being so unnatural that it had to be stripped of hair? Who is telling girls they need to be shaving and waxing pre teens?

As for my bikini line, I'm quite sure it was completely au natural until I was in my early 20's and started wearing itsy bitsy bikinis. There really was no need before.

[upahill]

My aunty was 17,beautiful and trendy in a hippish way when she said this and she was stating the obvious. I still have hairy toes and I still shave them!! No problem. It's not sad at all and I haven't got any issues or worries over it.

I really can't see a problem at all. Like I've said it is part of grooming and I would no sooner go out with spikey legs or wear a vest top with a mop growing under my arms as I would go out with greasy hair and uncleaned teeth.

Going back to the OP I would suggest Veet but get the sensitive to start with and make sure she does a patch test to check for reactions.

At nearly 13 she is on her way to becoming a young woman and this sounds like the start of the transistion.