Eyebrow waxing for minors?!

ChooseHappiness · #1 10-18-2008, 08:55 PM

I've known several parents who have suggested/paid/or allowed their girls to have their eyebrows waxed starting at around 11 or 12. Their reasoning was that it was necessary for their child's confidence due to society/peer pressure.

One of the parents also paid for hair straightening twice a year in an effort to help "control" her daughter's unruly hair. (*this was kept a secret from her husband who thought it was ridiculous to pay for something that expensive as a beauty treatment for a child)

I do see a good reason for it if your family can afford the luxury, but I'm not sure what age these items would become appropriate.

Same goes for shaving legs for the first time, or girls requesting to dye or highlight their hair. My kids are still very young, but I wonder...In your opinion, when should parents decide to let go and let kids experiment a little? (Not piercings and unnatural color, just main stream stuff)

Tracy · #2 10-18-2008, 09:17 PM

I know I'm a mean mom, but I've seen those poor little girls with the unibrow, I'd wax their eyebrows when they're infants. (Let the negative rep fly....I can take it, it's really how I feel, I feel really bad for little girls with unibrow)

My daughter is eight and wants to dye her hair black....she has brown hair now. She's already really into the whole goth thing, that I'm not down with that (letting her dye her hair). She's in the second grade, for crying in the mud. She does have a very layered hair cut that sticks out all over the place though. My son had a mohawk when he was two and has much longer hair than most of the boys.....

yes....we are the family they talk about at daycare

Decent · #3 10-18-2008, 09:48 PM

oh my gosh, I was taking Lynn to the salon when she was 5, at that time I could afford to go the salon myself, so I'd let her go and just get her haircut, nothing fancy. Her ears were pierced when she was 5, and yes I used to paint her nails too. I let her dye her hair red once, she wanted to look like Mommy, lol, but I didn't use permanent dye. If she were here now and the same age as your girl, I'd probably let her dye her hair, but again, only the temporary kind, far too young to decide on a permanemt color. By the time it comes out, theyre usually sick of it and ready to go back anyway.

She had nice eybrows, but if she didnt, I would have had those done too. I would have done it simply because other kids are cruel. I believe it is worse on a kids self esteem to be taunted by other kids than to have their parents do something to help them, (with simple things like that anyway.). "Unibrow unibrow Susie's got a unibrow!!!" "Four eyes four eys Susie's got four eyes!" is more damaging than getting their brows waxed or contac lenses.

As far as shaving, same principle, if she had Wookie legs at ten, I'd teach her how to use a razor, but if the hair was light enough to not really be noticeable, she'd wait til 13.

motherof3 · #4 10-19-2008, 02:59 AM

Ok, let me just start out by saying that my girls are 10 and 12. My 12 yr old is in 6th grade. If she had a uni brow I'd teach her how to pluck it herself if it bothered her that much. She has a lot of hair on her arms and legs, kids called her monkey girl in KINDERGARTEN! I talked to our pediatrician and she felt it was up to my daughter as to when she wanted to start shaving her legs. So when she was in the 2nd grade, 8 yrs old, she started asking me to shave her legs in the summer, never her arms though. That I told her I'd bleach if it bothers her that bad. Last year in 5th grade I let her dye the bottom 6 inches of her hair purple. I thought it looked great and she really ,really started to like the way she looked. Before she had some self esteem issues (we're still working on them) but she stopped hiding her face behind her hair and started smiling more when she could express herself with her hair. It's safe rebellion, it's just hair. If the worst thing she EVER does as a kid is dye her hair funky colors than I am sooooo ok with that. Right now her hair is 3/4 black (it's normally brown) and the front is all bright blue. We've been through bright pink, purple and next is red. I think she looks great, and more importantly so does she. She's a straight A student and I'm proud of the fact that she's 12 and not afraid to be different and express herself. And I never have a problem finding her in a crowd! lmao

hockey · #5 10-19-2008, 03:22 AM

I think if a child wants this done then they are aware of the issue. I don't think there is a set age for doing something to help a child feel more secure. Kids mature at different ages. I say do what you feel is right and what is best for your child without thinking twice about what someone else might think.

Younger generations are maturing faster than previous generations thanks to all the hormones injected into our foods. So don't worry about what other people think and what other generations used to do...it's irrelevant. What's most important is your child and their self esteem. Just do it and don't give a damn what anyone else thinks!

Decent · #6 10-19-2008, 03:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hockey

I think if a child wants this done then they are aware of the issue. I don't think there is a set age for doing something to help a child feel more secure. Kids mature at different ages. I say do what you feel is right and what is best for your child without thinking twice about what someone else might think.

Younger generations are maturing faster than previous generations thanks to all the hormones injected into our foods. So don't worry about what other people think and what other generations used to do...it's irrelevant. What's most important is your child and their self esteem. Just do it and don't give a damn what anyone else thinks!

omg that is SO true! I know some people who live on a farm and have two girls, they only eat what they grow or kill. Those girls are 14 year old twins and neither of them look developed like normal girls. I think it puts so much pressure too early on kids to be grown up.

wendy · #7 10-19-2008, 09:32 AM

I WISH my daughter (14) would have let me take her to get her brow waxed years ago. She insists on plucking, and if that's what she wants that is fine. I personally think waxing gives a cleaner look when the brow is as thick as hers is. She also straightens, but with a flat iron. It's not that I wanted her to look more mature, trust me, she doesn't need any help in that area! I just consider it to be feminine grooming. If she ever hit a point where she leaned away from being the 'girly-girl' and she didn't want that look anymore I'm fine with that, as long as she continues to shower and brush her teeth. As it turns out she is very much the girly girl and since I showed her that type of grooming when she started showing signs of, umm, let's say 'excess hair', she now takes care of herself very well with very little help from me.

__________________
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RosaM68 · #8 10-19-2008, 10:20 AM

All the above is so true. And I'm glad that ChooseHappiness started this thread. I had some issues on when my daughter should have started shaving her legs. She is 11 and just started in September, because I didn't want her to "Grow" up. But she did have very hairy legs unlike me. Now she does want to dye her her red and I was telling her to wait until she at least turned 12 which is in February. I liked what Momof3 wrote. It is nice for a child to have her own personality. I have always taught my kids that. "Be yourseld and not someone everyone else wants you to be". Like Hockey said "kids mature at different ages", which is so true.
For the eyebrow waxing, my daughter has nice shaped eyebrows and doesn't need to worry about that for now. BUT she does have a problem with top lip hair which her dad had lightened. About 2 years ago kids were teasing her about it and I told her to tell them that "If they didn't like it don't look at it". It worked and they didn't tease her any more. But now she is in middle school (6th grade) and we just lighten her lip hair.

wendy · #9 10-19-2008, 11:13 AM

Kelsey got her hair highlighted for the first time a few months ago (13 y.o.- she's actually not 14 until Dec. 27). I loved it. Mathew wanted his colored as well and I would have let him but at his age (10) sometimes the hormonal changes don't allow the color to 'take' so I'm making him wait a little while.

Kids can be so mean so if I can keep some teasing about dark hair on her arms or a uni-brow at bay for awhile I will. Kelsey is a beautiful girl and hasn't really had to put up with teasing, but I know how damaging it can be.

Her friend Annabelle just told us yesterday that a boy at her school calls her fat and says she has an annoying laugh. I told her that she needs to say, "I can control my laugh, and I can lose weight, but you'll be ugly forever." I think she'll use it too. What a jerk; he deserves whatever she can throw back at him!

Green Lantern · #10 10-19-2008, 12:17 PM

The only advice I can give is this...............

You are the parent. You decide when it is time or when it is necessary. You can consider other opinions, the current trends or styles, what her peers are doing, etc.... but ultimately, you are the parent. You allow her to do things based on how comfortable you feel with it.

Eyebrow waxing for minors?!

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