I have an 8 year old daughter and she is becoming increasingly concerned about the hair on her legs and a little tuff of hair on her underarms. She's already told me that she doesn't want to wear anything sleeveless or skirts come this summer. She is embarrassed and has asked me to get the hair removed. I have to admit that due to the fact that it is dark it does show quite a bit. I can understand her wanting to get rid of it but at the same time I'm wondering if she is too young to start waxing/shaving/laser etc. Any advice?
The time to remove hair is when it becomes a social impediment to the child. We remove hair for social reasons, no other. If she's embarrassed to wear certain clothing because she does not want the hair to be seen, then it's time to teach her how to remove it.
I never cared about my body hair until I was ten and wearing shorts one day in fifth grade. At that time a popular girl in my class pointed to my legs and made fun of my shining blonde leg hairs. She covered her eyes and said the sun reflecting off of them was blinding her and to please learn to shave as soon as possible. Of course, she and her posse were clean shaven. They all laughed and pointed. Drawing attention to my legs so that others who were nearby craned their necks to see what the fuss was about.
Mortified, I tried to pull my shorts lower but I could not hide my shimmering leg hairs. Directly after school I cried to my mother, "Oh please let me shave my legs, the girls are making fun of me!"
And my mother said, "Oh poo. Who cares what they think. You're too young to have to worry about shaving and your hair is so light you can't even notice it."
Later that night I swiped her razor and a can of shaving cream. I locked myself in the bathroom and lathered up. I then proceeded to cut a huge gash in my achilles tendon because I had no idea what the flark I was doing.
Good lord that hurt and it makes my toes curl just to remember it. Long story short; if your daughter is concerned about it, please oh please help her solve her issue instead of letting her try and figure it out on her own.
If kids are making fun of her, or she's embarrassed and avoiding things, then it's time. My daughter was turning 10 when she started shaving under her arms and 11 when she started shaving her legs. I'd suggest starting with an electric shaver, or try a depilatory cream (make sure to do a test patch first to see if it irritates her skin). Good luck!
I'd teach her how to shave. The Schick Silk Effects razor has fine wires on the blade that make it safer.
http://www.drugstore.com/schick-silk-effects-plus-razor-with-2-refill-blades/qxp56800
i totally agree with nicole. there's no medical reason to remove hair, it's simply a matter of aesthetics. so when your daughter is self-conscious about it, that's the time to address it.
khairete
suz
8 seems so young to even have hair under the arms....I feel like I was 12 or something. Darn kids are growing up too, too fast!!! I would absolutly without a doubt left my child shave as soon as she noticed the hair there. No one wants to see that and you do NOT want her to be uncomfortable.
Why don't you ask the doctor? I had dark hair when I was young. At 13 I started shaving. BIG- BIG mistake. The hairs got thicker and the 5 o'clock shadow was out in no time. I would consider waxing, although it might pain her a bit the first time, it will take longer to grow back in. Once a month.
I am now 40 and had laser done 5 years ago. It is a bit expensive but well worth it.No more running to the salon to have someone wax me. Never have to think about getting prepped up for the next day if it's about wearing a skirt, dress, bathing suit etc. Definitely look after your daughter. I always felt insecure at her age, because most of the girls had beautiful legs whereas I had that mediteranean dark hair. Ugh...
Yes, let her shave. My mother would not let me shave till 7th grade.. It was awful, I finally got out a razor and went for it.. She was not pleased and said, "well now you will have to shave all of the time.".
I told her "Fine by me"
I do not think it is a big deal, because it is way better than hairy legs.
.
When my daughter was 10 she started getting concerned about the hair on her legs and she had some underarm hair she went and got my razor. So then we went and found a simple little battery razor for $10-15. It's enough that she can take care of it herself and I don't have to worry about her cutting herself by sneaking mine! She doesn't do it that often just when she feels the need. (not as often as probably needed! especially underarms!) But it's enough to keep her from feeling self conscious. And that's what counts!
Wow, what a timely question for me! My 10yr old has been concerned with her underarm hair and "mustache" for a while now. We bleached her lip hair a month or so ago. At the time, I thought to myself "anyday now she's going to ask about her leg hair". Well, just last night she did exactly that. She has fine black hair all over her legs. It's very noticable. She has an Italian grandmother on one side and a Spanish great-grandmother on the other. And she inherited the hair of both. The hair on her head is gorgeous, full and lush. Unfortunately, so is the hair on her body. If she shaves it, it'll come back as hard, sharp stubble and she'll most likely (from my own experience) have to shave daily, or even twice a day (>_<). Waxing hurts like a b*tch, but lasts longer. Laser removal is too expensive and it really hurts, too (I'm going through it right now and it is WAY more painful than I was lead to believe -still totally worth it, though). I don't want to use depilatories on her because I'm concerned with all those chemicals seeping into her skin. I'm torn - I don't know how to help her. But I DO know that once the warm months roll around, she's going to be in long pants until that hair is gone. So I gotta find a solution to this soon.
I say, if she is conscious about the hair – she needs to shave. Have you ever seen a hairy 8 y/o by the pool? I guess no one wants to see one or be the one. I do not think there is an age limit, everyone is different. There are some girls who have some hair but not aware. If your daughter is bothered by it – it may hurt her self esteem.
Ah, this is still a sensitive subject with me. I started shaving in fifth grade, because I like your daughter have very dark hair (It's the Native American blood in my family) I reused to wear shorts and on a 90 degree day I wanted to wear jeans, mom said no. I told her why and she let me shave. I was so happy. I have to shave everyday to and it's a pain, but I still would rather do that than the alternative. Make sure she understands that. My mom helped me shave the first time, I would at least monitor her, her first time too.
Let her shave... :)
I agree... let her shave. I would do shaving too, not Nair or anything like that. My dad didn't want me to shave with a razor, and had me use the Nair instead. I used it for about a month without any problems, then one day it burned/peeled a gash of skin off from my knee to my ankle! I still have a pretty decent scar from it. (I followed the directions, exactly like I had been the entire time...)
I like the Venus razor with 5 blades. I have never even nicked myself with it... it's pretty thick so she's not too likely to cut herself.
Let her shave. I would hold off on waxing or laser!!! But under arm hair, yeah she doesnt need that. Hairy legs arent great either.
Show her how to safely shave her legs and underarms..
As a woman who went through the same thing as a child -- show her now before she starts swiping a razor and trying to do it herself (and likely not safely). Back in the day they had "Flicker" razors that were round and had coils over the blade that made it hard to impossible to cut yourself shaving -- My mom finally bought me that. Not sure if they have anything similar these days. My sister in law will be going through this with her daughter in about 2 years and plans to take her for waxing....having had waxing sessions, I am not sure I could subject a 8-10 year old to that. Maybe an electric dry razor would be a happy compromise. I currently use an epilator but I could see a kid thinking that it hurts like an SOB :) so probably not the best choice...but the hair grows back finer and less of it (I barely have any hair that grows on the bottom half of my legs or under my arms after a few years of regular use). Being made fun of as a kid for being a hairy girl sucks!
she is not too young take her to the store and have her pick out a razer and shaving gel and show her the right way to shave
For sure let her shave or use the cream hair removal. I would not wax her. Ouch! Laser is expenive. But if i could afford laser hair removal i would do it.