I’m a shaver myself.
Whereas I am not opposed to having a perfect stranger smear hot wax on my legs, underarms and lady parts, and then rip it off with reckless abandon, I simply don’t have the money to employ said stranger’s services on a regular basis.
What’s more, I certainly wouldn’t fork over cold, hard cash to have my 7-year-old daughter’s peach fuzz waxed off.
Sadly, I’m part of a growing minority on that one.
According to the New York Times, which, apparently, has its finger on the pulse of what’s hip and happening in the world parenthood, I need to wake-up and smell the lavender-scented leg wax… for kids.
“It’s about grooming and cleanliness,” so says an Upper West Side mother featured in the Times piece. She recently took her 12-year-old to get a leg and “moderate” bikini wax (as opposed to a full-on Brazilian) before the tween left for summer camp.
The mom told the Times that having her child undergo professional hair removal “seemed like a natural and smart thing to do so she wouldn’t have to worry.”
Worry, you know, about being the lone Sasquatch among a camp full of female Sphynx cats.
Currently, my daughter screams when I even suggest gently removing a Band-Aid from a leg wound. She is petrified of the pain that may result from extracting the Scooby-Doo embellished bandage from her barely-there leg hair.
My wallet couldn’t be happier.
Still, according to childhood psychologists, wax jobs are not only for precocious pubescents who are desperately trying to fit in with their peers.
Dr. Laura Kastner, a psychologist specializing in teenagers and a clinical associate professor at the University of Washington tells the Times, “It’s more about peer conformity than peer pressure. The pressure really comes from within.”
Kastner goes on to say that girls these days obtain a sense of security knowing that they look good minus body hair.
And feeling good begets confidence which begets strength which begets success.
All that from a procedure that defuzzes upper lips and removes hair from nether regions that shouldn’t be exposed in the first place?
Would you pay for your tween to get her body hair professionally removed?
Related Articles:
Hair Raising Dilemma: Who Calls the Shots in Your Family?
Parents Who Approve of Wax Jobs for 8-Year-Olds
Would You Allow Your Teen Daughter to Get a Bikini Wax?