You obviously haven’t seen my unbarbered legs.
The first summer I had any kind of visible leg hair, my mother took me to be waxed for the first time; I credit those many years of waxing with having a few hairs in my forelegs, now, rather than the beary ones my DNA gave me. The notion of “shaving” wasn’t part of the Spanish collective conscience at the time, you either waxed, plucked or went beary.
Summer activities were very much collective; we ran into many of my classmates at the pool, and saw each other naked in the dressing room. While some of us were more interested than others in “becoming women at last”, I don’t think a single one was interested in displaying “yewww, body hair!” in public.
This. “Old enough to shave” isn’t like being allowed to stay out late or something like that. If she’s starting to go through puberty and has the body hair to prove it, she should be allowed to take care of it if she wants.
I was an early bloomer and started shaving at about 8. I didn’t bother asking my mom b/c I knew she’d say no, so I just took one of her Daisy razors* and did it myself. She was pissed, but didn’t stop me after that.
*which are the worst razors ever, IMO. I still get razor burn whenever I use them and they just don’t shave as well as basically any other razor - and it’s really easy to cut yourself with them. If you’re going to let her shave, help her pick out a decent razor & shaving cream. Or even one of those razors with the built-in shaving cream cartridge.
Moon Unit begged for a razor etc. by 11 or so. I think she felt self-conscious about her (not terribly) hairy legs. I couldn’t possibly care less (I can’t be arsed to shave my own legs) but as she wanted to do so, I had no objections.
I do have to remind her that she doesn’t necessarily need to do this EVERY SINGLE DAY and that she can get more than one use out of a disposable razor cartridge, however.
Anyway - if the OP’s daughter wants to, I’d say let her and don’t make a big deal. Chances are decent that she’ll get bored with it / decide it’s not worth it after a fairly short time.
Oh, lord, my parents forbade me from shaving even into high school. I was bemoaning this particular indignity to a male friend and he laughed and said, “Oh, you were that girl. We had one of those in my gym class, too.” Yeah. I was “that girl.” Ugh. Anyway I finally took matters into my own hands (literally) one night when my parents were out of the house, because the social ramifications were just too much to bear.
No need to push it onto a girl until she brings it up, but for the love of all that’s holy, don’t forbid a girl from shaving her legs once she’s hit puberty and/or taken some shit from the other girls in her class and/or she comes home crying about how badly she wants to.
My above comments should not be taken too seriously, and neither should this, but, seriously? Your legs au naturel would exhibit furry coverage akin to this (zoom) ? All the leftover-feminist and otherwise unshaven-legged women I’ve known have been sprouted with much thinner & lighter hairs that lie closer against the skin, less coarse, and generally lighter in color except for Italian and Puerto Rican women, and in their case the skin was darker as well, so still less lurid contrast.
PS in case I’ve given cause for anyone to wonder: I’m not kinky about women having unshaved legs, no fetish or anything, nor am I repelled by the shaven ones. It’s just one of those gilding-the-lily things that seems unnecessary.
Hey, just because the multi-blade razors don’t work for you doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t work for your daughter. As far as I’m concerned, whoever invented the Venus razor deserves a Nobel prize.
Oh, yeah. Of course you should let her start shaving if she wants. Kids will endure enough teasing as it is. Hairy legs are so easily avoidable.
p.s. AHunter3–The OP asked that we not debate leg shaving in this thread.
I’ve got very pale skin, and my leg hair is dark brown. And yes, it does look like that when I don’t shave it and let it grow out. For some reason people seem to think I’m exaggerating when I say I’ve got legs as hairy as a man’s (actually, hairier than some) but really, yes I do. I just don’t usually display that fact in public. I suspect most other women with the same trait don’t either, hence your belief it doesn’t happen. It’s also why I laugh when someone suggests I “just bleach” instead of shaving - the hair is long and coarse enough it would still be highly visible, just a light colored shaggy coat instead of a dark colored one.
Those pics could almost have been of my legs during the winter when I don’t bother shaving. Seriously. So what Broomstick said.
I have more hair on my legs AFTER shaving than my Mig has naturally.
I don’t care if it’s more feminine or whatever. I like the smooth feel of my legs. And Mig’s too!
Oops! Apologies all around!
Meh. I think I started shaving my legs, then went back to reading my RL Stine books (my reading level had surpassed Goosebumps long before, but it was the Harry Potter of my time). I think I still played with action figures (sorry y’all, but Master Splinter was cooler than Barbie).
Don’t worry too much about it making her grow up too fast. We don’t really think of deodorant as being a sign of growing up too fast (I mean, we know sweaty armpits are a sign of puberty, but it’s seen as being hygienic, not as something you do deliberately to attract boys/look like all the other girls).
I started shaving my legs at age ten, when my mother bought me and my sister electric shavers for Christmas. Somehow I managed to not notice that I had hair in my armpits until I wore a sleveless dress to school (6th grade) and happened to glance down when I had my hand up to answer a question in class. Whoops! I could hardly wait to get home to shave that (sparse) mess off. To this day, I have sparse body hair and only shave about once a week.
My daughter never actually asked. I had already told her to shave whenever she felt the need. It seemed to be a grooming preference to me, nothing to fight over.
I have to shave my legs every day. Well, I don’t HAVE to, but I hate it when my legs don’t feel nice and smooth. In the winter I’ll shave every other day – since I’m always wearing long pants and pjs, but in the summer? EVERY DAY. I hate it when my legs rub together and they feel rough.
Ugh!
(So basically, it’ll depend on her leg hair – when she gets older, she may have more stubble. There’s always skin creams out there as well, if her skin gets dry. Happy shaving!)
More. At age 14, I was hairier than my brothers are as adults (plus the youngest one is blondish, so although his hairs are similar to your picture except for the bald spot above one ankle, it shows less). Now I’m not, thanks to those 15 years of waxing religiously every two months tops.