I’d actually advise my hypothetical daughter to skip the shaving and go for the waxing right off. Slightly more painful (at first) but worth it in the long run and she’ll have that wonderful smooth-leg feeling longer.
:dubious:Cite?
Have fun! I’ll second the calls to not use disposables. They are evil. Mach III is probably a good choice for legs; my personal opinion is that it’s overkill for most men unless they have Nixon/Fred Flintstone-style beards. The blades are insanely expensive. I have gillette sensor, and it’s a good compromise as far as I’m concerned shrug.
Ah yes, shaving…I too was tormented by my peers because my mother refused to let me shave my legs. Eventually I just took it upon myself one night because my older brother had begun to shave his face that day. Boy, did I get into trouble.
As the years have progressed I often wonder about this shaving business and feminism and society and all the stuff I was told in college, but I still remember deeply the sting of embarrassment in junior high. So kudos to you, ivylass for your support.
Oh joy. My first grader will require a strop and blade only four birthdays from now.
The alternative would be an early instruction in pain tolerance: Epilady.™ Somehow the idea of, “Here’s a gift for you that will rip hair out by the roots in a nanosecond” isn’t my idea of Dadly support, but I do not want my daughter to be mistaken for a Yeti, either.
I’m also curious about the post by Payton’s Servant regarding acceleration of puberty. If I do the math in reverse, it would follow that persons around the BC/AD divide would have reached their puberty much later, which flies in the face of everything I’ve read; indeed marriage, consensual relations, and childbearing commenced at age 13-14 with regularity in that time.
Forgive me if I’ve missed something.
Well, here’s another reason to be glad I’m a boy, and so is my only child. 
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know, ivylass, that for the past two days I’ve been seeing this thread title, and every time it puts the Elton John song “Someone Saved my Life Tonight” in my head. Except it goes “Someone Shaved My Legs Tonight”.
Now, I really like most of Elton John’s songs, but that one is pretty dreadful. And now it’s in my head again, and it’s all your fault!
I trust that you are appropriately remorseful.
It never ceases to amaze me how I always find something on this board so current and relevant to my problems. My daughter is also 11 and asked me yesterday if she could start shaving. I hemmed and hawed and finally told her I would get back to her after a little thought. I started myself without permission at 14, and was Mom ever mad! (She got mad when I swiped her tampons too.) I thought 11 was too young, but I see it seems to be the average.
Well, Ferrous, I’ve never heard of that particular Elton John song, so I am NOT remorseful 
I’ll third the Gillete Venus (which is the girly-girl equivalent of the Mach III). I’ve only nicked myself once with it, and it’s because I wasn’t paying attention. Do not use those POS Daisy things.
I started shaving my legs at around 12 or so - I stole my sister’s razor and gave myself a nasty cut at my ankle bone that bled like a sumbitch.
Dung Beetle, your mom got mad because you were using her TAMPONS? Why? Sometimes you NEED these things, and you need them NOW!
I guess I’m lucky in that I don’t remember ever cutting myself while shaving. A nick or two, sure, but no wholesale bloodletting.
Re: tampons
Mom was under the impression that I had taken my own virginity.:rolleyes:
I just use a Mach III - no girly razors for me, as they tend to be overpriced from what I’ve seen, compared to similar models for guys. (The downside is that my husband uses the same kind, so we have to be sure to each put our razor back in the “right” spot.) As for Fugazi’s dilemma, just warn her to be slow and gentle when shaving spots like her knees and around the back of them, and her ankles. It’s way too easy to slip and cut yourself pretty badly there. Wet your legs, use a nice soft shaving gel or conditioner, sit down in the tub to avoid slipping off, and run your fingers up your leg to feel for stubble that’s been missed.
snort
I was a bit of a granola growing up, and I never shaved anything until I was 20 years old. That was the year we moved to the states. My dad didn’t mind me not shaving when we lived in the UK, because my body was mostly covered up, but he still bitched about it once in a while.
I remember wearing a bikini, lying on a towel in the yard in Indianapolis, trying to catch a few rays when my dad came storming out of the house, hauled me up by my left arm, and drug me upstairs. He locked me in the bathroom until I started shaving, and I’ve shaved ever since:)
My poor dad was so mortified. I’ve never really understood why people get so icked out by hair on a woman’s body, but I’ve kept it up to keep others happy.
(This is one of those “I can’t believe I’m about to tell other people this” posts, just so you know).
Hey, ivylass, keep your eyes on your daughter’s arms. I don’t know if anyone here will second me on this, but when I started shaving I thought it was so much fun that I’d do my arms too. (I remember being around 10-11, too.) Fortunately my arm and leg hair is light so it wasn’t that noticable - my mother had no idea that I even shaved my legs until I told her, and luckily she never studied my arms, either.
I may be weird, but I swear on a stack of Mach III’s that I’m not the only one who’s done that. Two of my friends did, too - we came clean years later and had a good laugh.
I had a girlfriend in high school. Her dad was a gym coach. He wouldn’t let her shave. And she was waaaay hairy. She wore nylons with her hair all plastered to her legs. It was hideous. Her father was just clueless.
Oh, she already asked about that, and I told her absolutely not. Then I showed her my own hairy but fair arms, and explained it’s okay to shave your legs but not your arms.
It’s so funny, because now she feels she had to do “touch-up” shaving every few hours or so. Her aunt warned her she’ll get a rash, and I did tell her to put lotion on her legs after shaving, but I figure she’ll learn on her own what works and what doesn’t.
Ferret Herder, you shave the backs of your knees? Or did I misunderstand? There isn’t any hair there, at least on mine!
I HATE shaving but I love that freshly-shaved feeling. And I shaved a couple of hours ago, so everything’s lovely and smooth. Until tomorrow. I’m pretty hairy, so it grows back quick!
What, exactly, is wrong with shaving arms? I have many friends that do it, all female. They have dark hair and light complexions and just feel yucky if they don’t shave their arms.
I personally dislike my body hair, so I shave most of it off. If she doesn’t like her arm hair, so long as she’s careful, is there a problem with her getting rid of it?
If you look closely, you’ll notice a lot of girls shave their arms, especially if they have dark hair.
I have dark hair and have never shaved my arms, so my arm hair is bleached out and not all that noticeable. If I had the cojones – so to speak – to let my leg hair go for a summer, it’d be the same with that, but I don’t, so I keep shaving.
Arrrrrrgh!
my friend’s little sister began shaving her legs when she was about 12 or so. their naval academy graduate father promptly took down the pastoral picture that had been hanging above the fireplace, and replaced it with his officer’s sword and a rifle.
i suggest you take similar measures, ivylass