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ADVICE RATING

4.52 (Highly recommend) from 25 votes (3473 Visits)

11yo wanting to shave

by lexiw

(November 2006) (rank 6th)

Hi guys, my sister-in-law, who is 11yo wants to start shaving her legs because all her friends are doing it, but my mother in law thinks its best for her to wait as shes too young. When do you think is the right time for her to start? Ive told

my mother-in-law to make her wait at least until she starts high school, as thats a major transition in her life, and she has a reason to feel more grown up then, but she and i both think that compared to other kids her age, she just isnt old enough to start doing this yet. Any suggestions? Sister-in-law aint at all happy that she cant join in with her mates.

I may not have very much experience with tweens but I do know that not being able to do something like this can be very damaging to the young girl.

Young girls can be extremely nasty to the point where some girls can't stand to go to school anymore for fear of what is going to be said to them. It is easy to say that they should just ignore it but this I believe is one of the contributing factors to teenage suicides. I remember being that age and my mother not letting me shave my legs. The nasty things that girls said to me had me crying and obviously I didn't commit suicide but I have a pretty strong personality not every young girl has that.

As soon as my daughter asked me about shaving I asked her why she wanted to and she said the words that I knew where comming the other girls were picking on her. I immediately showed her what she needed to know. I personally couldn't stand the thought of my daughter having to go through the same hurt I did. If we don't help our young girls through what is really the hardest times of their lives then who will. We need to let our children try to fit in and I know alot of people are saying that they should have their own personalities and not be a follower. Well my daughter has her own personality and she is still able to fit in with the people she likes as well as not getting picked on by the girls who have all the latest stuff and look down on any one who dosn't.

On a show I watched the other night a major problem in australian schools at the moment is young people cutting themselves. I have personally seen the results of this from a teenager friend of mine it is not a nice thing to be woken at 2:30am to a bathroom full of blood. All of this comes from not being givin the attention that the child deserved, from living in an abusive household as well but every day I fear for her safety.

So I don't see the point in restraining our children with something so small an issue as shaving when there are much bigger issues out there for our children to face. Does it really matter when they start shaving it is just going to be the same now or later, why not save our kids the problem of being picked on and concentrate on what is really important to their well-being.

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ADVICE RATING

4.52 (Highly recommend) from 25 votes

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	5.00 (Excellent) \| February 2007 \| jan4444

11yo wanting to shave

Hello,

My daughter is 10yo and I decided to let her shave her legs. The reasons I have let my daughter shave is because she has very, very hairy legs!! I do not allow her to use a razor blade, she uses an electric shaver. In my daughters case, it has nothing at all to do with wanting to do it because everyone else is. Very hairy legs can be difficult for a young girl, esp. in the summer. I hope this helps!!

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	4.04 (Good) \| December 2006 \| emmysmum

11yo wanting to shave?

I agree with lexiw!
There are so many suicides going on because of the lack of attention parents show to their teenage children, and it's all about petty little issues like how to apply makeup or how to shave your legs.
Whilst their are so many alternatives for shaving legs, they are either painful or leave you with a nasty rash.
Why doesn't society just teach their teen children (11-13) these things to make them feel comfortable so that they feel as though they aren't left out? I know i would if my daughter was a teenager. I wasn't even taught about getting my periods until i had them!

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	4.50 (Excellent) \| December 2006 \| LaRenae

I did it without asking

Around 11 or so I was with my grandparents for the weekend and I felt like I was ready to shave ... so when I took a bath and had access to a razor in the tub .... I did it ... I shaved my legs ... leaving lots of bloody scrapes because I did not know how to shave .... had I felt comfortable enough to ask permission and had been shown how to do it proper this would not have happened ... I blamed the cuts on the dog ... but was teased because the adults figured out what I had done ... Also, wearing a bra was a big issue for me since I developed so much later ... When I asked to wear a bra I was told I did not need it ... whereas all my peers were wearing bras ... These types of issues are not "trend" issues ... they are developmental issues ... I was hurt (and somehow still am) by not being able to participate in the "milestones" of development ... I say teach your child the proper way to shave .... It is just a simple and small mile stone that could mean the world to her ....

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	5.00 (Excellent) \| December 2006 \| lexiw

I did it without asking

You are sooo right and that is one of the reasons I showed my daughter what she needed to do. It was also a bonding experience for us aswell.

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	4.00 (Good) \| December 2006 \| suzan73

11yr old wanting to shave

My 14 yr old started to shave when in yr 6 ( she was 11 also), i waited till the school holidays so if she got a rash etc it would be cleared before she went back .... at first we use a cream to remove the hair but she thought it was a lot of mess and work so we moved onto the razors, she has shaved ever since, i also bought her a great electric cordless shaver that she loves for a quick runover.....On the other hand my 10 yr (11 in feb) old has the hairiest legs ever and couldnt care less about them at the moment but when she wants i will allow her to do so too.....I encourage my girls to take pride in their apppearance and this is just a small part of it and if it makes them feel better then im happy! though everyone is different and friends of mine make it apart of starting highschool and it works for them

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	3.00 (Average) \| November 2006 \| winja

11 yo wanting to shave

i think you should get her to wax as the hair grows back thinner that way if she changes her mind and decides to stay a kid for a bit longer she wont look like a yeti. plus it hurts so much she will prob just wait till she actually needs to shave.

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	4.54 (Excellent) \| November 2006 \| Chrysalis

Great advice

My daughters legs are her legs- if she wants to shave them well fine, if not, fine too. When i was about 10 i think I decided I wanted to shave my legs. None of my friends did. Mum thought it was silly- so I cut all the hairs off with nail scissors - can you imagine!!!!! I nicked the skin half a dozen times and had little triangle scars for ages from this!
Mum saw the scars and asked what had happened. when I told her she just shook her head - gave me a packet of disposable razors and showed me how to use them

The really funny thing was that although I though my legs looked nice I was really embarrassed when i looked at my friends - realised that they had hairy legs and kept mine covered up. Go figure.

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	4.00 (Good) \| November 2006 \| michellei

11yo wanting to shave

A very refreshing article - thank you.
There are other alternitives to shaving ie wax, creams and so on.
I don't see what the problem is with her age.
We show girls everyday that we should look nice and now you're telling her not to. That to me is flawed logic.

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	5.00 (Excellent) \| December 2006 \| monyq83

11yo wanting to shave

Its not so much that we dont want her to look nice, its just that were not sure wether its appropriate for her age.

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	4.65 (Excellent) \| November 2006 \| monyq83

hmmm

you know what, youve got a damn good point there, im gonna forward this on to my mother in law. i didnt even think of it from that point of view. thanks so much for that.

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