We've already witnessed the puzzling phenomenon of young girls wearing makeup, and there's always Nair for kids. But what would you say if I told you that girls as young as eight were getting bikini waxes? A new Philadelphia magazine story delves into the troubling world of little-girl grooming, uncovering stories of young girls being plucked, scrubbed, waxed, highlighted, and polished into doll-like versions of their former selves, all under the watchful eye of their equally appearance-obsessed mother. Here are a few more of the shocking things observed:
- An 8-year-old getting a bikini wax
- A mother demanding that her 8-year-old daughter's brows be waxed like a supermodel's
- Sisters, one 9 and one 10, getting microdermabrasion (what, to reveal even more youthful skin?)
- A mother requesting a chemical straightening treatment on her 12-year-old's beautiful wavy hair
- A 12-year old getting a full body wax
- 16-year olds getting breast augmentations
It's easy to just blame these girls' mothers (and, ahem, where are their fathers?!). But I find it just as troubling that spa owners allow these unnecessary (and sometimes painful) procedures to be performed on children. Since the mothers are willing to drop big bucks on a regular basis to keep their daughters perfectly preened, salon owners risk losing the lucrative business should they refuse to perform a service. And from the sound of it, most of them would rather keep their traps shut than jeopardize their profits.
To see what I think about this, and to share your opinion, read more.
Girls are bombarded daily with images of women, all flashing bleached-white smiles, flawless skin, and tan, hairless bodies. It's bad enough that they feel pressure to live up to those unattainable expectations, but you'd hope that their moms would hold their daughters' hands through those awkward years. Instead, some parents are encouraging them to get bikini waxes before there's anything there to wax. I'm deeply worried for girls who, in their formative years, are being taught that their self-worth is only as good as their outward appearance.
I realize that there is the potential for a happy medium when it comes to personal grooming at a young age, but there's a difference between a mini-manicure party and a full body wax for a 10-year old. What do you think about this? Are you as disheartened as I am?
J Taylor
CNC Costume National
Bikkembergs
Bikini waxing what hair? Seriously.
1That's so incredibly sad that we're so absolutely obsessed with youth that even the actual YOUTH are trying to be younger and prettier.
I wouldn't do half of those things to myself much less to a child. This is just really sad.
2this is sad
3how awful! this is just one of those thing that makes me so sad.
4I think this trend is awful. All of it. The parents, the salons and the doctors should all be ashamed. Still, if there is a demand and the parents are willing to pay the money for it, who has a right to stop them? It's just a shame, and that's my opinion.
5I'm with morgan on this - what hair is there on an 8-year-old for a bikini wax to remove????!!!!???? I didn't start with hair-removal shiz even on my legs until I was like 12, and I don't think bikini lines were an item of concern until high school. (More college, really.) This is ridiculous. Microdermabrasion on little girls? I'm 19 and I don't microdermabrase! I also don't wax my brows (admittedly, I have been threading and plucking since age 15), and I don't do mean things to my hair, and I haven't had breast augmentation (also, at 16 - you're nowhere near done developing, so why get implants?) and I think this is absolute LUNACY. All of it. These mothers need to be smacked. My mom let me play with crazy makeup at home when I was younger, but until I was like 15 or 16, I couldn't go out with any insane makeup - just concealer, mascara, lip gloss, possibly eyeshadow were allowed. Certainly not professionally-applied stuff. Little girls (and teenage girls) are not sex objects, and people should STOP trying to apply the (misguided) standards of adult female beauty to them. Welcome to years of therapy...
6bailaoragaditana, I am so excited that you used "lunacy." That's one of my favorite words. And I agree, welcome to years of therapy. So sad.
7Why does an 8 year old need a bikini wax? That's just disgusting. It's even more disgusting that there are places offering services to kids.
8No wonder girls have eating disorders and all sorts of body issues whenever they're teenagers.
This is sad! I agree with everyone else's comments. I didn't even start shaving my legs/plucking my eyebrows until I was like 13/14. But at 8 yrs old? That's ridiculous!
9"Lunacy" is a word I reserve for special occasions, and it was absolutely warranted in this case. It makes me sad, and angry, and so, so, so sorry for these little girls, who really just need a hug from their mothers and some playtime.
10Sick and very sick
11Shocked! I don't even groom this much and I am 28. I just started waxing my eyebrows.
12Can you imagine how unhappy these mothers are (not to mention totally irresponsible, self-centered and immature) and how even more unhappy their daughters will become (and already are)? They loose their childhood and they are heading for a life of constant unsatisfaction, low self-esteem and superficiality. Sometimes it really seems to me that instead of getting wiser as a human race and learning from our mistakes & flaws like the intelligent beings we (supposedly) are, we are really only degrading ...
13I think Hillman, in the article, puts a pin on the real reason this is happening: "these girls’ mothers have unresolved issues of their own." And they're passing them on to their daughters in exponentially increased quantities.
14I agree w/ all the comments! What next: eyebrow waxing on infants? I think young girls/even teens with plucked/arched eyebrows look like junior trannies!
15Why does an 8 year old girl need a bikini waxing?
16This is very... stupid.
With 8 years I was busy playing with dolls, I didn't even think about that kind of things...
I'm worried about what these type of girls will be in the future. They act more like teenagers than me, that I'm a teenager...
I get it when a little girl plays with her moms makeup, but some of these are just extremes.
17I wouldn't blame the mothers entirelly, because some little girls can cry and beg like hell for whatever they want, I use to wine for toys and I'm guessing some of these girls are for some beuty treatments. My mother knew how to deal with me when I cried in a deparment store, but a lot of mothers don't, they sometimes overcompensate by giving their children all they want becuse they just don't know how to say no.
This is so creepy.
18Coming from someone who developed very young, I nor my mother had even THOUGHT about doing any of this stuff. She made me wait until I was about 13 to let me shave my legs, and I didn't get a decent bra until I was close to a C cup (at 11) because she was so neurotic about me growing up too fast. Even though my body was maturing faster than I could keep up she still didn't want to treat me like a mini adult. I remember a friend of mine in 8th grade saying she had just gone with her mother to get her legs waxed and I remember asking "Um, isn't that what old ladies do?".
I just read Bella's post over again, now that the red haze is starting to clear from in front of my eyes, and I would like to posit her question again: where the H*LL are these girls' fathers???
Because I know my dad wouldn't even let me leave the house with noticeable lipstick until I was about halfway through high school. And I'm pretty sure these dads would feel the same way.
19This is sick! Why would they offer a 8 years old kid to get a bikini wax? TERRIBLE! I think the new generation should be more conscious (so does their parents) and should not watch too much TV and reading magazine because it does influence them. Mostly, when they see their favorite celebs who does it, they want it too. Yikes!
20This is creepy and really depressing. Why can't society let children be children? I wouldn't want any future daughter of mine being influenced by this nonsense. And why is it that people seem to spend more time encouraging girls to make themselves "prettier" but not telling them you should read more and aspire to be an intelligent and interesting human being or form a band/play an instrument just for the fun of it. It's really pathetic that this is what society says a girl needs to focus on. And what 8 yr. old needs a bikini wax? And why do salons agree to these things?
21I'm just grossed and appalled that this is happening. It makes me want to shelter my teenage sister more.
22Yes this article is sickening. I know people are asking where are the fathers, but remember the mentality of most of these women, they think that men have no say when it comes to their appearance and their daughters. These are the type of women that would threaten their husbands with divorce if they don't get their way. But what they women fail to realize is that their husbands and boyfriends know how men really think, not like how most women think they know how men really think. They can quite correctly guess how a pedophile is viewing their 11 year old daughter, but these women have the attitude that 'mom knows best' and that their significant other, better but out.
(the non-use of the word ' mother' was deliberate in the above post, as it does not apply)
23I am queasy over this! Don't these moms stop and think that letting or making their girls primp and dress in such a sexual manner might make them catch the eyes of some pedophiles out there?? An 8-year-old in a bikini revealing enough to merit WAXING would be all kinds of scandalous!
24I am so disgusted by this.
25When I was a kid I was always told by teachers, parents and P.S.A.s that if anyone touched you in the "swimsuit area" you should tell a parent. Parents making kids get bikini waxes really seems to border on sexual abuse. It is beyond nauseating.
I was in uptown NY and a mom was explaining to her young son that he could get a manicure, because they have them for boys too. This was cute. None of the things in the above article are cute.
26i agree that the bikini waxing and microdermabrasion are pretty unnecessary but i used to babysit this 11 year old girl who had extremely bushy eyebrows, and a unibrow and she was miserable until her mom finally took her to get her brows waxed. i cant even tell you the improvement it made on her self esteem...so i would say in some cases its ok.
27this isn't normal anymore
28stupid, but if they want to waste their money on that I don't care.
29How ignorant do these mothers have to be to put their kids through these? If they're so into beauty and makeup, shouldn't they know what goes on with these procedures and WHY they're bad for you if you have no bikini hair to wax or that the straightening chemicals damage young hair??
But you have to be careful you don't completely forget to teach their daughters how to do this stuff--just at the right age. The whole eyebrow thing trickytara was talking about was like me...but no unibrow. Just two fat caterpillars on my forehead. My mom wouldnt let me tweeze my eyebrows so I just "borrowed" hers one day in high school and went to work. Eventually she took me to get them threaded but that was like...after I graduated high school -_- That, in my opinon, is way too late to be educated.
30These all sound like pretty extreme cases to me. I don't know any mothers who would let their 8 year old daughter get a bikini wax!
31I don't know what a 8 year old has to wax for one thing, and why would a spa allow a 8 year old to get waxed. You would think they would stop that before it happened.
32It's illegal to do breast augmentations under 18, so that part can't be true.
33My eleven year old daughter and I witness this in many relationships of other mothers and daughters. It's sad and down right sickening. Primping little girls has taken over. You see it everywhere. Take notice of the giant advertising posters in T@rget's children's dept. and the little girls are wearing lipstick, lipgloss, eyeliner and mascara. They are no longer little girls but little women and certainly not the ones Louisa May Alcott wrote about.
Even attempting to buy my daughter modest clothes is a challenge within itself. Everything is sexy, low cut, high riding, simply revealing.
Let's let little girls be just that, little girls. They will grow up soon enough and stay women but the time they spend being children is so limited. Let them enjoy it.
34I've also found that these girls have some of the ugliest mothers... and I think they are trying to live through their daughters beauty. Just look at any show about pagents...It's sick and it's sad. I think of that kind of grooming for kids as extreme and bordering on a form of child abuse.
35I'm speachless. This is just too crazy for words.
36This is a real worry. Although I agree it's very important for the fathers to have a role in this, same sex parents have the biggest effect on a child. I had a very disturbing conversation with a family's friends daughter, a tiny, perfect, fairy-like 6 year old. She was looking through my makeup bag (normal for a little girl) and suddenly her shoulders slumped.
I asked her what was wrong and she looked me dead in the eye and said with a straight face, "I hate me.". I cannot explain the jolt that went through me when I heard that. She went on to say that she's "fat" (!!!) and she "wants to change it all". What do you say to that? I told her she's beautiful and perfect just how she is, but I could see it barely registered. The negative messages are winning out, big time.
Her mother has always struggled with her weight, yo-yo dieting, running herself down. This is incredibly dangerous - children are far more perceptive than they're given credit for. The media is also to blame of course, but body love starts at home.
For mothers to also take their children along for bikini waxing?? What is this child going to think? This all makes me so sad for these beautiful little girls who don't even get to have a proper childhood.
37So.......
When these little hot mamas end up pregnant at 11 or 12, will these insane, sorry excuses for mothers have the nerve to be surprised?
38The only one of these things I can understand is the microdermabrasion and only if it was used to help with an acne treatment. I knew a 9 year old girl who was getting acne, because she had already started getting her period. Sometimes microdermabrasion can help with acne treatments. Other than that I can see no reason whatsoever for any of these girls to have any of these treatments. I wasn't even allowed to shave until I was 13, I think my mother would have freaked if I had even wanted to have any of these treatments done at a young age.
39Unfortunately, I was one of those girls who was forced to grow up too quickly. At age nine, I remember distinctly going on my first diet (I wasn't fat, but I wasn't a stick either); by age eleven, I had begun a daily application of makeup (subtle, but department store makeup anyway).
Now that I'm older, I realize how much that sort of thing had an impact on how I see myself. I still struggle with self-esteem and seeing myself as attractive.
My daughter will never be allowed to do those things. Never.
40i'm sorry, but isn't giving an 8 year old a bikini wax under the definition of sexual assault somewhere???
seriously, so messed up.
41i think its all their mothers. the kids want to do what their mothers are doing
42who the hell is looking at an 8 year olds bikini area?!?!?! Parents need to be slapped across the face... i swear.. Just SMACK THEM HARD>>>> Poor little girls... I enjoyed having a childhood... Heck I'm still in it! haha !!
43My friend's daughter got her first period when she was eight. Her pediatrician said that girls are maturing sooner now-a-days because of the hormones in meat.
I think this is devastating to the entire world. These girls, and their psychological problems, are our future. I just ache for the little girl inside their 20-something bodies doing whatever it takes to garner attention, affection, and acceptance.
44this makes me feel sick... i can't even believe this. at 8 what IS there to even wax? and if there is something, leave it! they're EIGHT!! i don't even have enough words to express the disgust i have towards this. i don't think you could trust me to be in the same room as a women who would let her child do this, or request for her child to have it done.
45That is absolutely disgusting. And it sickens me that any mother would do that to their child. As if the media doesn't have the ability to warp minds as it is, now these poor kids have their own mothers warping their minds as well. And it's horrible b/c I see little kid clothes and the skirts are so tiny I just can't believe it...Although I have no children, I do plan on having a child someday and I would NEVER do that. It just sickens me to think that these little girls are being cheated out of a childhood. I just, oh my god.
46I am a teacher's aide and I think it's dumb when my fifth-graders wear makeup. This, however, is just ridiculous. I mean, how vain of a culture are we that it's not good enough to torture ourself for beauty but now we need our children to look perfect? People need to start worrying about their kid's education and character.
47Insane! No child should get those treatments done; there's no need for that. The only things I would allow are:
- Going for a mani/pedi
48- At home facial masks (those relaxing ones w/ the aromatherapy.)
- Getting the child's hair cut at a salon; however no chemical straighting, just getting a cut that suits them.
- Regular dermatoglogist care; nothing that the child doesn't need.
- I understand if the child (9yrs and up) wants to shave their legs or underarms (I started at nine) however nothing beyond that until their in the mid-teens.
We can thank society for this - for letting magazines and fashion houses dictate what is beautiful and what is not - that in order to be pretty and accepted you have to be a certain image. Kids are starting anorexia and bulimia earlier and earlier ... and grown women deal with these feelings of inadequacy on a daily basis. It will not stop until we, as a society, stop PAYING the designers and for services that enable this illness. Until we say ENOUGH!
49I started wanting to put on makeu(was 12 and wanted to do like that 16 yr old I was inspired by hehe) and it was from the eyeshadow kit of mom!but never full makeup or took it seriously..also my niece who's 4 sometimes likes us to make her a nice pinky manicure
and my colleague's daughter is 8 yrs old and loves to play and put on makeup on her day off from school, cherry glosses etc..which her mom LENDS from her! loool but
those things u wrote about r over the top.
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