Girl on PhoneThe story of a San Francisco woman who takes her 8-year-old daughter in for regular bikini waxes made waves here on The Stir recently --

But as it turns out, that mother is hardly alone.

"Virgin waxes" are the name given to salon waxes for girls 8 and up who've never shaved.

According to Wanda's European Skin Care Center, a salon offering virgin waxes in New York:

Virgin hair can be waxed so successfully that growth can be permanently stopped in just 2 to 6 sessions. Save your child a lifetime of waxing ... and put the money in the bank for her college education instead!

Say what?!

NBC's Today show did a story on the trend a few years ago, reporting that more and more mothers were taking in their 10- to 12-year-olds, and sometimes even younger, to get waxed.

“For waxing, 12 years old is the ‘new normal,’” Philadelphia aesthetician Melanie Engle was quoted as saying.

And a Beverly Hills salon owner reported that nearly 20 percent of her customers were tweens.

TWEENS!

What. On. Earth.

In fairness, not all of these young girls are getting bikini waxes. Waxing ranges from eyebrow shaping to leg and arm hair waxes -- and I'll be honest. I don't have a problem with a tweenage girl wanting to get rid of her unibrow or the dark hairs that have started to grow on her upper lip. Kids can be cruel, and if the tween requests it and it minimizes teasing, I say let her go for it.

I speak from some experience, since I had light hair on my forearms when I was a tween that mortified me. My mom wouldn't let me touch it, and I swore then and there that if I ever had a daughter with visible hair somewhere that embarrassed her, I'd let her get rid of it.

Bikini waxes, though? Um. No. That's just weird. And if it's the mom's idea to get the wax, I think that's wrong, too, to be honest. Why rush a girl into growing up before she's ready?

What do you think of "virgin waxes"? Would you let your tween daughter get one?

 

Image via Free Retro Graphics