Hygiene
Disclaimer: This question is aimed at parents of children who are old enough to care for their own hygiene.
When I was growing up, my mom never really took me aside and said, hey, in order to be truly clean and healthy you must remove any androgenic hair on your legs, privates, underarms and other "unsightly" areas, but I have some friends who believe that either through their personal preference or because at one point they were told so. This came up because I was upset that Mo'Nique, an African-American comedienne, was recently "called out" in gossip mags for not shaving her legs while wearing cocktail length dresses without hosiery to awards functions. I've also had a friend who was told that she HAD to wax her upper lip because it was a "disgrace".
So question time:
1) Is there an appropriate age for removing one's hair?
2) Do you/do you plan to coach your children on the removal of hair?
3) If you plan on encouraging/allowing your child to remove unwanted hair, will you do it because it's "only hygienic"?
4) Would you coerce or even force your teenager to have her "unwanted hair" waxed at a salon? Is that within your boundaries as a parent?
When I was growing up, my mom never really took me aside and said, hey, in order to be truly clean and healthy you must remove any androgenic hair on your legs, privates, underarms and other "unsightly" areas, but I have some friends who believe that either through their personal preference or because at one point they were told so. This came up because I was upset that Mo'Nique, an African-American comedienne, was recently "called out" in gossip mags for not shaving her legs while wearing cocktail length dresses without hosiery to awards functions. I've also had a friend who was told that she HAD to wax her upper lip because it was a "disgrace".
So question time:
1) Is there an appropriate age for removing one's hair?
2) Do you/do you plan to coach your children on the removal of hair?
3) If you plan on encouraging/allowing your child to remove unwanted hair, will you do it because it's "only hygienic"?
4) Would you coerce or even force your teenager to have her "unwanted hair" waxed at a salon? Is that within your boundaries as a parent?