Let me be honest here: I've never had anything waxed and maybe I should have. My oldest daughter Alicia, 7, told me just this week she thought I had the makings of a unibrow. (Thanks for that.) So, when I raise my eyebrow at a New York salon offering waxing for girls 15 and under, you can be assured I am raising a pretty big, bushy and opinionated eyebrow.
The salon advertised an Independence Day special likely knowing that it would cause fireworks, and it has, offering a deep discount for girls 15 and younger who come in to get their first wax for the removal of unwanted body hair. The advertisement shows a young teen jumping in the air in a bikini like she just won the lottery and goes on to say waxing is natural, safe, pleasant and can only be done with parental consent.
The dad in me says the salon should be waxed for the removal of unwanted brain cells. The mom in me is deferring to the dad in me because I think girls are being thrown into the beauty biz way too young nowadays. But I'm always conservative when it comes to these things, so I asked my wife about this and she launched off like a rocket: "That's disgusting. Girls should be allowed to be girls. What happened to childhood!" She then added with a snark, "What do you even have to WAX under the age of 15 anyways?" I don't know about girls, but I remember being in the boys locker room during gym class when I was that age, and with the exception of one kid who we all stared at in awe, no one had much to be shaving.
Trust me, the wife is way more liberal than I am. She's already put me on notice that the girls will be "prepared" as they grow up. I'd like to think she's talking about an AAA card and a well-stocked earthquake kit, but I know she's talking about the birds and the bees and all that goes along with it. So if the liberal Mrs. thinks this goes way over the line and conservative, nervous dad thinks this goes way over the line, then maybe it does.
We've already seen headlines about boob jobs for graduation gifts and glamour shots to obtain the perfect Facebook profile photo. What's next and when do we say, "Hold on a second?" There are so many forces right now trying to pick up that line and physically push it further down the road, maybe we as parents need to hold the line and push back. Let's wax some sense into them. Am I all alone in this? Let me know what you think.
Find more Dadmissions online at Facebook/ Dadmissions the Book.