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"Virgin" Bikini Waxing Now Popular for Pre-Teen Girls
By
John Del Signore
Published Aug 15, 2008
Modified Aug 15, 2008
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By
John Del Signore
Published Aug 15, 2008
Modified Aug 15, 2008
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MSNBC has a long trend-piece about how increasingly younger girls are getting bikini waxing. How young? Well, Wanda Stawczyk, who runs Wanda's European Skin Care on West 57th Street, offers discounts for clients as young as 8, and she says pre-teen business is booming, telling the Post that "in 10 years waxing children will be like taking them to the dentist or putting braces on their teeth." Her company’s website says it all:
"Virgin-waxing for children 8 years old and up who have never shaved before. 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
And leave it to the Post to enlighten those readers “interested in whether there's even hair to wax. Pre-puberty hair, called ‘velus,’ is a fine, light pigmented hair. When a child hits puberty - which these days is happening to kids as young as 9 - the hair coarsens and darkens.” And must be torn out by the roots if you don't want the other girls to laugh at you!
Of course some people, like child psychiatrist Candida Fink, think “this is another example of how younger and younger girls are being sexualized and objectified.” And Dr. Diane Levin, co-author of the book So Sexy So Soon, tells MSNBC that “girls are learning the worst possible lessons about body image and body hair. Keep your bodies like little girls’ because that’s what men like.” Anyway, better you hear about all this here, in a safe place, instead of from your creepy co-worker. Or did we just become your creepy co-worker?
Tagged
bikini waxing
girls
hair
kids
pre-teens
teens
trend
wax
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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