Letters to the Editor
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Ouch, no
If I had a daughter, better the chemical than the razor and bandaids.
I don't want her cutting herself! Just my opinion.
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So, no football for your son then, eh?
After all, he might shed some blood.
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Self-driven? Really?
While the concept of marketing hair-removal creams for pre-teens is certainly disturbing, do you really think that your own multi-day shaving routine was self-driven? You were surely swayed by societal and peer pressure, and surely marketing campaigns. (The NY Times features a vintage Nair ad that may have influenced many of us.)
The largest difference, in your case, was that the marketing was not targeted towards you. However, at that pre-teen age of looking towards women to learn what it means to be a woman, the print, radio, and television ads surely affected and influenced you -- perhaps even more profoundly than if you were the true target demographic.
I'm of the mind that we need to stop being shocked that demographic-targeted ads are getting younger. It's going to continue to grow in this information age. Rather, we need to teach these young girls to know when they're being sold to, and why -- skills that we all ideally learn as part of the process of growing up in this modern age.
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Frankly,
I would have killed to have a product like this for facial hair removal when I was a child. Would have saved me the pain of so many mean boys tormenting me about my "mustache." I started bleaching that hair in my late teens, but--as anyone who has tried to mix Jolene's cream base with Jolene's nasty stinging little activating crystals into a smooth, evenly lightening mix will know--it's a less-than-perfect solution. Perhaps other (darker-skinned) cultures are not as freaked out about a little upper-lip hair on women as Americans are...but that doesn't really help those of us who live here. Removing that hair in my 20s using SurgiCreme was a huge emotional liberation.
Sorry for the off-topic rant. Still a touchy subject for me, I guess.
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A Girl DOESN'T "Gotta" Grow Up That Way!
Sighing and accepting that taking a razor to your leg skin several times a week is what you have to do to be an acceptable woman...
Don't let these things pass. Please. Our girls are drowning in expectations for their bodies. We barely let them own their own.
It's a choice, an option, a personal decision. Female leg hair is no different than male...it's purely a cultural habit. It's fine to follow it. It's NOT fine to introduce hair-removal to young girls as though leaving your legs natural is not an acceptable option.
It's fine to enjoy shaven skin, as a man who chooses to shave his chin may enjoy that. It's also fine to enjoy your skin and hair au naturel. It's a CHOICE.
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Personal choice
After years of sporadic leg shaving, I finally got fed up with shaving my legs every few months, just so I could wear pantyhose or a short dress. Here’s what I found:
No one notices! Or, if they do, they don’t care.
I have yet to experience someone gasping in horror because my leg hairs show when I wear a short skirt and sandals. Most of the women who know I don’t shave experience a giddy “I wish that was me” moment when they think about all of the annoyances I eschew. The men shrug it off. If someone ever recoils in horror at the sight of my hairy legs during an intimate moment, they can shave them and save me the trouble, accept it or hit the door. I’m not against shaving, I just don’t want to deal with the hassle of shaving every two or three days or the razor burn that appears every time cold hard steel touches my skin.
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Nope, no football
That's right, no football.
Doesn't take very much brains to look up the multitude of football-induced injuries. Many of them are no joke, and impact you for the rest of your life. Go on, google it.
Let me know how you make out.
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To those Girls Who Can Get Away Without Shaving
You know who you are. "Oh, I don't shave. I don't think women need to," you smirk. You're invariably pale of skin, fine of hair and no one can see the faint fringe of peach fuzz on your legs. Of course you don't have to shave! You don't have enough hair to show! (Uhm, yes, I might be jealous. Why do you ask?)
I look like something from a Wild Kingdom clip if I go so long as 3 days without shaving. When I go a week without shaving, people can see it from across the room. No joke. There's a trail of dark fur going down my thighs that isn't pretty and left long enough to its own devices might even be called obscene.
My niece, who had a furry back at age 4 (Yes, that's right, age 4) and is now 11, is getting real live fur on her legs now. Thick stuff. She will be delighted to find that there's a depilatory product aimed at her age group. As her aunt, I'm delighted that maybe she won't get the scars I got learning how to shave.
Please remember, in your crowing about how you don't shave, that maybe nature didn't see fit to inflict you with quite the load of body fur as other women and even of some girls right on the edge of adolescence. It might not just be a "I want silky smooth legs" thing and more a "I don't want people looking at my legs and wondering if I can braid my leg hair" thing.
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hair removal worth the hassle
Being that I have a lot of body hair (and most of my peers don't), I was teased about it all the time. Even the simple act of changing shirts in the locker room was a big distraction, because "hey, look at him, he's hairy"
If I have an offspring, I'll definitely give them anything that will help in giving them help in body hair removal. They'll have less trauma than me
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another commerical
Fade in: Concerned looking parent, holding cup of coffee
Yes, I suppose I could take my children's upbringing firmly in hand, and thus not be to concerned with Corporate America seeing them merely as dollar signs regardless of their well being... I guess I could be more secure in myself and not be afraid to tell my children right from wrong and in so doing be labeled 'un-cool'... No, I'm far too busy pursuing my personal goals, I think I'll let the free market raise my kids, after all it's done a bang up job with me so far