Bikini Waxing Gone Wrong... A Personal Anecdote

MSNBC published an article a couple of years ago about how increasingly younger girls are getting bikini waxes. According to several aestheticians interviewed, there is a growing demand for bikini waxing for preteens, or "tweens". One Beverly Hills aesthetician reported that almost 20% of her bikini wax clients are tweens. One New York City salon, Wanda's European Skin Care Clinic, offers discounts for clients as young as eight years old, and Wanda claims her pre-teen business is booming.


According to Wanda's website, children 8 years and older can get discounted waxing for "virgin" hair.  It also indicates that virgin hair can be waxed so successfully that growth can be permanently stopped in just 2 - 6 sessions. The website was quoted as reading, "Save your child a lifetime of waxing... and put the money in the bank for her college education instead!" (I checked the website myself and it appears she has since replaced the word "child" with "teenager".)   Wanda told the NY Post that children should begin waxing at just 6 years old. She was actually quoted by the New York Post as saying, "... in 10 years waxing children will be like taking them to the dentist or putting braces on their teeth."  WTH??

Bikini waxing for six year olds? Seriously? I find this a bit disturbing. Almost as disturbing as Wanda's rationalization that waxing your little wildebeest now will benefit you both, come college time. However, none of this disturbs me quite as much as a particular memory I have been repressing regarding my own bikini waxing experience several years ago...

I remember, very vividly, that I hastily placed the two wax strips, without a fear or care in the world. (You would have thought I had done this 1,000 times before, or that I was part-Vulcan and incapable of experiencing any pain or emotion). The instructions said the more quickly you remove the wax strip, the less "discomfort" you would feel. True to my over-zealous and highly exaggerated manner, I ripped the first strip off with all the strength I could manage.

OHMYGOD! HOLY BALLS! and HOLY SHIZNIT! I actually checked the strip to make sure I hadn't removed my skin. I, quite literally, saw stars. They were circling around my head. I suddenly knew where the image of stars circling a cartoon character's head came from... from a cartoonist who had tried to wax her bikini area right before swim suit season.  I really thought I was going to die that day... or at the very least, faint. I was pretty sure my mom would eventually come into the bathroom and find me naked on the floor with one wax strip clenched tightly in my hand and the other one still adhered tightly to my vajajay.

After I had regained consciousness and could breathe again, I began the hour-long, pain-staking process of removing the remaining strip with a gallon of alcohol, cotton swabs, and the sweat and tears that were falling from my face. Never again did I entertain such foolishness.

Do I find the whole parent-pushing-preteen-waxing-movement bothersome? Sure I do. Let your kids be kids!  Even worse, my son will be going to junior highschool, (and probably elementary school), with some of the daughters of these must-be floozies.  But I must admit, I am more amazed at the pain tolerance level of these children.  The fact that they have survived these traumatizing ordeals and gone back for additional treatments is well beyond my level of comprehension.

Do not let her smile fool you.  This is false advertising like I have never seen it.  She was paid a lot of money to smile all serenely like this.

They should have put one of these girls on the packaging. 

This is what I'm talking about...