Shaving 101

I had a discussion on my email loop a few weeks ago about shaving. More specifically, when is the proper time to introduce your daughter to the fine art of shaving one's legs? My friends were a little scared of letting their almost teenage daughters use razors and suggested some alternatives such as making your daughter wait until she's twenty-one before letting her shave. Now, my daughter is eleven and has dark hair so I didn't really think that idea would fly. My friends, wonderfully bright, insightful people that they are, had some wonderful ideas to share on this subject. For instance, did you know that Nair makes a product marketed specifically for teenage girls? Another suggestion made was to let your daughter shave with an electric razor. Veet, a bladeless razor that works in conjunction with a depilatory cream, was also suggested. And an Aveeno lotion that is supposed to soften and minimize hair, was brought up as well.

All of these were smart, sound ideas. Did I pay attention to any of them? Noooo. I bought my daughter a cute little pink razor and we shared a mother-daughter bonding moment as I showed her how to lather up her legs and carefully shave them while explaining that this, much like bleeding half to death every month, was just another "fun" part of being a woman.

So she's done really well shaving her legs for about a month now. Until tonight. She walked out of the shower crying with a very freaked-out expression on her face. I followed her gaze down to her leg which was dripping blood, leaving a red trail behind her. Thankfully blood doesn't bother me. I can handle blood, guts, gore, and poopy diapers. Just keep me away from vomit unless you want to experience exorcist type retching the likes of which you've never witnessed. But that's another story. So here comes my daughter crying and dripping blood. The three inch long gash on her leg looked like it had been made with a dull Ginsu knife left sitting in the rain for a decade. After a transfusion and a mile of gauze, the bleeding stopped.

Now I can say with some authority, perhaps eleven is still a bit young to let your daughter use a razor. I'll be going to Target tomorrow to get some Nair Pretty (and twenty other things I don't need, but find their way into my cart nonetheless.)