What age do girls start with this faff?

Aren’t epilators very painful to use? My sister-in-law’s husband bought her one and she couldn’t bear to use it because it was so painful. I wish I had never started to shave my legs at 16 as they went from downy blonde hairs to stubbly brown. I would perhaps treat her to a leg wax which when done by professionals is quick and less painful than the epilator.

There is also the course of light treatment which claims to eventually eliminate the hairs but I believe it is very expensive.

I'm sure our DGDs copy their mums who are far more consious of their bodies than we ever where and the items they use are more accessable than the items we had when we where young mums.
My DGD will not go out without makeup and tanned hair free legs she spends so much time getting ready to go out and all her friends are the same,its just a sign of the times and I never comment as my mum must have dispared with me at one time I'm sure.

My gd started about the 13 she is mixed culture she shaves once or twice a week.
Must do mine. Too.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one innocently going round with hairy legs, albeit blonde hair. Noone ever commented, it was the norm then unless you had dark hair, I'm sure. I feel so sorry for young girls now, everything is accelerated. My DGD is only 8 but her chest is 'sprutting' (as my DM would have said) already! I was obviously a late starter, no period or boobs until I was 14!

DON’T get her started shaving her legs! Buy her an epilator instead, you will do her a favour for life. The hair grows back finer and finer over time, never stubbly, and lasts longer between needing to be done. Although it is painful at first it does get easier. She will love you for ever.

I don't remember body hair being all that important in the 1950's and 1960's. As teens lots of us had hair on our legs and we didn't mind it. And it was definitely normal to have pubic hair.

Oh, Luckylegs, were we more 'innocent and naive'? Or less exploited by advertising and marketing? How do these girls afford all the stuff they think they need to make themselves acceptable? And what makes them want to?

I had a naturally dark skinned friend who naturally developed dark facial hair and was bullied and teased by her pale fellow pupils. She started shaving her face and developed a complex about it. She considered wearing a facial veil to avoid the comments.

Puberty does make changes to human bodies. Why do we, particularly, women resist this? Is it not part of being a woman or man?

This hair removal is part of the thinking which leads to models who are stick thin like adolescent boys, body waxing to be hairless like children, and a rejection of the mature female form.

Never forget there is a multi-billion pound industry dependent on persuading us to want to do these things and buy their products!

Yippee! For the last 14 years I've had almost no hair growth on my legs and armpits so no need, real or imagined, to shave those areas. The menopause has one advantage!

It's an individual thing surely. I started shaving at about 12 and my daughter at 10 - she had very hairy legs so I showed her how. My granddaughter also started at 10. Hairy legs look awful - I don't consider it as " faff ", it's just caring about grooming.

Shaving doesn't encourage hair growth or thickness so really it doesn't matter what age a girl starts doing it.

Cant help with advice on this im afraid. Myself and both my sisters are very lucky. Two of us are naturally blond and the other is darker haired. But none of us have ever had to shave our legs. In fact, I was in my 40s before i even realised most women have to shave as it was not something my mother ever had to do either.

It isn't just this generation. My mum shaved her legs so I also did it as a teenager. There have been advertisements for depilatory products as long as I can remember and I'm 77. I know my GDs shave or use creams as a matter of course. I also shaved my armpits as soon as they grew hairs. Now the underarm hair has disappeared and I prefer an annual waxing for my fairly sparse leg hair.

I didn't shave my legs until I was in my 40's when my daughter told me I should! I'd always had blonde hair everywhere and never ever considered shaving my legs! I can't believe that was the case now! Were we so much more innocent and naive then?

It also depends on their colouring I think. Dark haired girls often have dark hairs on their legs and even faces -it doesnt show up so much if they are blond.

I don't see a problem with it. I probably started around that age. As a small child I really embarrassed my mother. It was a very hot day and she was chatting to a lady who had no stockings on. I was level with her legs and asked "why does the lady have hairy legs?" My mother didn't know where to put herself! I like to think that the lady considered shaving her legs after my comment.

My grandaughters all did hair removal, but not shaving. Their mum preferred them to use cream. I don’t see a problem with it really.

I would buy dgd an epilator. So much safer than a razor.

My 12 yr old DGD shaves her legs if she is wearing shorts/skirt/dress without tights . Can’t see a problem with it .

I work with girls from 10 - 15. They all seem to do things far earlier than we did. The 12/13 year olds all shave their legs. You should see the amount of make up they have! They are all very image conscious and watch you tube videos a lot to get ideas. It's such a shame that they do these things from such an early age.

If she's self concious about her legs let her shave them.Girls of that age can be very bitchy if someone is even slightly different to the rest.Bullying starts with things like this ..well it did for my daughter who also shaved legs and arms at 13 before I noticed and found her a better method .I did draw the line at her face,,she only had a normal blonde fuzz on her cheeks so we used a mitt thing to remove that ...after some horror of a girl kept saying she was growing a beard loudly so everyone around could hear .

Awww it is such a shame that girls can't be happy in their bodies nowadays. Do you think it's our generation and the one below that created this with all the Botox, Fillers, silicone and surgery that some have resorted to to try and look young, instead, many look grotesque.
Shouldn't parents be promoting body confidence rather than enforcing the current dsymorphia and anxiety in their children by showing them how to shave their legs etc.

Both mine started doing it early on - the younger one at 16 is very conscious of her dark hair on her arms and legs. I didn't even think about shaving my legs till I was in my 30's - I've never had that much I was very self conscious of my mottley skin at school though and hated it when we had to go into short socks and summer dresses. Luckily my mum had a drapers shop so I soon progressed to the new invention of tights when I was about 15 - with my skirt rolled over several times lol

EdithCrawley she does already shave them but she hasn’t had time at the weekend ?. Her Mum showed her how to manage it carefully I hadn’t realised . It matters not but it’s a shame kids worry about such stuff at such an early age.

Speaking for myself and a very late developer, I certainly did very little hair removing, despite loving sun bathing from an early age..............however I have long come to realise we now live very much in This New World.....and our girls today are very body conscious even before their teens.

Whether for better or for worse....... or frankly it does not matter........... is perhaps another question?

My 12 year old granddaughter doesn't shave her legs but has to have them covered with thick tights at school and full length trousers the rest of the time. All her clothes must be just right and it takes ages to get dressed. She was fussy last year but worse since her 12th birthday. She is very tall and well developed for her age as well. I don't know if smaller girls are so self-conscious.

I teach year 6 (so aged 10/11) and most of the girls have started shaving their legs.

Is she feeling self-conscious about it? If it’s at the point where she’d rather be uncomfortable and hot than bare hairy legs, it might be worth pointing her in the direction of a safe hair removal method. What does her Mum think?