Excessive Arm Hair on 7 yo Daugther...best option..

Hair Removal Methods Waxing and Sugaring
#1

My 7 year old daughter has light skin w/dark arm hair. Her father is Italian and has a large amount of hair on his arms and legs. Her hair is long and thick on her arms and legs. Her legs can be shaved down the road but her arms are causing a lot of embarrassment for her. She has a high self esteem currently but I’m afraid that this will be lowered over time. Other girls have started pointed it out and making comments.

She wants it shaved or waxed. Her first cousin (same coloring and hair problem) who is now 17 has shaved her arms since she was in 3rd grade. She has to shave everyday. I don’t want that for my daughter and I’m afraid that one day I am going to walk into the bathroom and find her shaving her arms. Her other sisters don’t have this problem and she dosen’t understand “why she has to be so hairy”.

Is waxing the best option for her while she is younger and then in her teens possibly laser (if safe)? I was waxing my eyebrows one day and she asked me to wax her arms. I did one small patch and it worked good. She let out a little yelp…but then was excited about the results. I don’t know if it will be too painful for her entire arms. Any advice or info will be appreciated.

Jo - [color:“blue”] [/color]

#2

I’d start with bleaching and trimming with clippers (not shaving), and if that isn’t doing it, then maybe waxing. Another good option for arms is a rotary epilator like the Braun silk-epil, but it may hurt too much for somoene her age (like pulling off a Band-Aid slowly, where waxking is like one giant yank). You mentioned laser in another post, which I suggested discussing with a dermatologist.

#3

Hi there,

I very much support Andrea’s idea of using clippers. They

  • are painless (unless you use them to “shave” --> can cause skin snags; anyhow, creates odd effect. Use an extension piece – forget what it’s called – to achieve a 1" length),
  • don’t create skin irritations,
  • don’t need to be done every day (unlike shaving). Depending on your daughter’s rate of hair growth, once a week or two should be fine
  • produces a pretty natural-looking result (no demarcation btwn arm/shoulder, don’t know if this is an issue with your daughter.) Bald arms might be strange-looking, especially if classmates see an immediate and drastic difference.

The bleaching thing is ok, except in my experience it creates black-looking roots; also, it’s very itchy, because it’s very strong. To get brown head hair blonde, you’d have to sit in a salon for 40 minutes – this stuff works in ten minutes. Very difficult to endure those ten minutes, especially as a kid – I did it at 12, and it remains one of my worst hair-coping memories.

Not only that, but according to the Environmental Working Group, there are 7 unassessed chemicals at work in hair bleach, and hydrogen peroxide (a main ingredient) is suspected to be a carcinogen. See http://www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep/productinfo.php?prod_id=900217 )

There might be another way to lighten the hair – lemon juice in the sun? Plus it would look more natural…

In sum, my feeling: Go with the clippers until she’s older (when there will be more info on lasers, etc.) and can make a choice. Results should be quite good with the clippers, though – I’ve moved to this option, after 17 years of trial and error!

Good luck to you and your daughter (I feel her pain!)

#4

I’ve known plenty of children with long arm hair, your daughter isn’t that unsual. My main advice is that you should avoid making a big deal about it because that is more likely to make her self consious about it. If she is really ready start by using clippers on the hair to keep it realitivly short (but not so short she has stubble). you can try and make a game out of the lemon thing, both of you applying it and sitting in the sun but I would be carefull of startng any major hair removal program until she is older without a medical ok.
If everything is ok with her DR I might recommend that you find a good laser praticioner and go that way. The chance at perminent removal at such a young age would save her tons of effort over a lifetime. If you do prefer to wax it should be pretty easy and only take a min on each arm.
Good luck with everything,
autumn

#5

HI,
I’m a new member of the Hairtell site. As I was searching for someone to help me with a similar problem. My son has been very hairy too. He is now 11 years old and puberty is just around the corner and find that he to has been teased all his life about body hair. Just what my husband is italian and also hairy but not as much as he. So I was wondering what you did and what seemed to work for your daughter. I now what you are thinking he is a boy and it doesn’t really matter but it does - everytime I go see a teacher they always seem to mention it - and it boughters me soo much for him.

I just took a waxing coarse and waxing arms is so easy and fast. I have not tried it yet on him - but I know in the future I problably will wax his back.

I wonder what caused it and why why why.

Thank you for listening.
CD