Just wondering - my 8 yr old daughter has a hairy upper lip, wonderful genes didn’t spare her either. She has already expressed concern over it a few times. So far I just keep boosting her self esteem and try to help her accept it. I have a couple years before she gets to middle school and I know its going to get pretty tough fending off remarks at that time. So I have been wondering when I could get electrolysis for her and whether she would be able to handle the pain and would it be safe to use a numbing cream on her. Any advice?
Also, what can/should I do in the meantime, is bleach ok at this young age?
are you sure this is just hereditary? might be worth checking for possible underlying problems in general. i personally don’t think that an 8-year old will be able and want to handle the pain. I guess it depends on the child. Also, not sure how safe the numbing cream is for someone that young. I would probably just bleach until puberty.
lagirl, what kinds of general problems would explain this at age 8? Just want to understand, last time I mentioned it to her pediatrician, she shrugged it off.
Also, I am not considerng electrology now, but I was thinking perhaps in a couple years, although I seriously doubt she could handle the pain even then. I might start with bleach at that time and see if it is acceptable to her. But I was looking for experiences of electrologists who may have treated young clients, or moms who have had their young daughters treated.
I have treated a 10 year old before and she never completed treatments. She was not motivated. The child must have the inner motivation to do this. If your daughter verbalizes that she wants some help now, or later, then you can give her the facts about her options. Bleaching, shaving and electrolysis would be some appropriate ideas to present. Young clients like your daughter can do electrolysis, but it would be wiser to wait until she starts her period because sometimes the hairy upper lip may not be a problem once menses starts and stabilizes. If the hair situation doesn’t stabilize, by that time, she may be mature enough to want this for herself.
I would hesitate on the medical consultation. Many people have too much hair in the wrong places because of their genetic blueprint. When I’m out and about I see many little girls and boys with hair on their face who appear to be of middle eastern or hispanic decent. They are happy and carefree little people that are probably oblivious to having the extra hair.
Yes, electrolysis is possible for your daughter. You just need figure out if she is ready for this, then you need to find an electrologist that is truly skilled. Someone who his kind and gentle would really be nice as well.
If it doesn’t grow too fast then bleach should be fine, although she might prefer something like the Flicker shaver which won’t give her any cuts. I shaved my upper lip from about the same age, and personally found hair removing cream too harsh, waxing too darn painful and bleaching too itchy. I don’t think I could have stood having electrolysis as the skin was so sensitive at that age.
If your daughter shows enough interest in electrolysis, bring her with you and let her observe treatment being administered to you.
At that time, encourage her to ask questions. The electrologist can educate your daughter as she observes you getting your treatment.
If your daughter decides to get treatment, fine.
She might not even need a topical if your electrologist decides to use a micro flash technique with an insulated probe. If she does need an anesthetic, discuss that with her physician.
If your daughter decides not to do electrolysis, waxing is a good option. Now do not get wax enthusiastic and start waxing everywhere. Confine the wax to the upper lip area only. I suggest this wax be a creamy strip wax type, not the honey type.
As your daughter matures, after trying all types of hair removal, she will probably end up doing electrolysis as so many educated people end up here, after exhausting all other hair removal options.
Thank you for the very kind replies and good suggestions, this is something I want to make easier for my daughter than I had it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> so I want to make the right choices at the right time.
I am thinking I will hold out as long as possible, then start with bleach, see how far that goes, then start using wax, and then transition to electrolysis once she has gone through puberty. If we manage to skip waxing altogether, all the better!
Meanwhile, I just love the suggestion about bringing her to my electrolysis appointments, I think it will be very helpful for her to observe now even if it is a few years until she can do it herself. I think I will do that when I start my upper lip treatments.
Thanks again everyone, really appreciate the advice.
here’s an article on some causes. if you suspect any of these, then it might be worth checking. i also heard that this “child” hair can fall out and go away on its own. but it sounds like you might have had the same thing from a young age, so not sure here. i’ve bleached for 5-6 years before electrolysis and found it a great solution that still allowed me to get rid of the hair permanently with electrolysis fast (unlike waxing etc) and never left me with a shadow appearance. i do have light skin though.