March 21, 2011

Do Little Girls Really Need To Know About The Joys of Waxing, Plucking, & Shaving?

I dunno about you but I was about 14 before I ever picked up a razor and way older before the waxing and plucking began!

Parents are in an uproar about the joys of waxing, plucking, and shaving thanks to Mattel.

Clawdeen Wolf, one of Mattel’s Monster High Dolls, and daughter of the Wolfman supposedly says that waxing, plucking, and shaving are a full time job for her and a “small price to pay for being scarily fabulous”. Hey, I can’t make this stuff up, it’s on the back of Clawdeen’s packaging box!

As for me I couldn’t agree more, it’s a full time job keeping my hairiness at bay too! But in all seriousness do we really want that message out there to little girls already? Is it ok to break the news to them at an early age that someday they’ll have to deal with “hairy” situations?

Mind you no one is safe from Mattel as they also have Shaving Fun Ken…

Honestly? It worries me more that little girl’s will be digging around mommy and daddy’s stash to locate a razor and God forbid take it to their faces or legs and hurt themselves.

Thanks Mattel. Something else to worry about!

What about you?

Would you be comfortable gifting your little girl a doll that “endorses” a shaving routine?

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Marina

    That is kind of sick, in my opinion. What is fun about a razor?! I can see little girls rumaging around for a razor…the damage that can be done by someone so inexperienced and one that thinks it’s a toy!!!

    • the Muse

      agreed marina. I think many of the articles I read implied it was too early for little girl’s to be worried about shaving but personally I’m more worried they’ll be running around the house looking for a razor and possibly hurting someone or their self using it!

  • Patty

    I know that when I was growing up, I vividly remember shaving as being a privilege bestowed upon some of us when we were 10, because many of us had hair on our legs around that time. I was never allowed to and it was a HUGE source of shame walking into gym class with hairier legs than the boys. I’m 23, so it’s not like middle school just happened for me. I don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world, but as with anything else, I think it’s up to parents to educate their kids.

    • the Muse

      aw patty! Sorry :-/ I imagine that wasn’t pleasant. I don’t have kids so I’m not sure how I would feel if my daughter did have issues with hair and she was only 10. It’s such a tough call ya know? 🙁 I def do not want her learning it from a doll that much is for a given!

  • brici

    back in 1995 when i was about 8 yrs old i remember having that same ken doll and i loved it. i guess that still didnt influenced me because i really never thought of shaving until i was like 12, but you’re right it does sound scarry for little girls to be out there looking for razors but its the same thing with the barbies that come with scissors to give the barbie a haircut. They will go out and look for scissors to cut their own hair.

    • the Muse

      oh god that’s such a horrifying though, a kid cutting their own hair *head desk*

      • kilikina

        I actually had one of those barbies where you could cut her hair and then pull it out of her head to make it long again. so naturally i went and found the safety scissors and cut a chunk of hair off. it was the worst choice ever bc that spot never cooperates for me now, idk why, it just doesnt. its stupid bc kids think “oh, i can just pull the hair out of my head and it will be okay” lol

  • kiwikiwidragon

    I had an old school ken that had a marker you used to make facial hair and then a sponge razor you took it off with. I was dying to shave my legs at 11 or twelve. What is so different than seeing other adults doing it versus a doll, nothing in my opinion. Commercials/advertising is everywhere plus there is always that girl in school that gets to do everything before you. its the way of the world. There were always those girls who could care less about shaving, periods, makeup and the latest trends. I think it depends on how you raise your children and ensuring they are confident in the person they are and not allowing a toy to dictate what they want to do. Besides, isn’t that one the werewolf? can you imagine being paris hilton type personality and a werewolf? plucking and waxing would be full time!

    • the Muse

      kiwi def can’t depend on a doll to do the job of parenting but don’t want to add to the insecurities children already have at such an early age nowadays :-/ either…and the doll does kinda do just that.

  • Sara

    I had a similar story as Patty. I was in jr. high and my mom kept telling me “no don’t shave, you’ll regret it, it’ll come back so coarse and you have to do it for the rest of your life”. So I didn’t. Even though I have very light leg hair it didn’t stop girls from picking on me, it was horrible. My mom caved and let me shave my armpits and I did regret it… I had such soft light hair and it did grow back coarse and blacker… =(
    But she let me start waxing my legs when I was 16. Now at 21 my leg hair is very sparse and light now and I’m so glad I listened to her.

    A shaving doll is a little messed up. Let kids be kids, they shouldn’t have to worry about shaving and looking fabulous at 10. Although if you do get the doll for your child, just make sure you sit her down and explain why she should not shave and never touch a razor if she is without adult supervision. Parents need to educate kids, don’t let a Bratz doll raise your kids lol.

    • the Muse

      excellent advice sara, def do not let a doll raise your children for you ;D!

  • mar

    I started shaving under my arms when I was 10 and legs when I was 11. I started ding my brows at 11 or 12ish

  • Annabella Freeman

    I got teased as well in middle school because my parents didn’t let me shave my legs at 10/11. Then when I did start my dad was really upset. I think these dolls just give even more insecurities to little girls when they already have enough!

    • the Muse

      I agree Annabella, they really do make girl’s more insecure 🙁

  • Kate

    Ugh!. Let KIDS BE KIDS for as long as they can!! It’s a truly wonderful, glorious, and enchanted time in anyone’s life. And! Little girls really need to be little girls. When evil seeds are planted into their minds about having to do x,y,z to be “pretty” or “loved” or whatever, we end up with a bunch of Lindsay Lohan’s! This is such a fail. Why not go back to the good old days with toys like Polly freaking Pocket and the Smurfs and She-Ra? What are the marketing team at Mattel thinking??? Do they have some kind of adult issue that they need to relive through kids?? Therapy not working? Huh!? Boo!

  • Inês

    Lol I had an earlier version of shaving Ken, one that came out in the 90s XD It actually was fun!

    But yeah, I agree with you on this, nowadays toy companies will do anything with their marketing campaigns to attract more kids… Like telling them “if you shave you’ll be more adult” or “if you use miniskirts that are the size of a belt you’ll totally be popular”, when all they should think about is having fun with innocent toys. It looks like every company is trying to catapult younger and younger kids into adulthood so they can consume more.

  • Inês

    Btw, I started shaving my legs at 12 I think, can’t really remember about armpits, and my eyebrows when I was 14/15. I have hairy legs (or rather, dark hair with pretty fair skin), and remember being VERY embarrassed when I had PE and my mother packed me shorts, so the hair was out in the wild. Can’t remember if I was made fun of because of that, but hell, I was made fun of already XD

  • Cj

    A shaving doll?… Seriously?! That is so beyond dumb. This reminds me of that post you did a while back with the mom forcing her daughter to get her eyebrows waxed.

  • Mercedes

    I used to LOVE the Ken that could “shave”, but I always found it more amusing to make his beard appear than disappear.

  • Comrade Garlic

    I see lots of young girls with facial hair (the joys of managing a salon). Really it’s sad, because I don’t remember that being common when I was that age. These girls get teased at school, and some do at home as well. Also there have been for decades toy shaving kits for boys, I’m not sure how many boys that had those went looking for dad’s razor and ended up slitting their throats. It’s really a parents job to raise the kids, not toys. We all had crappy roll models growing up. Hell, I loved Kiss and Alice Cooper when I was a kid, not great roll models. But it was my parents that kept me in line. In the grand scheme of things a shaving doll isn’t that big of a deal. The lack of parenting and education is.

  • Aleya Bamdad

    My hair removal lady won’t touch a girl until she’s 14, but I think that it depends on the culture. For example, Middle Eastern and Indian women have been cursed with thick dark hair. In these cases, the girls may feel that they’re ugly and want to get rid of the hair sooner than later. I guess I can understand that.

  • Tracy

    I just have to say I agree with most of you, ladies! As if our current culture and society doesn’t already confront children with enough “adult” topics and images……jeez, we need to be more concerned with protecting their innocence instead of worrying about their “image” before they’ve even reached puberty! Besides, as someone mentioned, the possible dangers of children “playing” with real razors.

    Now, I love all things True Blood, etc., but that’s definitely adult material…its kinda creepy to start marketing the supernatural characters to kids who aren’t even tweens, let alone adults. I don’t think I’d want my elementary school age daughter dressing like Clawdeen!!

    This whole thing just seems all kinds of wrong. Icky.

  • winni

    That doll is gaaaaross!. I don’t have kids, but when I do I can tell u that my daughter won’t be playing w dolls that look like skanks! Haha, bring back the Cabbage Patch Dolls!

  • Tam

    it’s very oppresive, instead of teaching girls to have jobs and be equal our culture teaches them to spend their time and energy on the endless pursuit of beauty and perfection. at this rate we’ll end up back in the 50s in no time.

  • theRothstanator

    LOL I remember shaving fun Ken. He came with a can of fake shaving cream. What a weird concept. Mattel has had many failures though. I am surprised I didn’t burn my house down with that Barbie that had those rollerblades that had live sparks coming off of them…

  • auroragyps

    Maybe it’s just me, but this doll doesn’t bug me so much, considering she’s supposed to be half Werewolf. I get the whole idea behind the Monster High dolls and I think it’s ok. There’s more imagination going on with these dolls than with the Bratz ones. Maybe they should have made this doll the son of the Werewolf?

    There will always be fashion dolls. I had them as a girl growing up. I had baby dolls that wore baby clothes, girl dolls that wore kids clothes, and Barbies that wore grown up clothes. To me their just different kinds of dolls, but then again, my mom has always collected dolls, so I used to look at the magazines with old Toni & Ginny dolls and read the articles.

    IDK, it’s not that I don’t think that products out there have an influence on kids, but I think it depends on the each kid and how they’re raised, just like anything else. I had dolls, but I don’t think I’ve ever had more than average issues with beauty. I played D&D and violent & bloody video games and I’ve been suicidal since I was in Middle & High School, but I’ve never hurt myself or anyone else (though it was close sometimes during my divorce 😉 ). I owe it to how I was raised (which wasn’t perfect) and my own brains. I have my issues, but not these :knock on wood:.

  • *~ JuLiAnnE ~*

    Hehehe I just posted my review on a Bruan epilator today 😛
    You’re right though, shaving, plucking and waxing was NEVER fun for me. I dreaded doing it, but I’m glad the process isn’t as messy anymore with my epilator…

  • Quinctia

    Well, the doll IS implied to be a creature that would have a full coat of fur otherwise, I honestly don’t think it’s comparable to having a shaving fun Barbie. Plus, given the Monster High theme, it’s more something I’d give to a ten year old. The outfit is actually worse, in my opinion. I don’t think all of the monster dolls are dressed so badly, because I was debating getting one for my cousin’s birthday not too long ago. (I decided she was too young, and she ended up with Strawberry Shortcake.)

    If we want to talk about Ken and facial hair, my aunt’s Ken from the 70s is the greatest with his removable adhesive facial hair and ginormous mutton chops.

    I mean…unless shaving is not a type of grooming already done in the household (nothing hanging in the shower for Mom and no watching Dad lathering up his face), one has hopefully already had a razor safety discussion with their kids. I think they’d much sooner copy their parents with the real thing than mess around with it because Ken had a razor-shaped sponge.

  • Fuuka

    Sends a dangerous message to little kids. Especially if they pick up a razor. I tried to use my sister’s once when I was small, but grabbed the wrong side and gashed my hand! (sis got in big trouble for leaving it out)

  • Mia

    Muse. I was in about 6th grade when I started shaving (12yrs old). I wish I would have started earlier but my mom said no. I was teased by classmates for years until I started shaving. I was that hairy. Also, as someone else stated, I had that Ken doll growing up. I played with him and all but never did I go rummaging around in my parent’s drawer for a razor to try it on myself. I was taught to not play with things like that though.

  • Marasy

    I don’t think Mattel was trying to tell young girls they need to shave. These dolls are based on the offspring of famous monsters, and this particular character is a werewolf, so she is going to be furry all over. Thus shaving and waxing would be her time consuming hobby. She is not representing a normal human woman and its not like they included a plastic razor as an accessory. I had a shaving Ken doll as well, but didn’t start shaving until my mother recommended I do at about 13 years old. I personally was not eager to start shaving, any more than I was to start having periods. 🙂 I thought it was up to the parents to educate their children.

  • ISABELLA

    that first doll is fugly, should be taken away based on that,
    I am not one to get into “dolls are teaching girls to be etc” but I think that Mattel really misjuged the market on this one.

    • Anna

      Actually all the Monster High Dolls sold out because Mattel misjudged the demand for the dolls. The dolls came out last summer… and they were NO WHERE during the holidays- the store shelves were completely sold out! I will agree with you that most people will love or hate these dolls. You can also find Monster High Items and even makeup & clothes in Claire’s, Macys and Justice for girls in addition to Walmart, ToysRus and so on… A book series is also in existence. So I guess Mattel did misjudge the production of the dolls- they made too few to meet demand. Its taken 9 months to actually see the dolls sitting on store shelves.

  • Courtney

    I started shaving at 11 after I was made fun of in middle school gym class. I begged and begged my mom to let me but she kept telling me I was too young, not to mention that I didn’t have much leg hair to begin with. Anyway, I ended up stealing my mother’s razor and trying to shave my legs in the bathtub and I wound up cutting a four inch long gash down the length of my shin bone (I still have a scar). After that delightful incident, my mother bought me an electric wet/dry razor with a safety guard and let me buzz away at the nonexistant leg hair to my heart’s content.

  • Fey

    It’s Clawdeen Wolf from Monster High! So cute. You rock for knowing about her.
    Anyway, I had to start shaving in 3rd grade. I was one of those anomalies who hit puberty at the age of nine. However, I really don’t think dolls mentioning shaving would have impacted me knowing about shaving. It was just one of those things my mother told me about. (I’m jealous of my redheaded and blonde friends.) What my mother didn’t tell me, peer pressure did. So with that in mind, knowing about shaving from a doll would have been less embarrassing.

  • Heather

    It’s odd. But I was in fourth grade when my Aunt Flo came to town and I was way more developed than the other girls. I was quite hairy and people used to make fun of me for it. So I don’t know if a doll is the answer but I imagine there are a lot of kids needing their questions to be answered. Parents try to avoid certain things/discussions until a child hits a certain age but unfortunately some children develop at different rates and that might need to be taken in to account.

    • the Muse

      nowadays children really do develop considerably faster Heather so the age of having “the talk” is very nearer to fourth and fifth grade rather than an older 12-13.

  • irini

    well, probably all of you will disagree with this,but I believe mentioning shaving in the back of the box is a positive thing. how? well, many girls probably consider that dolls,and in a grater scale celebrities),look good effortesly. now, imagine the self esteem blow on those girls. i think girls from a really young age should be aware of all the preping that goes on for one to look fabulous, because honestly, nobody can look fabulous au naturel. as someone mentioned before, those urges to grab a razor could also be created from tv, and from seeing mom shaving, etc. so, it is as simple as if you dont want your kid going razor-crazy, talk to them about it, and the dangers of it 🙂 imo, its a matter of how one brings their kid up, rather than influences on the back of a doll’s box.

    ps: i could go for an unshaven ken 😉

    • Ashe

      I think this is a great point!

      I don’t see the harm in it…she doesn’t come with a razor, after all, and she IS a werewolf, so it makes sense. I love your point, I think it’s great!

  • SJG

    So you don’t use a razor on the girl doll, right? I would agree the reason they mention it is because she’s part werewolf. I don’t see anything wrong with that at all. It’s funny. As for Ken…he is simply an update of Mod Hair Ken from the 1970s (and I guess he came out again in the 1990s). Little girls see their dads (and moms, for the above) shaving. It’s not a big deal.

    I don’t see where this is any worse than the Barbies who had pink hair, or too-deep tans.

    Oh and yes, I BEGGED to be allowed to shave my legs. I think almost every 10-11 year old girl did.

  • Carol

    Yeah, i had a Ken like that long ago. There isn’t anything wrong. kids are waaayyy more likely to pick up a razor and try on themselves because they see their mom and dad doing it than because of a doll. I can�t remember not knowing about waxing because i saw my mom doing it since a really early age. I delayed the experience as much as i could because i knew it hurt (the waxing). Never really understood why some little girls were eager to try it. It’s like being anxious to bang your pinky toe on the corner of the door.

  • Kasiah

    I started growing hair under my arms in the 4th or 5th grade but my mom let me shave that hair. I wasn’t worried about the rest of my body until about the 6th grade. But I did not want hair under my arms lol! I was so proud that I showed my mom after I shaved under my arms and she just laughed. But of course I asked her how to do it first!

  • Kristen

    I think the uproar about this is seriously stupid- the only reason why it says waxing, plucking, and shaving is because this doll is part of the Monster High series, and SHE IS A WEREWOLF. Obviously she is doing something to not be covered in fur- it has nothing to do with teaching girls to shave. It is a cutesy little phrase since it is a teenage ‘monster’ werewolf that would be ridiculously furry otherwise. I think any parents that have their panties in a bunch over this need to realize that their little girls aren’t DUMB and maybe look into the background of the doll before throwing a fit about it!

  • Anna

    OMG! I was wondering when the Muse was going to blog something Monster High. My night is now complete 😉 but regarding little girls and shaving, hair removal in my opinion is a HUGE NO. My daughter is 4 yrs old and almost has a unibrow, you’d be surprised how many salons have offered to pluck and wax her eyebrows. She’s only four- she shouldnt be self conscious yet.
    As for miss Clawdeen- she’s a cartoon character and a doll. In the Monster High book she’s chased by Peta because the organization thinks she’s wearing fur. If we equate her with little girls shaving then we have to judge Frankie ( the daughter of Frankenstien- also a Monster High doll) for covering her green skin with makeup because she wants to pass for a “Human.”

    • the Muse

      hey anna, ha ;-D They are kinda cute dolls! omg at four jesus no! ha is that seriously what Frankie’s box says? Oh lawd. when did dolls become so complicated?! ;-D

  • Mary the Muse Militant

    Almost every female will shave when they grow up.
    Nothing untoward about the doll imho.