Look What The Fourth Grade Girls Are Doing!!
Imagine my shock on Sunday afternoon as Reilly and I were laying on the couch while she read to me from her poetry book and her leg touched mine and I felt the tell-tale feel of STUBBLE!! Here is the conversation that followed:
Me: Reilly!! Did you shave your legs?
Reilly: Um...No.
Me: Reilly! Tell me the truth!! Did you shave your legs?
Reilly: Um...yes.
Me: WHY??
Reilly: Because I look like a hairy monkey.
Me: NO...you do not!
Reilly: Yes I do!
Me: No you do not! And...you aren't old enough to shave your legs!
Reilly: All my friends shave their legs.
Me: I highly doubt that.
Reilly: No...they do!!
Me: Who?
Reilly: ALL OF THEM!!
Me: Yeah right!
Reilly: They do and I'm not going to be the only hairy girl in fourth grade. (large eye roll) Mom, things are ALOT different than they were in the OLDEN DAYS!!
How is this starting so early!! It turned out that she used my razor...no soap, no shaving cream, no nothing! It gives me the creeps just thinking about it. She a did a pretty good job...no nicks or cuts. I was completely unprepared for her wanting to shave her legs. Good Grief!
I wasn't allowed to shave my legs until 7th grade. It never even crossed my mind until about a month before 7th grade started and someone informed me that I might want to do it. I was outside in the dell hanging out and my friend, Kyle, ever so nicely said "Ever think of shaving your legs there, Sasquatch!" (Yes...many years later I can still remember his exact words). Actually I never had...don't you love annoying neighborhood boys! I went inside and told my mom that I needed to start shaving my legs. I told her what Kyle had said and she told me he was an idiot...yes...but he was also a high schooler and therefore VERY knowledgeable in the ways of the world.
She bought me a ladies white electric razor. Apparently she was quite aware of my lack of hand/eye coordination and thought that if I used a regular razor I might just somehow slit my throat! I used that stupid electric razor for a year. It did absolutely nothing but create lots of stubble. Eventually I moved onto my personal fave the pink daisy razor and never looked back!
***When did you guys start shaving your legs? When are you going to let your daughters shave their legs?***
P.S. Tyler has no idea about this...Hi Sweetie...I hope your heart palpitations have subsided!!
14 comments:
Shoot, I'm not sure I even bathed regularly until 8th grade! It's crazy how young girls are bombarded with this kind of stuff. She's right, things are different from when we were kids, but we did at least have shaving cream back then.
Now that I do bathe, my personal favorite is the Schick Mach III turbo. None of that flimsy pink stuff for me, I go straight for the manly blade!
Buck up old lady, maybe she can find you a nice little assisted living place before she starts wearing mascara.
Kelly A.-
LOL!!
I think mom let me start shaving my legs in 5th grade......you had already paved the way, obviously. Hope Tyler takes the news ok. Reilly is getting so grown up. I just loved her poems. The one about fear gave me the chills!
Stacey!!
5th Grade!! That still seems so young!! What was mom thinking? :)
OR...were you just particularly hairy?? Ha ha!
I can't remember when I started shaving but I'm sure I was young as I was the fourth daughter and tried to wear make up in fourth grade. My parents would do eye shadow tests at the breakfast table - if their finger was shimmery after they swiped my eye then I had to go wash my face. Really, what was the big deal with a little pink eye shadow? Besides the obvious problem of it being tacky and completely wrong for my pale face.
I feel for you. It's just going to get tougher to keep up with the other girls.
I have the opposite problem with Ally - she flat out told me she will NEVER shave her legs because she wants her legs to look like her dad's! Yikes! Can ya tell she's a daddy's girl?!?!?
p.s. I was a 7th grader too.
Oh my gosh--shaving already-you are going to have fun w/highschool!
I can't remember when I could start shaving- but I do remember getting all the old throw away's from the trash- old crusty mascara,nubbed down lipsticks-ick...
xo Kelley
thanks for ditching me @ the gym-j/k
All of these growing up issues were SOOOO hard for me to talk about with my mom. I was terrified to bring up the subject of shaving my legs, so I just sneaked into her bathroom and did it without asking when I was in 6th grade. When she asked me about it I told her I had trimmed my leg hair with scissors. I'm wondering now why she seemed to buy that explanation. She never said anything else about it, not, "Do you want me to teach you how?" or "Would you like to start shaving your legs?" Nothing! She just left it at scissor trim status for another couple of years. Gross. I was always so behind my friends in all the puberty related stuff because I just couldn't talk to my mom about it. I'm not sure if that was my wierdness or hers :) Just be grateful that Riley fessed up and that you can work on it together.
OK...thanks girls!! Between Lucy and her eye make-up, Ally's leg hair issues, my sister Kelley's trash can make-up, and Alisa's scissor trim explanation I am feeling SO MUCH BETTER!! Oh-and the comments from Kelly A. and Stacey...I have had a good laugh! :) You guys are awesome!
I have no recollection of when I started shaving my legs. I was the oldest so I am sure my mom delayed any makeup, shaving, etc as long as possible.
I always borrow Jason's razor. It drives him crazy!
7th grade. I didn't think about it before then, until a neighbor girl told me "Don't you think it's about time you started shaving your legs?" Straight to the point. I didn't ask my mom, I just started doing it. I figured it was a right that came along with puberty.
oh my goodness. eeekkkk. i can't remember that far back but it wasn't 4th grade, i sure know that.
my cass is in 3rd and it freaks me out...nightmare to think about these next few years. :)
Kristin,
I saw the link to your blog on Carolyn's blog and have had so much fun reading!
When I started fourth grade my friends and I made a check list of the 4 things that happen in puberty that turn us into women (in no particular order).
#1 Use deodorant
#2 Wear a bra
#3 Shave your legs
#4 Start your period
We were constantly checking up on each other to see if any of us had crossed any off the list. I was the last one for everything! It was a really big deal at that age.
I have dark hair and Italian genetics so I was pretty hairy and got called monkey arms and monkey legs all the time in fourth grade. I begged and nagged my mom to let me shave and a year later she finally got me an electric razor that left me in a constant state of stubble. Although annoying, I accepted it because it was much better than long dark hair poking through my tights! I got to use a real razor in 7th grade.
Allison-
I am so glad you posted!! How are you guys? I am glad there were two of us with the electric razor stubble!! :)I was a late bloomer too in a group of early bloomers too!
We miss you in YW!!
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