Waxing the 15 Year Old Freshman Queen

I knew this would be an interesting case when I walked out to the lobby and saw a young girl sitting in one of the wax chairs. Ashley came in with her mother.  She was there for a lip and cheek wax. Ashley - - not her mother.

“She’s the freshman queen at a school ball on Saturday. We need to get rid of this five o’clock shadow she’s got going on… and the mustache too. Ashley, do you want her to pull some of this hair around your hairline? You know how hairy you are… ”

Mom said all of this before I could get a word out.

I wanted to tell mom that she was way out of line. I wanted to whirl the wax chair around, put Ashley’s face in my hands and tell her was going to be a beautiful freshman queen.  I wanted to school mom in a lesson from which I have no real practical experience - - being a mom.  

I kept my mouth closed and pretty much let out a long hum. “Hmmmmmmmm….”

I collected myself. I'm no prophet, but I wondered how this poor girl would ever grow up with the confidence to look someone in the face and not be concerned with facial hair. And honestly, Ashley’s hair wasn’t even that bad. I talked mom out of waxing the tiny vellus hair on the sides of Ashley’s face. I was sure it would end up in a breakout similar to the one a classmate had after we waxed her cheeks. We ended up doing a lip wax, and with nice results - -  but it was tainted with mom’s bad vibes. I'm sure she meant well, but I couldn’t even feel good about handing Ashley the mirror. If only we had the power to wax away some of the terrible thoughts that are ingrained in us about the way we look. 

Gettin’ Beauty Schooled,

Rita