Arm Pit Hair
I suppose I'm about to contradict myself just a little from my previous blog. I said that I wasn't very concerned with controlling my children.
Alafair is at the age where she is growing arm pit hair. I'm at the age where I'm in a quandary about what to do with her arm pit hair.
I kind of want to be the sort of mother who allows her daughter to decide for herself what she's going to do about that hair. I'm also kind of a 90's woman who doesn't like body hair.
I noticed a little peach fuzz under her shoulders several months ago. I'm progressive--a little fuzz doesn't hurt anyone. I figure that I won't say anything about it, but I'll leave the razor on the edge of the tub. I'll see what she does without any verbal prompting.
Time passes, and Alafair never asks to shave her arm pits. When I was her age, and I had peach fuzz in my pits, I dramatically went to my mother, begged to shave, and told her that, "I had fungus growing under my arms!" My mother was unperturbed, and did not allow me to shave my pits immediately. She's a woman of the 70's.
Even more time passes, and we move from the Spring into the Summer. Now, we've arrived at the time of tank tops. I had forgotten about the armpit hair, until one warm day, Alafair raised her sleeveless arms into the sky for a big stretch, and I saw about an inch and half of armpit hair. Luckily, I was standing behind her and she couldn't see my expression.
Turns out that I'm not so progressive. I did not like what I saw. I was able to school my features and nonchalantly ask Alafair if she would like for me to show her how to shave her underarms. Surprisingly, she said, "No," and went about her business.
I was in a pickle! That was not the answer I wanted. How was I going to gently manipulate her into wanting to shave her pits and not think she has to do it to be considered beautiful?
Even though what I did was technically a lie, it was a white lie. Alafair knew she was struggling with keeping her arm pits smelling clean, so I told her that shaving the hair would help with that. Luckily, she believed me.
I haven't peeped at her armpits since I showed her how to shave them. I'm sure the issue will come up again once tank top season rolls around.