Mum slammed after admitting she plucks 15-month-old baby’s eyebrows 'for aesthetic reasons'
A mum has been slammed after admitting that she plucked her 15-month-old daughter’s eyebrows.
The controversial mum took to Reddit to question users whether they thought it was bad that she plucks her daughter’s eyebrows, despite the fact that the little girl is merely 15 months old.
‘I gave birth 15 months ago to a beautiful baby girl,’ wrote the mother, who claims she plucks her baby’s eyebrows ‘for aesthetic reasons’. ‘She’s always been hairy,’ she started. ‘It’s nice in a way because she was born with hair on her head and she has really full eyelashes.
‘But she also developed a unibrow,’ continued the mum. ‘It was light at first. But over the last 4-5 months, it’s gotten fairly prominent.
‘For aesthetic reasons, I decided to pluck it while she slept. If she woke up I would stop. I managed to get it all off in a couple days.
‘I didn’t really think of this as being a bad thing,’ she continued. ‘But a fellow mom friend of mine (meaning a friend IRL) stopped by for a “play date” a few days ago. She’s an extremely observant person and she mentioned my daughter’s eyebrows.
‘I was honest and said I plucked the middle while she slept. She had this horrified look and said she was surprised that I did that. I didn’t really know what to say, but obviously I felt a little insecure about my decision after that.
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‘I’ve talked to my husband and he says I’m overthinking this, but I don’t know.’
The thread was met with over 1,500 comments, mostly of people disagreeing with the mum.
Many worried for the self-esteem of the young girl, suggesting that labelling her eyebrows as a flaw from such a young age would damage her self-esteem as she grows up.
‘Being so preoccupied with your child’s appearance may not seem like a big deal when it’s “little” things like plucking her eyebrows when she’s a baby,’ wrote on Reddit user, ‘but if that behavior continues as she gets older, that’s emotional wounds you can’t ever take back.’
Read more: This is the age from when girls start to lose self-confidence, and it may surprise you
However, some actually agreed with the mum, saying that it could help the young girl to avoid being bullied.
‘As a young hairy girl, I was teased by other children for a unibrow, upper lip, arm etc. (from as young as first grade). Of course it hurt to wax, but some things have to be done. You have to keep in mind children don’t have that filter for hurtful teasing.’
But others were of the stance that if that were to happen, the child should be able to make her own mind up about whether she wants to remove the hair or not, responding: ‘Then you let her decide when she’s old enough to make the decision on her own. I, personally, would take that to mean school age, when she’s most likely to be teased about it.’
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Aleesha Badkar is a lifestyle writer who specialises in health, beauty - and the royals. After completing her MA in Magazine Journalism at the City, the University of London in 2017, she interned at Women’s Health, Stylist, and Harper’s Bazaar, creating features and news pieces on health, beauty, and fitness, wellbeing, and food. She loves to practice what she preaches in her everyday life with copious amounts of herbal tea, Pilates, and hyaluronic acid.