by Rae Lynne Morvay

Created on: November 26, 2007   Last Updated: February 01, 2009

I think the whole subject of teaching a teen girl to shave actually begins before the need to actually occurs. When a young girl starts to hit puberty and starts to notice that hair is growing on her under arms or that her leg hair is beginning to get darker, she may decide to take matters into her own hands, and attempt to shave with out being properly instructed on how to do so. The discussion on how and when to shave should occur around the same time as the puberty discussion.

Here in our area the schools teach girls about puberty in the fourth grade. When I found out the subject was going to be discussed in school I wanted to make sure to talk to my daughter first. We sat down and talked about the changes that were going to happen to her body. This of course included telling her that she would eventually be growing hair on certain parts of her body. I then told her that the underarms and eventually the legs would need to be shaved. I told her that when the time came that I would teach her what to do, and that it would be her decision to decide when the right time to begin shaving would be.

When she started developing hair under her arms she simply told me about. Since we had, had a conversation about this already and she was expecting it, and she was fully aware that I expected she was not embarrassed about sharing this information with me. She was also not scared or nervous because this is something that she knew would occur and expected it to happen to her. She also knew that it was completely normal and nothing to be ashamed of. I told her that when she was ready that I would teach her how to shave. When she felt that she was ready she told me so.

I told after the next time she took a shower that we would do it. I explained that the skin after a shower or even during is better to shave at that time. That just shaving in that area when it was dry could cause you to knick your skin. I explained to her how I did it, but since I was not going to go in the shower with her, I told her we would do it after she got out of the shower. The first time I actually did it for her. The second time I explained to her the motion of the razor and demonstrated how to do it, and watched as she did it, explaining and showing her the angles to make sure she got it all. After that she was fine doing it on her own.

When it came to shaving the legs I bought her a bottle of the soft shave and I demonstrated how to do it on my own calve and I also explained about the direction that the razor should be held, how to shave the knee area without nicking your self, and how to handle the hard to reach places.

The most important aspect of my little story is that we discussed all of this before the changes began to take place on her body. I think having her understand ahead of time what was going to happen to her, and that it was normal, and that she would eventually have to learn to groom herself was very important. I also talked about it in a very casual tone. Trying to convey that this was nothing to be embarrassed about, and that she had no reason to be shy or embarrassed about asking me for help.

When it comes to teaching a teenage girl about shaving the most important thing to do is prepare them before they actually need to, and make sure they are ready and comfortable with the whole process before attempting to actually teach them how.

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