“Melanie Engle was trying to just pluck the stray hairs here and there. She was trying to deliver an age-appropriate eyebrow wax to her client. It was hard, though, because there was a foot tapping next to her, and a voice shouting in her ear: “No! Not like that — like a supermodel’s. I want them arched.”
After years in the beauty biz, Engle had seen her share of crazy ladies demanding perfect, Glamour-cover-worthy brows. But this Crazy Lady wasn’t talking about her own brows. The brows in question belonged to Crazy Lady’s daughter. Who was eight.
After sweating through the kid’s eyebrow wax, Engle, today an aesthetician at the Adolf Biecker Salon/Spa outposts in the Rittenhouse Hotel and Strafford — and, it should be noted, one of the most sought-after eyebrow specialists in the region — was directed to give her pint-size client a … bikini wax.”
This is just awful. Apparently this is a new thing for the more privileged kids today, to go to spas and get the same treatments as mommy. When I was eight, I was lucky if my mom painted my nails. The nail salon and spa was a magical grown-up place in my eyes where little girls were not allowed to go to until they were grown up. I only ever went to Bo Ricks to get my hair trimmed when it got too long or unruly. I never had it dyed or permed until I was at least 12 or 13 years old, and the closest I came to getting special treatment was for two separate instances where my mom took me to Glamour Shots when I was between the ages of 10-12 for “pretty pictures” that made me look like at least a teen in high school. I considered it dress up.
But now kids are growing up to expect these special treatments. I have been in spas, both in Illinois and here in New York city, where I’ve seen a large group of pre-teens come in for a “spa birthday party” where they got the full treatment from mani-pedis, to hair cut/colors, massages, eyebrow waxing and probably facials. And all of these girls acted like it was nothing special, as if they do this on a regular basis. I would have been shell-shocked if my mother took me for a full spa day when I was 14!! I didn’t set foot into a spa until freshman year of high school, and only then to see the esthetician about my problematic skin and almost constant breakouts.
Now, that brings me to a point that was also brought up in the article. There are some mothers who bring their girls in for similar skin issues, or maybe their daughter has bushier eyebrows, and they want to save their children from the snot-nosed brats who will ultimately make fun of and shun them. This is okay. I went through that myself and wound up going to a spa for facials once a month to help my skin problem clear up. However, there is a thin line, and a lot of mothers are crossing it. And the mothers that cross that line begin to foster a behavior In their daughter which leads to expectations of such treatments. This expectation could lead into them wanting boob jobs for a sweet 16 or high school graduation (not unheard of…), botox injections in their 20s, and god knows what else.
I grew up having to deal with not the best looking hair, bad skin, and dealing with hair growth that I wasn’t used to. But I think I turned out fine, and I’ve learned to appreciate what I look like, instead of trying to hide all of my imperfections. Now, granted I do whine sometimes about wanting a body like, say Kate Winslet, but in general I’m happy with who I am.
I hate what the media, and their obsession with image, is doing to childhood… they’re slowly killing it.
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