Once upon a time summer camps were about s'mores and giggling in the dark. You might have had a checklist of suggested items to pack—stuff like flip-flops, bathing suit, sleeping bag. These days, according to an article in The New York Times, young campers might add to that list: pay a visit to the salon.
What's known as precamp grooming is now the done thing for wilderness goers of both genders, with guys younger than 16 flocking to salons for acne-fighting facials and maybe a little eyebrow shaping (the unibrow is so 1990s, Gallagher brothers.
Even though girls aren't said to be seeking Brazilian bikini waxes, laser hair removal still requires consent for a child under (typically) 14. Most booked in are around 12 or 13, though some are as young as nine and 10. I don't even think I had a hair on my legs at that age!
“It’s not pressure in a beauty pageant way," said Natalie Gee, co-founder of Gee Beauty in Toronto. “Being 12 or 13 today is different from being 12 or 13 even five years ago. There are all these influences…[Body hair] is the last thing a girl should be worrying about at camp.”
Do you take your daughter (or son) to be 'groomed' at a salon? A bit of girlie fun or needlessly high maintenance?
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