BEAUTY

Losing My 'Virginity' At 20

By Danielle Cadet

I lost my waxing virginity at 20 last week and joined the ranks of 8-year-olds who wax their pubic hair. Yes, you read it right. Eight-year-olds.

Apparently, New York mothers have been bringing their prepubescent princesses in for a wax to save them any “playground embarrassment” (while instead subjecting them to the horror of a strange woman -- who's not their doctor -- ripping out barely perceived hairs). I'm baffled because I've always considered my vagina the Bermuda triangle of beauty products: Fly-bys always to be avoided with scissors, wax products and dye.

I only decided to go through with it because my friends have been encouraging me for years, and I was tired of having to shave.

So here I was, being traumatized by a stranger who nonchalantly ordered me to take my pants off and lay down. I only had enough time to get them down to my ankles before she burst back into the room asking if I was ready.

She seemed oblivious to my nakedness, asking me if I’d been keeping up with the Olympics before nonchalantly telling me to spread my legs. I learned that she was from Brazil, that she was disappointed with her country's athletic performance in the Games. She informed me of this all while ripping away at the hairs, at times warning that “this one is gonna sting.”

By the end of the grueling experience, I felt like a Chihuahua that had been set on fire. It burned like bloody hell and it pissed me off that I had subjected myself to this, and that woman seemed indifferent to my pain. And,no, I didn't feel any more beautiful.

So what was I supposed to do with my prized pubic area now? Have sex with someone to show it off? Prance through a girls' locker room? I didn’t even want to be touched and I could barely get my jeans back on.

So why the hell would 8-year-olds need a bare body? Who’s seeing them naked? I think Barbie has given us all false expectations of what our bodies should look like. Or maybe she waxed too.

These crazy mothers are setting their daughters up to be accessories first, people second,later in life. Some "men" like a woman with no hair, so better start early. I couldn’t even deal with the experience at 20; I can’t imagine what would be going through my mind at 8. And I thought 10-year-olds on Sunset Tan were abused. It's pure madness.

Danielle Cadet is a Danielle is a journalism student Northwestern University who likes to write about fashion and pop culture catastrophes.