Mother waxes her 3-year-old daughter’s eyebrows and the “Frenchies” rain down

31-year-old Leah Garcia from Texas decided to upload to TikTok the grooming routine of her 3-year-old daughter Bliss, which includes, among other things, eyebrow waxing. In the video, 27.8 million people saw the little one in pain as her mom puts the hair removal tape between her two eyebrows and pulls it, in an attempt to rid her of the…unnecessary hair.

Many users became furious with Leah, calling her a “bad mother” and describing the situation she is putting the child through. There were also those who referred to Sofia Hatzipanteli –the model who was on the jury of this year’s GNTM, which has been noted for her very thick and unkempt eyebrows – emphasizing that the many hairs are back in fashion.

But the young mother defends her act saying that in this way she is saving her daughter from the bullying her friends will do to her because of her appearance. Something she herself experienced as a child because of one eyebrow, as she vividly describes the very thick ones eyebrows which gave the impression that there were not two but one.

“I don’t give botox injections to my child, I just do it to her hair removal on the eyebrow, because he asked me to,” the 31-year-old mother tells the New York Post. “It’s very easy to wax an unibrow. But it’s not easy to feel better from the trauma of bullying, something you can’t control,” he emphasizes.

Every 10 days, Garcia shaves herself, 3-year-old Bliss, her 11-year-old daughter Behautti and her 20-year-old stepson Jaidyn, all with their consent, she says. Looking back she remembers the difficult times she went through with her own bushy eyebrows. “Before I started Kindergarten I was bullied by adults and little kids because I had this really thick unibrow“, she confessed, adding that her Spanish-speaking parents forbade her to shave and wax her hairy eyebrows. “I don’t let this happen to my children,” she says.

Supporters and opponents

But the 31-year-old American woman is not the only mother who does something like this to her children. In the hashtag #EyebrowWaxingwhich has more than 186 million posts on TikTok thousands of parents with young children –in some cases so young that they are still wearing diapers (!) – they shave them for a flawless appearance. “First waxing because her unibrow was growing,” captioned the video of a baby’s mom in Mississippi, while a San Diego dad boasts that he’s finally “getting rid of his 6-year-old daughter’s unibrow.”

On the other hand, many argue that boys and girls under the age of 6 should to be taught acceptance and not alter their characteristics to be mass acceptable. “Go to therapy,” wrote one outraged TikToker under Leah’s video. “I was unibrowed and it didn’t bother me until Wednesday of elementary school. Don’t let her think she’s not beautiful and there’s something wrong,” said another.

What the experts say

THE dermatologist Hadley King tells The Post that beauty treatments like eyebrow waxing, when done safely, have no long-term negative effects on a child’s skin. However, he notes that this practice in terms of beauty it could affect a young child’s self-esteem. “In one context these processes could be experienced as fun, exciting or playful. In another context someone could feel that their appearance was not good enough,” he said.

Pediatrician Sara Siddiqui agrees, stressing to The Post that waxing is mostly safe for children of all ages, despite the risk of facial sensitivity, allergy to certain substances or irritation at the waxing site. But he urges parents to be sure that this practice is the child’s decision. “We never want a child’s self-confidence to be based solely on their outward appearance, especially at a very young age. But if they’re asking their mum and dad to help them get rid of unwanted hair, then it’s important that parents listen and help them find a safe solution,” she says.

Garcia points out that she teaches her children to be proud of how they choose to express themselves. “I have very confident little girls, for us waxing is just basic grooming” she assured.