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Whoa, Momma!

Sharon Kennedy Wynne, Tracey Henry and Suzannah DiMarzio

Are you going to Brazil?



Not long ago I was out with several women I had just met through one mutual friend, when suddenly the tranquil girl talk of schools, kids, work and exercise went from zero to 90 in five seconds.

Mom_brazillian “So, does anybody have a Brazilian?” our mutual friend asked. Amid laughter and a few chokes on Chardonnay, we asked why she wanted to know. 

“Well my sister called me the other day and asked if I had one, because she had just been to her gynecologist and the doctor had commented that she was the first woman in months who didn't have one,” she told us. 

There was immediate outrage at the doctor for making such a remark. We assumed it was a sexist, perverted male doctor, but it turned out to be a female. (Is that worse?)

Then, one by one, we offered our views on the trend of going completely hairless “down there.” Nobody in the group, it seemed, had braved the total wax or laser as of yet. 

“Where does your sister live?” I asked. 

“Columbus, Ga.!” my friend exclaimed. 

“Do you mean Tampa Bay women aren't keeping up with Columbus, Ga?” I said.

A single friend in her late 30s told me she barely knows anyone, married or single, who doesn't have a Brazilian, or at least a landing strip. A friend in Raleigh said many of her friends in their 40s have them, as well. She added a ticket shape to the list of designs.

I heard a lot of stories as I researched the topic, including teenage girls asking for Brazilians as graduation presents. Are you kidding me? When I was 18, I could barely get my mom to pay the extra $2 to get a round Flicker razor instead of the Daisy 3-pack.You can read more about what I learned here or by picking up a copy of Go Momma magazine at many locations throughout the bay area.

What do you think, Mommas? Is this the norm now? Are women who choose this option doing so because they like the idea, or because their partners do?  Are teenagers following suit with more than a bikini wax? Do you have one or will you get one?

And will you take Advil before you go?

-- Katherine Snow Smith, Go Momma magazine editor

[In this Times file photo, that's Pia Trujillo in 2005 giving a wax to a client]



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