There was a lot of back-and-forth and anger and ambivalence and name-calling with that story about Farrah Abraham waxing and plucking her 3 year old daughter’s unibrow. Farrah had posted a story about the Unibrow Controversy on her blog, and it quickly became a “hot topic”. I covered it a few days ago, and I still have the same opinion on the matter: she shouldn’t have waxed her 3-year-old’s unibrow (she said it was unsuccessful anyway), but I’m meh on her plucking Sophia’s unibrow. I came from a place of knowing what it’s like to be a somewhat hirsute Indian girl in a land of blondes with no rogue hairs out of place anywhere. Eyebrow maintenance is important to me, not because my mom stressed it or taught me to be self-conscious about it, but because I liked my brows to look a certain way at a young age.
Anyway, the controversy continues. Good Morning America did a segment about the situation (you can see the video here), and Farrah gave an exclusive interview about it to GMA. She’s (smartly) trying to re-frame the issue as a simple grooming issue, and she says that she needed to ban the unibrow because she didn’t want Sophia to be bullied for it.
Teen Mom’s Farrah Abraham made headlines Tuesday, Jan. 8 after she wrote a blog about waxing her 3-year-old daughter Sophia’s eyebrows. Despite criticism over her parenting decision, the MTV star tells ABC News it was the right thing to do.
“People just kept commenting on a unibrow,” Abraham, 20, explained in an interview that aired Wednesday on Good Morning America. “And I was like, maybe I am letting it go too far.”
Abraham shared in her blog post the her daughter “freaked out” when she put a dab of wax on her eyebrows. So instead, the mom decided to use her tweezers to pluck her brows while she was asleep.
The Teen Mom star has been criticized for being too obsessed with her appearance. After undergoing a breast augmentation in 2011 to go from an A to a C cup, Abraham received a $16,000 rhinoplasty and chin implant on Oct. 7.
“Cosmetic surgeries to me, are something that is way different from plucking your eyebrows,” Abraham explained to ABC News.
Though ABC News reported that dermatologists recommend that plucking only begins after age 7 or 8, Abraham is happy with her decision.
“If I can help my daughter in a little way by just plucking a few hairs . . . I think I did something right,” she said.
The young mom furthered defended her action on Twitter. “Unibrows are not sacred! Do the right thing tweeze no matter what age,” she wrote Tuesday. The following day she added, “Sophia’s beautiful with unibrow or without! Point is take care of your child’s hygiene.”
If you watch the GMA video, they say that Farrah is being “accused” of pushing her own hyper-narcissism and superficiality on her daughter by focusing on Sophia’s brows at such a young age, and that’s why Farrah says the thing about plastic surgery not being comparable. To be fair, I think everybody has a valid point in that particular situation – Farrah seems very superficial and like she has significant body image issues (she’s gotten A LOT of plastic surgery), and she’s giving her daughter an awful role model. That being said, Farrah is right too – eyebrow maintenance is a grooming issue and it’s not comparable to plastic surgery. Again, she shouldn’t wax her daughter. But I guess I’m one of few who doesn’t mind some plucking.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet and Farrah’s Twitter.
3 is still too young for waxing, plucking any of that. Kaiser, you said you started to wax/pluck at age 12. That is a long ways away from 3! No one is going to bully a 3 year old about a unibrow. They don’t have the slightest idea of what that is! If she is waxing her brows at 3 I loathe to think what comes next. She is very shallow and in my opinion from the first few seasons of 16 and pregnant and then teen mom, very immature and not a good mom. I wonder how much of the money she’s made has been set aside for Sophia? Probably none. She’s too busy getting $16k worth of bad plastic surgery. You know she’s loving all this attention. Gross.
Yeah, Farrah’s doing a helluva job teaching her toddler that only the externals matter in life. What’s next, boob job at 11? She should have given this baby up for adoption.
Took the words out of my mouth, both of you!
Also, “grooming” does not equal “hygeine” as she says.
Mostly: Farrah, just shut up. The more words you type on your twitter, the stupider you look.
Hoya_chick – I think that MTV should’ve had it written into their contracts that a certain percentage of the money from each episode be put into trust for the kids involved. I feel so badly for these kids with some of these Moms…
Farrah makes me sick because she thinks that being able to do the things she does (like live in a nice apartment on the beach or rent a house on her own) are because she’s so smart rather than realizing that in no other reality would she be able to make the money she’s making with Teen Mom. I wonder how things will go once the $ and her “fame” such as it is runs out? I don’t think things will go well in the future for her. She has such a terrible attitude and she’s just not very bright although she thinks she is.
I was teased for my unibrow from the moment I started kindergarten. Just so you know. And that was way back in 1987 (or thereabouts). Can’t imagine what today’s kids go through.
I was teased for my unibrow from the moment I started kindergarten. Just so you know. And that was way back in 1987 (or thereabouts). Can’t imagine what today’s kids go through.
“a face only a mother could love” has been replaced by “a face only a mother could perfect.” I don’t think most 3 year olds get bullied by their “peers” and if they do, the adults taking care of them are not doing their jobs.
Exactly. 3 year olds can barely distinguish between boys and girls, nevermind whose grooming could use a step-up. Now if my little girl was 5 or 6 AND actively getting teased AND wanted to do something about it, I would reluctantly cave. But this has nothing to do with the child and EVERYTHING to do with this vapid narcissist of a mother!
…what kind of lazy shallow parent even has the TIME to worry about their 3 year old’s ‘unit-brow’? That alone tells me everything I need to know about this story.
There is nothing that can be said to make me believe there’s any reason to pluck or wax or shave a child’s eyebrows. As a mother your job is to stress health and self-confidence, not to teach your child they’re a flawed being who needs to fix themselves.
It’s just beyond moronic. If people keep ‘mentioning it’ (which I don’t buy for a second) then you take that opportunity to teach your child to embrace their qualities and not let other superficial opinions make them do something they don’t need to.
Different note, that little girl is absolutely adorable. She looks a lot like Caylee Anthony.
It makes me sad she has a mother who can look into her precious face and only see flaws.
Me too. I can’t imagine looking into the face of my toddler and wanting to do anything but hug and kiss him. And just so we’re clear, he’s definitely inherited my dad’s unibrow!
Yes there’s a difference between plucking and surgery. There’s also a difference between a 3 year old child and a 20 year old adult.
No one was bullying a 3 year old for a few stray hairs, nor is it unhygienic. This situation is ALL about the mother’s vanity.
Cosign.
High five to this!
where do they find these “people”?
seems easier to rage about the plucking than confront the fact this “person” is famous and has a child she uses as a prop. aren’t most humans angered/irritated by watching what seems inevitable; the slow train wreck that will be this child’s life?
plucking her eyebrows is probably the least damaging thing she’s done and will do -to her own child.
smh
When a society celebrates and rewards mediocrity, then these are the results.
To be completely fair, kids are horrible, yes even at the age of 3. I know because when I was a summer camp volunteer I heard kids say really mean things ages 4-5 about their peers. It might not be bullying, it is because children have no filter so they will say what is on their mind (hey you look like a monkey!) or something like that. It doesn’t have to equate to bullying because children are not aware of bullying but they WILL comment on things that seem different to their every day life.
And it doesn’t have to be kids your age doing it… it could be slightly older kids. I got picked on a little bit when I switched elementary schools, but it was by the kids a year ahead of me more than anything.
And I’m not saying it’s necessarily right to do what Farrah did. But at the same time, when do you do something? Once the kid comes home crying because other kids made fun of her? I’d like to try to avoid the whole ordeal, to be honest.
Indeed, I had bushy eyebrows (and sort of a unibrow) when I was kid and I remember begging my mom since a very young age to do something about it. My mom only got it plucked when I was age 10 but lord was I happy. I was extremely uncomfortable and subconscious about it for a long time. Although to be honest I do not remember being teased about it.
That is a very good point that’s the dilemma, do you want to wait till your kid is coming home crying because your children were teased? Again the option of talking to the parents about it or the ones in charged does not guarantee that it will stop or even if the parents care at all.
I still think waxing at the age of 3 is extreme, but plucking? Meh, I am not a parent myself so I don’t know how I would approach it if I were in her position. I mean was she teased about it? did she say something to her mom about it? Were rude adults commenting about the child or giving her weird looks? Was her unibrow uncontrollable and unmanageable or a few stray hairs? Many questions I know.
Yes, children can be cruel at a young age because they don’t filter what they say. That is the time to teach them what is appropriate and what isn’t. Anytime I see a young child in my charge saying things inappropriate I make sure to let them know that it is not okay to say those things. If she is having trouble with bullying whereever she takes her daughter (don’t know if she takes her anywhere) then she needs to address that issue with the adults in charge.
of course you try and teach them that everyone is different, people have different types of hair (curly, straight, etc so people have different eyebrows, etc), but again, when you have to supervise 20 kids by yourself and dealing with ‘he said she said scenarios’, you’re not going to catch what every single kid is going to say and just because you already taught that particular kid that it is rude to comment on people’s appearance and equate them to animals does not mean that they will not repeat the same behavior or the damage hasn’t already been done.
Again, kids can be mean and cruel, you have to try to teach them what is right and wrong but that does not guarantee that it will stop.
And I kind of sensed that you are sort of judging me on the way I handled these situation (I might be completely off the mark), but the organization I was volunteering was extremely underfunded and was directed at refugee kids, so sometimes there are bigger problems than ‘that kid called me a monkey’, not saying that it should be completely brushed of course not, but again many of these children have behavioral problems because of PTSD and we focused more on integrating behavioral children and children with physical and mental disabilities.
I don’t think anyone was judging you, Leen. The issue here is a parent choosing to teach/reinforce the idea that girls have to look a certain way to be accepted, instead of teaching her to be strong and giving confidence. I would think that you particularly, having dealt with so many kids at such a young age, would appreciate that these lessons start with the parents. No way should we, can we, expect someone in your position to “fix” the damage a parent inflicts.
100% agree, Leen!!
Perhaps I would not use hot wax to remove hair from my young child but I do understand her point. She is trying to protect her daughter from all the tormentors at school. Maybe I would apply EMLA cream before using hot wax or plucking the unwanted hair. Let’s be honest, there are many children and some grown ups at school who WILL make fun of you for any physical trait they think it’s funny.
Is shaving not a good alternative to waxing or is it not applicable when it comes to unibrows (hair growth area would still be slightly visible)?
It’s not good to shave your face, as a girl. It’s better to have the fine, tapered hairs either there, or fully removed than to cut the tapered part down and leave it looking more blunt.
How old is Farrah? If i didn’t know she was on Teen Mom I would have pegged her in her mid 30s.
She is supposedly 20.
She had a some plastic surgery and it made her face look off. Not better. She looks a lot like her mom now.
Who cares? Really? Yet another unwed teen mom being elevated by an UNrealty show.
Children don’t need earrings, nail polish, weaves, braids, bows, designer clothes etc either but no one says a word about that.
She groomed her child, so what? At least she didn’t punch holes in her ears, change her hair color or parade her around looking 30!
Why is this so wrong when all those other ‘modifications’ are acceptable?
If you in-large the top pictuer you will see that Sophia’s ears are piercied.
Ut-oh, don’t go there. Piercing little girls’ ears is a cultural issue. I’m not sure about Asians and Africans, but it is endemic among Hispanics and West Indians and is also extremely common among African-Americans down South. My mom refused to pierce my ears when I was a child because she had her own ears pierced as a little girl and she hated it. She freaked for days when I finally had mine pierced in college. (Then she got her own re-pierced when she realized all the pretty earrings were for pierced ears.)
My kid has none of these except earrings that she asked for and loves.
Waxing/plucking a toddlers eyebrows is all about the mother and not the child. I have a three year old daughter with a unibrow and she has never said anything about it nor has anyone else. This is what happens though when we live in an overly permissive society that likes to sexualize children. Just walk into any department store and look at the clothing marketed towards kids these days; it looks like adult clothing. This whole situation sickens me and as others have said I loathe to see what comes next…
I remember the first time my mom plucked my eyebrows..I was 12 and it hurt like hell. Who would do that to a toddler? Awful. What a bitch.
People are so clueless. You teach your child to be happy with what is on the inside, not to change what is on the outside. There will always be mean girls who will find something to say to try and hurt your child. We can’t live in bubbles. But this woman has already altered her own face so surely she won’t understand that lesson. My six year old understands that sometimes kids are mean but she knows that she should try to love herself for who she is instead of hating herself because she isn’t perfect. That poor little girl. Her mother is already making her feel bad about herself instead of trying to build her self-esteem. How sad.
I agree 100%. The message to bullied kids should not be “let’s fix what they’re making fun of” , it needs to be that “looks are not what makes you valuable or lovable as a human being”.
Exactly! I think later on they could go to a salon and have a mother daughter day but I think this early and later on it’s more important to give proper self esteem. Atleast your mother should be telling you that you’re smart and kind and beautiful … if your own mother is nitpicking at you about something like eyebrows at the age of three imagine the body issues this girl will have in highschool.
As anyone who was ever picked on because of their unibrow, or their big nose, or their not-cool haircut, or not-cool clothes can attest, the bullies are the ones who have been taught at a very young age that all these things are “wrong.” Nobody is born thinking there’s something wrong with someone else’s eyebrows. It’s all taught.
So sure, Farrah, you did a great thing. You just taught your 3 year old that it’s OK to make fun of other little kids because their mommies aren’t obsessed with their appearance. In your attempt to “protect” your daughter you’ve created the monster that will torment kids for years. A+ to you.
She’ll be shaving her legs next
I think this little girl has more to worry about as far as bullying than a few hairs with the Mom she has. That is what kids will make fun of when she is older. HA 🙁
3 is just too young..
I can see preteen 11 or 12
too be honest, there is no way I could sleep thru someone plucking my hairs from my face.
if its true Sophia sleeps like a log.
I’m due any day now with my second child, first girl. Never would I alter her appearance cosmetically without her asking first and a whole lot of consideration of why is age appropriate. And this includes pierced ears, another choice moms make for infant/toddler girls which endlessly bothers me. If its not them coming to mom or dad at an appropriate age and asking for them, it’s a body modification your putting onto your child. And this is from a tattooed mom lol
Congrats to you and your new baby girl!! I have to admit I’m a little bit jealous 🙂 My son was the 16th boy in a row in my family….no girls yet!! Congrats, I’m sure you’ll be a great mom.
This story makes me glad I don’t watch any reality TV.
Definition of HYGIENE:
1: a science of the establishment and maintenance of health.
I’m still unclear as to how a unibrow affects a person’s health.
^^This.
A unibrow is NOT a hygiene issue, it is a vanity issue!
That’s what I thought too!
I’m due any day now with my second child, first girl. Never would I alter her appearance cosmetically without her asking first and a whole lot of consideration of what is age appropriate. And this includes pierced ears, another choice moms make for infant/toddler girls which endlessly bothers me. If its not them coming to mom or dad at an appropriate age and asking for them, it’s a body modification you’re putting onto your child. And this is from a tattooed mom.
I don’t think what Farrah did was wrong at all. I have an 8 year old daughter and if at 3 years old she had a big uni-brow, I would take care of it. A 3 year old with a big uni-brown (which will only get worse) will be made fun of for it by children and adults. I’ve seen people made fun of for it of all ages. I think Farrah made the right choice on this one.
My 4 year old daughter has a unibrow courtesy of her South American Daddy and I have always thought it was one of her most beautiful features.
Lets be clear, she didn’t do this for Sophia, she did it so SHE wouldn’t have a daughter with a uni-brow. Looks are very important to her and Sophia wasn’t up to her standards.
I have no problem with her waxing/plucking it when Sophia is older but for now this was all due to Farrah’s vanity, not for Sophia’s sake.
I don’t feel like commenting on unibrow-gate but I have to say…this Farrah girl was 100 times more beautiful prior to getting plastic surgery. Why did she do that to her face?
That poor kid is going to have a rough time growing up if her mother is already trying to “improve” her looks.
IMO, it wasn’t a good idea to wax a poor 3 yr old, but the plucking thing I am not upset about. [So long as you are not putting your child through excruciating pain.]
I remember years ago my aunt was married to some dude that already had 2 young daughters. They were gorj little blondies with dark eyebrows & lashes, light eyes- very Muriel Hemingway. Anyway, the youngest was probably no older than 4 but already had a Very Prominent Unibrow, and I remember feeling sad that her mother wouldn’t have thought to do something about it and how much teasing the little girl would get. I’m sure she hadn’t been yet, but why would you want to wait for your children to come home crying about being bullied, when you can do something to alleviate the issue before it becomes one?
On the other hand, my mother wouldn’t let me pluck my [very hairy] eyebrows or even shave my legs until high school if she had her way! I did it anyway at 13, I was teased Big Time! I am a brunette Latina, my hairs are Very Dark. And there are a lot of them. Almost 20 years later, and I still hate my body hair. I shave and wax and thread Every Thing.
So my point is that we are all different. We are all unique, some of us start developing early so I don’t really think there was a problem with the plucking if Sophia was already a bit ahead of the curve in the follicle department. I do think Farrah is a very vain person, but so am I. I like to look good but I would never subject a child to my extreme antics. [and I don’t think she was/is aiming for that either]
Dear God, a unibrow on a three year old? The shame! (pearls, clutching, etc). Maybe because she’s so insecure she’s worried her child might feel insecure…? I don’t know. I DO know that I had crazy eyebrows and my mom offered to pluck them when I was in the upper grades of elementary school, like fourth/fifth grade. Just a few in the middle and underneath. I liked it, I liked having prettier eyebrows and bonding with my mom. But three is just too young.
Madonna’s kid, Lourdes Leon, had a unibrow until recently.
You have to wonder if media attention went into her decision as well. My child wouldn’t have to read about their unibrow online or anywhere the way her child would/probably does. To want to do away with some of that criticism is natural. I do think 3 is young and probably not an age where they’re aware of any media scrutiny but I also don’t see the harm in plucking where plucking is needed. Just save it for a little later. And yes children at a young age can be cruel.
I just can’t see a kid the same age as her child commenting. I have a feeling people that were commenting were adults (like her mom.) she should have just told them to stfu. But I know it’s hard. My son had an upturned nose when he was born. People commented on it and made me so sad. It’s better now, on its own.
I don’t agree with putting wax on her child. Obviously she isn’t old enough to understand to stay still. She could have taken off an eyebrow or got it on her eyelashes.
I know how scary it is to worry about your children getting teased. But I don’t think getting rid of her unibrow was the answer. Especially when she doesn’t even understand yet. In the pictures her unibrow is barely noticeable.