- A mom went viral on TikTok after she filmed herself waxing her three-year-old daughter's "unibrow."
- It led to an intense online debate, with some users saying the child was too young to be waxed.
A TikToker has doubled down after posting a video showing how she waxed her three-year-old daughter's eyebrows so she would not have a "unibrow," saying it was "basic grooming" and that she has "no regrets."
Leah Garcia, who has 262,000 followers, posted the viral video on October 4. The clip showed her applying a mini wax strip to her daughter's forehead and ripping it off. Garcia's daughter frowned and said, "Ow, mom," in response.
@leah_txrealtor My fellow mexicans, y’all understand! #fyp #momsoftiktok #badmom #mexicantiktok #andGO ♬ original sound - Leah Garcia
An on-screen caption on the post read, "I'd rather y'all call me a bad mom before I let my 3-year-old walk around with a unibrow like my parents did."
As of Wednesday, Garcia's clip had received more than 30 million views and sparked a wave of criticism.
Many top comments under the video were positive, saying that Garcia was "protecting" her daughter from being bullied for having a "unibrow" and that her child would thank her later in life. But in the days following its release, TikTokers began duetting Garcia's video to say they disagreed with her decision.
@comic.sanz #duet with @leah_txrealtor ♬ original sound - Leah Garcia
"I hope when she's older, she realizes her insecurities were imposed on her by the person who was supposed to make her feel the most beautiful in this world, poor baby," wrote one user in a video with 1.1 million views. The top comment under the post read, "you're right, too; she's already teaching her to hate something natural about herself like what."
"Teaching a kid that young that the facial hair that naturally grows on their body is wrong or they need to get rid of it... irreparable damages to her psyche," said another user, who added in her caption that she thought "this kid is too young to have to worry about all of this beauty standard nonsense."
@croissantanduncle #stitch with @leah_txrealtor ♬ original sound - mariam
On October 7, Garcia posted a video statement in response to the "uproar" against her post, saying that she stands by her decision to wax her daughter's eyebrows so that she does not get bullied by peers.
"I would take the hate and the ridicule from millions of people, like I am now," she said. "I would take that right on the chin before I ever allowed my children to be hurt by somebody else's words for something that I could fix so easily."
@leah_txrealtor Stay mad. #fyp #momsoftiktok #eyebrows #waxing #parenting #viral ♬ original sound - Leah Garcia
Garcia went on to post several follow-up videos addressing the continued criticism she received from other TikTok users.
"We teach her self love, but we also teach her basic grooming," she captioned one post, adding, "GROOMING IS NECESSARY," in another video. Another accused her critics of "taking out their mommy issues on me."
Garcia continues to post videos about raising her children, along with more general lifestyle and beauty content, on TikTok.
She did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
@leah_txrealtor Hurry, quick! Call child protecive services! Im brushing her hair!! #fyp #momsoftiktok #waxing #wax #parenting #FlexEveryAngle ♬ original sound - Leah Garcia
According to an advice column posted by the Mayo Clinic, many methods of hair removal are "safe and none have age restrictions." However, a medically reviewed article on BabyCenter.com advises that parents not wax hair on a toddler's face "because their skin is too sensitive and they may have an allergic reaction."
As Insider has previously reported, mothers commonly receive backlash for sharing details about controversial parenting decisions on social media. In early October, a mother said she received a "shocking" amount of online hate after using TikTok to document her decision to breastfeed her son up until the age of two, a concept known as extended breastfeeding.
For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.