Many women, although by no means all of them, have a favourite anecdote about their father. It might be a story that illustrates his silly sense of humour, a tale that highlights his kindness, or a memory of how hard he worked to support his family.

But even the most dedicated dad has a limit of what he’s prepared to do for his daughter – and so one woman was stunned to find out just how far her father had gone to look out for her teenage self.

The woman, known only as carlinha1289, recently shared the story of her discovery on Reddit. She says that when she was a teenager, her mum wasn’t particularly interested in doing things together. As a result, carlinha1289 had no go-to person to guide her through traditionally female rites of passage such as “manicures, waxing, bra shopping and whatnot”.

“However, I had a great dad who was always willing to bring me to those things,” she says, “so I never felt like I missed out.”

So far, so devoted. But when carlinha1289 was 16, she told her father that she wanted to wax her legs. At first, he said no, but relented once she told him that prom was coming up.

This dad banned his daughter from waxing her thighs for the best reason