According to the sub line of this forum it’s for “frivolous chatter to deep thoughts”
This is about as frivolous as it gets I suppose.
The other day on my commute home from work I started thinking about body hair-scaping. Hopefully without sound too pervy; I was wondering at what age do women and men begin doing this?
I come from an era when men (or women) didn’t do this. Some years ago Playboy models starting trimming; and now it seems like it’s more than trimming… is cue ball city (something I’m not sure I’m too crazy about; but whatever…)
Trimming body hair is the norm now; at least for adults. What social message/alert tells people when to start doing that? Is it magazines? Is it parents? (like when teaching their girls to shave their legs?) Is it peer pressure, like seeing ‘other’ people in the shower at the gym? Do high schools even have communal showers anymore?
For me it was about 5 years ago and it wasn’t social pressure, even though I was pretty hairy. I wanted to see if I would chafe less in my chestal area when running. That didn’t work, but I felt about 2-3 degrees cooler (which is good in florida) and noticed I had stopped itching. That’s right, I had itched below the collar my whole adult life and never connected it to my abundant chest hair.
I started doing it immediately when puberty started. I have always kept it neatly trimmed or completely shorn. My friends were apt to drop their pants at any time and none of them were doing anything in that area, but I’ve always liked to keep it under control.
I first really did it when I was about 21. That was the first time in my life I decided to get a suntan. So I shaved everthing to get an all over even tan.
I started shaving my underarms and legs at 13 or 14. Started tweezing my eyebrows around that time, too. Arms and legs because I noticed the other girls in ballet and gymnastics did it, too.
Girlie bits were at age 16. I started with just bikini line trimming but within a year I was getting rid of all of it after reading a few articles in Cosmo/Vogue. Once I tried it I felt cleaner and smoother and just better so I kept doing it for me.
I just started this year, and I’m a 42 year old male. I figured if my wife goes to the trouble of keeping it tidy, least I could do is try as well. Just trimmed and under control. For the record she says it really makes no difference to her ( in a good way).
Who knows what the norm is. I experimented a bit with shaving when I was first going through puberty, age 13-15, but had au natural pubes, and often legs and pits, until I was around 17-18 or so. Then I started shaving… and the more hair I removed, the more I realized I prefer less everywhere for many reasons. I wasn’t sexually active at all until well after my 19th birthday, so sexual partner’s preference wasn’t a consideration then.
In my world, the only thing a man is allowed to shave is his facial hair (though there are men who should keep their facial hair, too). All other hair should stay. Men are supposed to be hairy, dammit!
Started shaving my face at puberty. Started shaving my head when I started going bald. Started pulling out my nose hairs and ear hairs when I noticed them protruding beyond their li’l homes. This is the old school approach.