Leg Shaving - For Whose Benefit?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I was brought up to assume that women should shave their legs. It was never really discussed outright, just something that happened. Women who didn’t were hippies or ultra-feminists or slovenly, or some combination thereof, and definitely not attractive. So I did it without thinking about it.

As a teenager I knew a few women who didn’t do it in the winter, when there was no one to see their legs. All my guy friends (note: friends, not partners) reinforced the “hairy legs on women are nassssss-ty” impression, and my female friends all shaved/depilated/waxed etc with flawless regularity.

I was lazy and shaved regularly but certainly not every day. Some female friends report that did it for their own benefit, not their partners’ (although their partners always appreciated it!) I didn’t mind the hair until it got really long, and with one exception the partners I’ve had didn’t mind at all. It certainly never seemed to interfere with my love life, contrary to what I had been led to believe by pop culture.

One long-term partner, and now my husband (bless him), actually told me not to - they didn’t mind one way or the other, but they didn’t like the next-day stubble and they wondered why I put myself through so much time and effort and expense and nicks (I was never very good at it, I’ve still got scars on my ankle bones).

And now I wax, to my husband’s disgust, because the forest really can get thick down there. He doesn’t like the waxing part (I think it kind of freaks him out) and he really has no problems with the hair. As a radical feminist I never thought that I would insist on removing my leg hair contrary to the wishes of some man !

So, if you shave, whose interests is it in? Yours? Your partner’s (or potential partners)? Other people who look at your legs? Society?

2

Well, it’s your hair, and if you want to yank it out or scrape it off with sharp metal objects, I guess that’s your business, but I’ve never found women of normal fuzziness to be repulsive, nor is the rest of my gender known for its exquisite finickiness.

Frankly, unless you’ve got an unusual endocrine condition, the hair that grows there is going to be more attractive than razor burn and red bumps and stubble. But as I said, do what you want to do. It’s your hair.

3

I don’t think I’ve shaved my legs in two years. I don’t think I even really remember how to. My boyfriend doesn’t really care one bit… until it gets longer than the hair on his legs. Then he starts bitching a little bit. I think it might be an ego thing.

Occasionally I do wax or nair. The only reason I do that though is because I wear shorts at work. Even though majority of the people I know have no problem with my hairy legs, I don’t think my boss really appreciates it. I wouldn’t say I do it for the benefit of society, but more because of society.

4

Wow ! We’re 2 for 2 “leg hair doesn’t matter”!

I never would have predicted this - especially with the dearth of leg hair I see around me these days ! Colour me surprised - and more than a little pleased …

Let’s see how this turns out …

5

Mine…I can’t stand the way the little prickles feel on the sheets when they start to grow out…it’s just a weird thing for me.

6

Hate to ruin your stats, but Honey, if I let my leg hair grow, I look like a gorilla wearing beige-colored footies within a couple of months.

And I don’t like it one bit. If I’m a giant fur ball, I can’t even stand to sit around in my underwear, all alone, at home, in the middle of a 3-year dry spell. My leg hair makes me feel so unpretty.

Armpit hair, however, is another story. For reasons I’ll never understand, I have no problem at all letting forests grow in my pits. Usually my mom or sister will call me out before I even notice.

Now. Let me know when you’re ready to move on to a Bikini Area discussion. :wink:

7

My boyfriend says he doesn’t care about leg hair either, as long as it’s not long enough to braid. :stuck_out_tongue:

I usually shave about once or twice a week though because I like feeling my smooth legs against just-washed covers.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh. :slight_smile:

8

auntie em: I’m the same ! the gorilla thing is why I’ve been removing it all these years. Since I’ve been waxing, though, it grows in a whole lot thinner and hopefully I’ll be able to stop doing it once I reach a nice level of fuzz.

Armpit hair I have a threshold - once a month or so. Oddly my SO doesn’t like his own armpit hair but he doesn’t mind mine.

And I’m happy to move into a Bikini Area discussion if you are … :wink: - it just seemed too much to put into the OP!

I’ll start: I don’t care what my SOs think of my bikini area. I shaved for years and now keep it very closely trimmed.

9

I wax and I do it for me, not anyone else.

10

cowgirl, I am telling you–when my leg hair is in full force, I’d be a prime donor for a cocker spaniel who’s lost his fur to chemotherapy.

I’ve been waxing for years, and have noticed some thinning of my leg hair, but not a huge difference. On the other hand, my mother (who is stunned speechless by the gusto with which my bad boys grow and flourish) seems to think that the waxing is what’s causing the hair to be so thick.

At any rate, moving on to the crotch (hey, you asked for it), I have to tell you that I am all about the Brazilian wax. Well, it’s not really Brazilian, because I do it myself and do leave a bit of decoration in the front, but woo-WEE! I love being (mostly) hair-free in my special places! I have never enjoyed washing my butt as much as I do when I’m freshly waxed! Yay! And like the leg thing, I do it pretty much for myself.

Like the armpit thing, though, I don’t tend to pay much attention to the length of the hair, er . . . “up front”, so to speak. I remove it from outside the bikini line, sure, but anything that’s fairly covered up in a thong (which I don’t wear, but I’m trying to paint a picture, here, so work with me) I don’t worry about.

My SO, on the other hand, has begun making comments about my Frontal Hendrix. He never says anything about leg hair (in fact, doesn’t seem to notice it much), or armpit hair, or even my baby-smooth butt crack, but when the hair in front starts to grow even a little, he’s got comments. :dubious:

11

I shave my legs for my own benefit aswell as my boyfriend’s. Although I shaved less (about once a week, maybe once a fornight) when I was single.

12

JuanitaTech adds ‘people wax their butt cracks’ to her ever-growing list of Things JuanitaTech Didn’t Need to Know.

13

Hoo yeah. I’m a gorilla-impersonator/spaniel-wig-donor too, with dark coarse black hair and pasty blue-white skin. Don’t get me started on the Bikini Area, either… braiding is an option; nuff said.

When I was a neohippie teenager and twenty-something, I didn’t shave. I had a few boyfriends (not neohippies, btw) who preferred it that way anyway. One of them mentioned a formative viewing of the original Planet of the Apes movie as a young man…

I shocked the crap out of some cousins by not shaving but wearing a dress anyway to a family to-do once. It really irritated and embarrassed my mom, who is even an old-school feminist, and my little sister, who would tell friends of hers about my amazing habit to shock them. (“Know what? My sister DOESN’T EVEN SHAVE her LEGS!!!”)

All this rebellion was partly fueled by the incredible ingrown hairs I always got with any method of hair removal.

Now that I’m older, it’s not as much fun to rebel via hirsutity. When I was in acting school and my legs were gonna show onstage, I tried bleaching the hairs, but I got “roots” showing within 12 hours.

I shave now, but infrequently; maybe twice or three times a month. I use “Tend Skin” to prevent the worst of the ingrown hairs when I do shave. My husband doesn’t mind my either shaving or not shaving, but he doesn’t like stubble much, and who can blame him? That stuff’ll raise welts faster than 150-grit sandpaper!

I shave mostly so that I blend in better with my colleagues at work, I think. Lotta leg showing in Texas.

14

I wax my legs all the way up…for myself. I feel unfeminine when I look like an ugly, hairy gorilla. I have dark leg hair, despite being an ash blonde, and it can get really long (I know, I never used to remove it in the winter).

I’ve known plenty of women whose leg hair was so light that I didn’t notice it one way or another, and I think they’re crazy to shave, but hey, whatever they want to do is their business.

15

I tend to forget about my pits. Sometimes my boyfriend has to remind me. In the winter I just let them go.

Bikini area though I do shave. Well, at least underneath. The front gets trimmed, but rarely shaved. That part just itches too much when it starts growing in.

16

Mine…

My hubby doesn’t care and in the winter I rarely shave unless its pulling somewhere.

But I like the feel of rubbing my foot or hand down a smooth calf. (maybe I am a closet lesbian…) I also get a mild erotic thrill when one of my cats rubs against my freshly shaven legs.(Lets not go THERE, gang)

As for my pubic area, I keep it trimmed.

My armpits I forget about for months. I usually shave or trim when they start pulling. I have a mole in one pit and its a pain in de ass to shave around it.

17

I’ve thought about it. Then figured out (quite quickly) that I’m not flexible enough to do that myself.

How?
Plus, I always, without fail, get ingrown hairs in that general region (never anywhere else - just there).

Anyway, you know those guys who can’t grow a beard? Where it’s straggly, and there’s a few very noticeable stray hairs here and there, and it just looks wrong?

That’s how the hair on my lower legs grows (luckily, the hair from the knee up is invisible unless you’re under 2 inches away… and even then, hardly noticeable) . Very sparse hair, but what there It does not look good. So as long as someone is going to see my legs - they get shaved.

I don’t mind the hair long (it never gets over 1/2 inch - not because I cut it, that’s just the absolute longest it grows usually less than that) and so, in winter, when no one’s going to see, I don’t bother.

I wax my armpits once/week. (or shave more often) I do not like having hair there.

18

My legs dont feel right unless they are shaved, soft, and smooth. What is the big deal? It only takes less than a minute, just a few quick swipes with a razor when my legs are wet while in the shower.

19

I shave my lower legs (knee & below) every day (both my b/f and I love the feeling of nice, smooth skin.

Unfortunately, my hair grows very quickly, so doing this every day is necessary to avoid the dreaded stinging stubble!!!

Bikini line - I wax when I feel brave enough and in between I use Nair pretty much everywhere, except for a patch in the front. I just feel neater & cleaner when things “down there” when I maintain it that way.

Armpits - every 2-3 days - again, it’s a hygiene thing. Just feels cleaner and easier to keep smelling pretty when there’s no hair to trap the odors & bacteria, etc.

Yes, I spend a lot of $$ on razors, shaving cream, NAIR, wax, etc … hope my B/F appreciates it all!!!

I have to admit, if my hair was very soft & fine and light in colour, I wouldn’t be such a fanatic about removing it.

20

I shave my legs maybe once every other month. But then, I’m blond, so you can’t see it even if it is a forest. I just do it occasionally because I like how it feels…kind of sexy or whatever.

I tried a pubic shave twice and when it grew back in it hurt like hell! I did not like the stubble, and I’m just not going to keep doing it so that it never gets to stubble.

I do shave my armpits maybe twice a week, just because I smell better when I do.