Obviously your legs don’t produce as much hair as mine do, and don’t have the “tricky spots” on the knees and ankles that invariably catch on a razor’s edge. “A few quick swipes with a razor” would leave me needing a blood transfusion. I cringe in phantom pain just at reading your words.
The great debate to shave or not to shave…
In Europe many woman do not shave and the men in these countries appreciate a woman who does not shave her legs or her armpits not to mention the sideburns and moustaches…and then the total opposite…if you go to Turkey you see men that are completely shaven as they can not stand hair on themselves.
Personally for me I have taken (thanks to a dear friend) to waxing…ok admittedly the first time it was done it hurt like a SOAB but the second time was defintely OK and something I don’t think I will have an issue with in future. It is pretty good only having to do it once every three or four weeks too. It is amusing how peoples opinions differ. Before I injured my back I went through the daily ritual of shaving (wonders why she ever started in the first place) but now that I am unable to do it I definitely appreciate a beautician and also in winter the warmer legs used to be kind of neat too. I hated the stubble with a passion especially when I got into bed at night…oh how I remember that nasty scratchy irritated feeling and the nasty rash/scratching frenzy I would go through if I did not do it daily…my final word is this…
we spend way too much time doing silly things that really matter very very little in the bigger scheme of things…legs hairy or smooth I guess is all personal choice but men… if all they have to complain about is that prickly feeling while touching their partners leg they are very very very lucky :):)
Eh, to be honest, I don’t think it’d really bother my SO all that much if I didn’t, but I still do on a semi-regular basis. In winter, sometimes, I’ll let it go, especially if I’m going to be at school for a couple weeks with no intimate contact (shaving in the showers there is a bitch). Usually, my legs get shaved a couple times a week (or right before I’m going to wear something leg baring), my armpits during every shower, and my bikini area when I feel insane.
I have a (single) female friend who says shaves every day in the summer. I can’t imagine that’s to her benefit in terms of expenses and bleeding, not to mention time. 
My leg hair can easily grow to be an inch long and it’s dark against my vampire-white skin. I shave my legs in summer because I have more leg hair than most guys I know and it seems to freak them out at times.
In winter I don’t shave my legs. Well, maybe if I’m going to be wearing a dress.
Don’t really like shaving the aimpits much - I’ll let it grow a couple inches then trim it back short with a scissors. But, sometimes I’ll take a razor to it.
The crotch area, however, is still virgin timber, at least in regards to razors. If you’re going to get that intimate with me you’ll just have to learn to love my hair along with the rest of me. I have trimmed it on occassion to keep it from oozing out the bottom of a bathing suit, but that’s mainly to keep the short hairs from getting yanked.
It’s a hygiene thing. If you wash and groom it’s not necesary to remove everything. But an unruly patch of hair anywhere is not pleasant. Hair should be washed, combed and trimmed. (styling is up to you)Yes, I even mean those hairs growing out of your moles. Trimmed or plucked, people.
I wax because it gives the longest lasting results and no stubble on the grow back. I do it because some kids teased me in 5th grade when they saw some hair poking out of my bathing suit. I also stopped swimming because of that.
pokes head tentatively into thread
I shave my legs maybe once a month, tops. My armpits–once a week, but for some reason, I just don’t put the same priority on my legs. I went to an all-girls school for 11 years, and we all wore kilts in the spring and pants for the rest of year. We used to have leg hair growing contests in the winter–it was weird–it just didn’t matter to us.
I’ve found that the longer I go without shaving, the less offensive (read: thick and dark) my hair actually gets. I realize that it’s not the same for all women, though–so I have nothing against women who say that they need to shave every day.
But it’s interesting to me to see women who don’t shave their legs referred to as “unfeminine”–I grew up in possibly the most feminine environment you could think of, and we went months without shaving our legs! 
auntie em - I am horrified that waxing doesn’t make your hair thinner ! I’ve been misled ! That’s it, someone is getting strung up …
Bikini area: I have always kept it pretty closely shorn down there because otherwise wearing a bathing suit was an exercise in … hirsutity. (Great word!) I have since found out that women vary greatly in their distribution of pubes (not surprising) and that some don’t even need to trim it - it still won’t stick out from a bathing suit. Lucky broads.
In Brazil women are often really fussy about waxing (legs etc), but a surprising number have the Treasure Trail (which I’ve heard often shows itself after pregnancy). Amazing, I’ve never seen a treasure trail outside of the beaches down there. May also have to do with the fact that every woman wears bikinis.
Armpits: the length does start to affect smell along the line, no? I tried waxing once but it hurt like hell and didn’t remove anything. I’ve since switched wax brands to one that actually works on my thick undergrowth but I haven’t had the nerve to try the pits again. I trim them every month or so.
Well, now, the hair is “thinner” in the sense that if I shave a fully-hairy set of legs, all of the hairs begin a simultaneous re-emergence, whereas if I wax, some of the hairs start back immediately, while others choose to sleep on it for a few days.
This makes re-waxing kind of annoying, because each hair seems to be on its own individual schedule, so for any given re-wax, I’m only likely to rip out a third or so of the hairs I actually have (some are still too short, others are still sleeping), so I usually do a waxing/shaving combo: I wax once, and then shave for awhile until I get enough of the hairs on the same growth schedule to make another waxing worthwhile. Unfortunately, then I have to let them get long enough to wax, which involves a couple weeks of hirsutity (you’re right, it is fun to say!) hidden beneath long pants.
Does that make sense?
I’m telling you–I seek fortune only so that I can afford laser hair removal.
Actually, The Wrong Girl, a friend of mine used to work with a woman who had leg hair that was quite dark, thick, and luxurious, and everyone–men and women alike–thought that she was one hot tamale.
I think it, like most other things, depends on your attitude. This woman was quite proud of her leg hair, and would happily lift her skirt (only to the knee, mind you) to show it off and let people touch it.
I can’t imagine being that woman, but I admire her stones. 
Heh–and in an unrelated anecdote . . .
Shortly after my sister married, she called me (on my cell phone, as I was trying desperately to navigate highway traffic) just to ask if I’d ever had a Brazilian bikini wax. At the time, I hadn’t, but had been considering it, so I told her so. She said that if I ever did, I should let her know how it goes. She was thinking of doing it herself, but wasn’t sure what her husband would think.
“Ask him,” I said.
“Oh, I couldn’t!” she declared.
How, I wondered aloud, could you be married to someone to whom you couldn’t discuss something as innocuous as pubic hair?
Well, turns out she was right. She DID mention it to him, and said that his eyes grew wide, and he was rendered speechless, except for a stunted ability to stammer, “That won’t be necessary” whereby the subject was immediately dropped.
I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing (Hubby is from Nigeria), or just his personality, but apparently he found such a topic inappropriate for discussion.
At any rate, my sister ended up deciding that it was a GOOD thing that her husband was opposed to a Brazilian wax, because she had come to the conclusion that men who like that sort of thing must have some sort of “Little Girl” fetish. :dubious:
hmm … It occurs to me that the trusted friend who assured me that waxing would thin the herd is the same one who told me she didn’t need to bikini wax because nothing stuck out of the bathing suit …
I’ve got to stop taking advice from the non-hirsute.
(note: I just googled the word “hirsute” to make sure it was spelled right, and got loads and loads of porn sites. I guess that goes a ways towards answering my question re: preferences …)
I worship the inventor of the Venus razor as a god. that thing is freaking awesome–2 years without a nick. Thank you Saint Gillette.
worse than the way it feels, i don’t like the way hairy legs (or other visible body parts) look. seeing women with braid-able leg hair encased in panty hose is super gross to me. or when from a distance you can actually see the hair sticking out from the leg, ewwwww. but hey, that’s me and my issues.
the bf is not a fan of leg stubble, though he has no problem going unshaven himself. i try to remind him that i have to shave 10 times the surface area he does and to cut me a little slack.
You’re kidding right?! My friends and I want that thing registered as a lethal weapon! I actually have scars on my ankles from it!
I’m totally doing something wrong arn’t I?
I RARELY shave my legs. Sometimes I shave mid-calf to ankle in the summer because I wear capri pants quite a bit.
In the winter, watch out! haha I MIGHT shave my legs once every 2 months… It’s more from being bored in the bathtub, than from really wanting to have smoother legs.
My husband couldn’t care less about my shaving habits.
I LIKE to be totally shaved in the bikini area, but it’s such a pain to keep up with, and I don’t have the nerve to wax so I’m usually pretty hairy down there. (Sometimes I can’t believe the things I post in here. haha)
About armpits, though, I’m way over the top. I shave my arm pits every single morning. It just grosses me out and it’s really easy area to shave, only takes 30 seconds in the shower…
The Venus razor is amazing. I haven’t cut myself at all since I bought it a couple years ago either.
My armpits I have to shave every single morning. I just can’t stand how prickly it feels around there if I don’t take care of it.
[shudder] hairly legs in pantyhose [/shudder]
actually, come to think of it:
[shudder] pantyhose [/shudder]
Freshly Laundered Sheets + Freshly Shaved Legs = Heaven
Freshly Laundered Sheets + Freshly Shaved Legs + MrSiberia = Bliss
So to answer your question I would say I shave for both myself and my SO. Ultimately I feel itchy and less than clean if I haven’t shaved.
I live in Florida and should shave everyday since shorts are the norm…but I don’t. I only shave when one of my kids picks on me. So I have to say I do it for them. If I am lucky I can get a way with once a week.
I can’t stand stubble on my legs or anywhere, so I shave almost daily. It’s just sexier that way.
I’m a leg man myself so, yes, I need her legs to be silky smooth.
I don’t want to run my tongue from around her inner ankle all the up to just behind the knee, gradually moving up the inner thigh to “the end of the rainbow”, and have it feel like I’m eaching a peach that dropped to the floor.