Women have plucked their eyebrows since Roman times.
I have plucked/waxed/threaded (ouch!) my brows for aeons. Not all the hair follicles have got the message that they should be dead, dead, dead, by now, so I have to go in and clean up some random strays.
Some people don’t look good with bold brows; it goes down to face and eye shape.
If you’re a woman in your 60s, shaving is a lot easier than plucking, waxing, etc.
Also, shaving keeps your skin in good shape by scraping away dead skin. Exfoliant creams can really damage delicate skin, and plucking is a drag. I don’t have the time for waxing.
I use bikini razors from the Dollar Store. The angle and the width of the razor is easier to use on my face than other razors.
I once tried the little straight razor in the video. My facial hair isn’t stiff enough for it.
Am I the only woman here who doesn’t have a beard?
I get the lone, wiry black hair that pops up on my chin several times a year that I monitor and pluck judiciously. I really hate that little bastard, but other than that, no noticeable hair on my face, despite that lady insisting everyone can see my shag and secretly hates it. It’s my face and I spend a lot of time picking it apart, and even so, I have to tilt my face at an angle and toward the light before I can see even the slightest bit of peach fuzz. I have as much hair on my face as I do my shoulders, that is, essentially none.
So no, I have never shaved my face.
A lot depends on ethnic/racial background.
Caucasian women tend to be the hairiest (just like the men), with some Caucasian groups being hairier than others (Russians and Italians are infamous for their little old ladies having she-beards and 'staches). Africans are typically next, although there is so very much variation among Africans that any one group can be anywhere on the spectrum, followed by Asians, then Native Americans among whom many of them the men have no or nearly no facial hair, much less the women.
Of course, we’re speaking in generalities and averages here - any particular woman can be an exception.
It’s taken me a while to answer this because I’ve had to ruminate on it, plus some stuff happened in my neighborhood that I’ve put more attention on.
I’ve only known one other person who tried shaving her arms and that was a BFF from 8th grade who was a bit weird though I loved her anyway. But her forage into shaving was just stemming from the rest of the leg shaving and eyebrow shaping were were all experimenting with at the time. We all told her it was weird, plus the stubble she suffered made her not want to do it again.
Waxing, while that doesn’t result in the awful stubble, still just seems a bit much. But to each her own, I guess. I’ve just never heard of anyone caring about arm hair or female peach fuzz. If there’s an issue with thick, coarse arm hair and makeup application on the face looks bad, sure, it’s not so weird a woman would want to get rid of it.
I have two coarse hairs on my left jawline I have to pluck every once in a while. There used to be one by my right ear, but that finally stopped growing. If my face gets fuzzy with age (like my mom’s), yeah I will probably get rid of it somehow. But the woman in the video is still a weirdo to me, what she’s demonstrating is a strange though minor obsession with a non-issue.
Just right up under my chin grows maybe five hairs. One quick swipe with the razor every few days makes it all go away, smooth as a baby’s butt.
I’m Caucasian, and I have polycystic ovary syndrom, one of the chief complaints of which is hirsuitism. I’ve been shaving my jawline and neck since I was in my teens. I tried one of the Groupon deals for laser hair removal, but it really didn’t do any good. I tried waxing for a few months, but it hurt too friggin’ much, and it still didn’t pull out the really thick, coarse hairs. Then, in my late 30s, I had to stop taking oral contraceptives because it was giving me migraines. With the loss of imposed hormonal regularity, my body hair went Neanderthal.
So, I shave. I shave my face and neck every morning. I shave my hands and forearms every three or four days. If I could shave my butt without missing huge swaths or inflicting life threatening wounds, I would. Some day, when I have money, I’ll go to a proper dermatologist and get real, 1920’s style death ray laser hair removal. Until then, I bear it. But I’m not grinning.
I think there’s a real cultural bias, almost taboo, about women shaving their faces. It’s too masculine to shave the face, that’s what you do to man-beards. Which is ridiculous, because female facial hair is just hair and there’s no reason to NOT shave that any more than any other hair you might find on a female body.
I rank it right up with hairspray marketed specifically towards men (seriously, guys, hairspray is hairspray, apart from perhaps from perfumes, and you can get unscented or neutral) or hot oil treatments that are exactly the same but packaged in different bottles for different ethnic groups, or shampoos, or conditioners. (Black girls/laides - the Mane N’ Tail shampoo and conditioner in the “white peoples’ aisle” is exactly the same as what’s in “your” aisle, except it’s usually less money per unit of volume. Just sayin’. Don’t pay a premium you don’t have to.)
There’s also the tendency to over-complicate maintenance of the female body as a means of corporations making money. Recently, during a break at work (the only time I watch the “Livewell Network”) I saw this bit about a “no make-up look” make up routine. Holy crap, 5 different eye shadows, a concealer, a foundation, three different brushes, two “beauty wedges” [del]and a partridge in a pear tree.[/del]. That’s supposed to be “simple”? I think I use fewer tools to paint a house (hmm… ladder, two colors paint, brush, roller… yep). And, sorry, she DID look like she had make up on, especially around the eyes. No, that’s not how people without make up look.
Sorry - pet peeve. Anyhow, it’s all part of making money off women by telling them they have to buy tools and chemicals and kits instead of a relatively inexpensive razor for a problem that, for most of us (even us hairy Caucasians) is that that huge a deal. Swipe and it’s done. (Some exceptions, of course, for folks like phouka or with some other form of hirsutism but even then it’s no worse than what a man goes through, and somehow they don’t require a small U-Haul full of crap to deal with it.)
“Dermaplaning” sounds much better than “shaving” when we’re talking about a woman’s face. 
Nope. Snark aside, it sounds like most of us have more peach fuzz than when we were younger, and/or have a few rogue hairs.
I’m glad, too. Can you imagine what would be said about SDMB if it were filled with actual bearded ladies? :eek:
Broomstick: I agree with you on that woman’s “no-makeup look”. My no makeup look involves brushing my teeth, washing my face, putting on sunblock/moisturizer and lip balm, brushing my hair, and going out without any makeup on. I look ok without makeup. Not great, but no one’s run away screaming and children don’t cry when they see me. Gentlemen callers don’t suddenly leave in the mornings after seeing my freshly-washed face. I can see liking a “low” makeup look – I do that on the weekends, with tinted moisturizer and mascara. But it takes a boatload less time than all of what this woman is showing. Yikes.
I’m E. Indian and have really light skin and black hair. Asians in general don’t have a lot of hair but Indians do - it’s the cosmic joke that we are on one of the hottest places on the planet and we are covered with hair.
So for a long time I did have a very faint mustache. I used Nair, but even the sensitive version burned. Waxing was out of the question, it hurts way too goddamn much. So I shaved it, with a girl razor - i.e., one that has soap prebuilt around the blade, and I just did it in the shower.
Two years ago I went in for laser hair removal, which worked wonders. The only thing I could not do was after the majority of the hair was removed with the laser, we had to then go to electrolysis. I went three times to that and I was out. OUCH! I don’t like electricity.
I never used to get my eyebrows threaded. They aren’t too bad. Then one day I had it done and I loved it! Shaping my eyebrows really accentuated my eyes and the sharpness of my eyebrows reduced some of the softness in my face and made me look more alert. Now I get it done regularly.
I do Nair my arms…maybe twice a year. I’ve noticed as I get older though, the hair on my legs grows sparser and sparser.
*Broomstick I get what you mean about the makeup. I wear a little foundation and a little blush. To me that’s the “no makeup” look - hardly anything, just a little to even out the skin tone. But it should be the other way too. If men want to wear foundation to cover a pimple or a blemish, they should be able to, without being accused of being less than manly.
I wish I could do that with my peach fuzz. Alas, laser hair removal doesn’t work on blonde hair on light skin.
And I agree with you about men using makeup. If they want to cover a blemish, no prob. Actually, if they learn to do it well, no one will notice! 
I dated a guy who’d put a tiny bit of eyeliner around his eyes and wow! Made them pop. It was with a color that matched his hair color so it wasn’t obvious.
I dont’ care if a guy wears sparkly pink nail polish. I may be in the minority.
I think guys with eyeliner are hot. As you say, done right it makes the eyes really stand out.
And yes, Dermaplaning sounds much fancier. There are some people who either a) buy surgical blades or b) pay $$$ to someone eise with surgical blades to dermaplane their face. It’s not shaving, it’s a facial!
A huge reason not to shave I would assume would be that it grows back faster. No, not that shaving makes it grow back faster, but because shaved hair grows back faster than removal by other methods.
What I wonder is why more men who never want to have facial hair don’t use a different method for dealing with it. If there was a way I could keep my beard at the same length for even a couple weeks, I’d jump on that.
Yeah, I don’t wear make up at all - none - due to sensitive skin issues. To hear some folks tell it this means I’m doomed to be ugly and unloved. Frankly, I have never lacked for male attention, have been happily married for years, really find it completely unnecessary. Women have been taught they have to have it, but I think it’s other women who do most of the pushing. Some men might care, but quite a few don’t seem to.
There are depilatory creams for men’s beards. At my store they’re sold in the “ethnic/black hair care aisle” (men of African descent can be prone to ingrown hairs with shaving, hair removal creams can prevent that). If you’re interested in trying them look in the “black hair care” aisle. Even if you’re white. 
