Thanks to reading a girly mag article on hair removal techniques when I was about 10 yo, I've never shaved. Oh, wait, maybe once or twice, when I was about 15. I must say that from the start I had light hair and after reading the article I was scared to death that it would grow dark and strong if I started shaving it.

When I was about 16 I made it a habit of having it waxed. I was always working so I had some money and I sort of though of that as paying the phone bill. Thanks to the light hair, though, I never had to have it done more than once a month or so. Nowadays I just zip the hair off with cold wax bands, which are much less efficient than the warm wax, and leave a few hair down there. They're quite soft, and my partner will make fun of me if I comment about them.

A few years back I decided to get electrolysis for my underarm. After an absurd amount of money, I now have only a few visible hair there and don't bother to schedule regular appointments. It was probably cheaper than having monthly waxing appointments for the rest of my life, but I'd rather not make the calculation. Bikini zone gets waxed and whatever is left in the front - I would never go brazilian, really not attractive to me - gets trimmed because it really bothers me less to have short than long hair down there for both sex and cycling. The long hair ends up irritating my lips...

Laser doesn't currently work with my sort of hair (very pale).

End of confession.

Sooooooooooooooooo, I am a pretty hard-minded feminist on all issues, but this is one issue about which I have pretty much resigned with regards to myself. I've grown up to think of relatively hairless legs as pleasant to the touch and to the eye. However, I claim the right for all women to refuse the slavery of hair removal.

I also suggest women don't even bother spending time on bike forums like Bicycling's and bikeforum because many conversations there get as juvenile as you can imagine, and we shouldn't allow ourselves to become cynical about the other gender as a group. For both-genders conversations on cycling, I attend a smaller forum, in French, where the discussions are enlightening. It probably helps that these people also often cycle together, they know each other face-to-face and don't tend to say things online that they wouldn't say in real life...