OT (sorta): The Leg Shaving Thread

[RoadRaven]

Can we talk about men shaving now? :-)

Ummm.... we must have been posting at the same time...

Have three top riders in this house - and none of them shave their legs...

My 17 year old doesn't really need to as his legs are virtually hairless, but my 15 1/2 year old is up for "hairiest legs in the club" and proud of it. And my partner's training partners's wife has offered to wax my partner's legs often.

So sorry Nanci... you won't get the gratification you desire in my house...

[JoyfulGirl]

Re: makeup and shaving and all that if men weren't around... I'm up in the boonies by myself pretty much for about 3 weeks.. Still shaving and wearing makeup. I really do it for me most of the time. I actually saw another human yesterday face to face when I went to the store... But to go to the store I scrubbed off all my makeup because sweat+makeup=bad combo. Came back, took a shower, put up my hair, put on makeup, put on some jewelry to eat dinner by myself and drink wine out on the porch and watch the sun go down. In some strange way it pleases me to know that I look nice. I don't need someone else to admire me. And it's -really- nice to crawl into a big ol' bed with clean sheets right after shaving and have smooth legs wallow around in fluffy blankets all by myself and not have to worry about kicking anyone or being a blanket hog. Sometimes it's also nice to have grizzly legs once it grows out though. I swear my leg hair's thick enough to actually insulate me.

"I do it for the joy it brings
because I'm a joyful girl"

Now that everyone knows I'm vain, selfish, and self indulgent I'm going to go hide.

[pikato]

As for make-up, I can tell you what goes on my face right now:
Powder, Mascara, lip gloss. That's it & that's only for work.

My dad always had this saying "A Little Powder, a little paint, makes a girl something she ain't" and I think that stuck with me. I'm quite a dissappointment to my cousins who all spend a minimum of 1 hour putting their makeup on.

[mimitabby]

wow, I guess i'm more of an oddball than i thought.
God gave me this face, i am not going to waste my time
painting it up. I don't have time!!!! I don't care!!!!

[Grog]

Can we talk about men shaving now? :-)

Last weekend, went hiking with a couple of friends, both triathlete, one of them - male - big-time Ironman competitor, but not competing this year for work reasons. My partner is also a big-time triathlete (olympic distance though) and cyclist. Also not competing this year.

We meet the other couple at the trail and sit down to have lunch together. First thing this other guy says to my partner: "I see you're not shavin' either!"

I thought it was the funniest thing.

At the beginning of this season my partner wore his leg warmers for the longest time (even when weather was in the 20C) because he hadn't shaved his legs. Now he's started wearing just shorts but won't shave his legs because he doesn't think he's fit enough yet. (Afraid to look like a poseur.)

The symbolic charge of shaved legs is quite complicated for women, but it may even be more complicated for men!!

[li10up]

Re: makeup and shaving and all that if men weren't around... I'm up in the boonies by myself pretty much for about 3 weeks.. Still shaving and wearing makeup. I really do it for me most of the time. I actually saw another human yesterday face to face when I went to the store... But to go to the store I scrubbed off all my makeup because sweat+makeup=bad combo. Came back, took a shower, put up my hair, put on makeup, put on some jewelry to eat dinner by myself and drink wine out on the porch and watch the sun go down. In some strange way it pleases me to know that I look nice. I don't need someone else to admire me. And it's -really- nice to crawl into a big ol' bed with clean sheets right after shaving and have smooth legs wallow around in fluffy blankets all by myself and not have to worry about kicking anyone or being a blanket hog. Sometimes it's also nice to have grizzly legs once it grows out though. I swear my leg hair's thick enough to actually insulate me.

"I do it for the joy it brings
because I'm a joyful girl"

Now that everyone knows I'm vain, selfish, and self indulgent I'm going to go hide.

Hey, that's cool. To each his/her own. I just think that "most" of the time we do it for the men in our lives or because society says that's what we "should" do. Now that the sun spots are showing from not wearing sunscreen or makeup earlier in life I find myself wanting to cover them with foundation. But if at home alone on the weekends it would be NO makeup for me. I'd just cover the mirrors!

[RoadRaven]

I'm quite a dissappointment to my cousins who all spend a minimum of 1 hour putting their makeup on.

Are you seriously serious?
I have never taken that long - not even in my meticulous mask-wearing teenage years!!!

[pikato]

Are you seriously serious?
I have never taken that long - not even in my meticulous mask-wearing teenage years!!!

Yep, completely serious. I've watched them do it, and I still can't figure why it takes that long! But I swear my one cousin has a brush, wand, sponge, applicator for damn near every product there is!

[mimitabby]

Yep, completely serious. I've watched them do it, and I still can't figure why it takes that long! But I swear my one cousin has a brush, wand, sponge, applicator for damn near every product there is!

That might be part of why i swung so far in the opposite direction.
My stepmother used to take 1 hour minimum spraying teasing and applying make up before every family function. and WE were ALWAY late. It was so embarrassing to troup up the church aisles in the middle of my cousin's ceremony. But stepmother looked great! (barf)

[fixedgeargirl]

I'm quite a dissappointment to my cousins who all spend a minimum of 1 hour putting their makeup on.

When my male cousin got married his soon-to-be wife took a full TWO hours to get ready. Every.single.day. We're talking Dallas big-hair, six layers of paint. They were living in another state, but got married in his small home town. They were staying at a motel and had to get a suite so she could have her own bathroom in order to execute her morning ritual . Now they have two kids. I don't know how much time she's *shaved* off of the routine, but her look is much, much simpler now.

[susiej]

I wear makeup less and less often each year because I think my face looks fine without it, and heavy or badly applied makeup looks worse and worse the older the wearer is. Because I don't wear it so often, my makeup application skills grow weaker every year.

I shave only because of societal expectations. 1/week in the winter, 2/week in the summer, only up to the knees. If I wear a bathing suit, I'll do the bikini area, but my thigh hair is pretty light, and, really, at my age, no one looks at them any more.

The facial wax and bleach (and electrolysis for the next big birthday) is because I don't think I look good with a goatee. Stupid genetics. :P

[GreenLady]

Doesn't waxing hurt? I can manage pulling a hair or two with tweezers, but a whole strip of hair?? How do people tolerate it?

[rocknrollgirl]

No make-up
Care free hair
down in the dirt, mt biking, camping, paddling

Shave every day....I will skip if I am backpacking, but if I am on a paddle trip, still shave.

Can't stand the way stubble feels....

[Kimmyt]

The symbolic charge of shaved legs is quite complicated for women, but it may even be more complicated for men!!

That was definitely the idea I was getting from reading this other thread!

I shave only because of societal expectations.

And that's the part that frustrates me the most about the whole situation.

I have to say, of it all, I agree the most with the shaving of armpits thing. Mostly because I have worked as a lifeguard, and having to stick my hands under slimey wet-deoderized furry armpits all day was rather gross. But I really do admire those who don't shave. More as a 'Damn, you go girl' type of thing. One of the coolest things I ever saw: at an area I climb at regularly, once ran across an older couple, maybe 60-70, graying hair on them both and as brown from being out on the rock all day, locals to the area. Her hair was undyed gray as was his hair/long beard. Her pits were long and gray too. They, as a couple, were just so natural, and beautiful. I really admired them, you know, for being who they were. It didn't hurt that they were the cutest little couple ever, obviously having spent so much time together and on the rock that they didn't even need to communicate as they set up their descent.

It was definitely one of those 'damn' moments and I realized I wanted to be that woman when I got older.

[Lise]

I love having smooth legs. They finally make razors I can use and hardly ever cut myself. I went years without shaving my legs for some notion I had of feminism. Then I remembered how much *I* like smooth legs, and I haven't gone back. I think I'm a pretty stinky sweater, too, and it's worse when I have hair. So I shave my armpits.

I shave off the little hairs that would poke out of my bathing suit, but otherwise leave things alone "down there". Keep in mind that I see lots and lots of "woman parts" in my job as a midwife. I don't think mine are all that great looking, and a little hair blurring things is not a bad idea! Plus I hate the itchiness of hair growing back in, and I'm prone to folliculitis (infections in the follicles). If I had some guy ask me to wax or something, I'd try it out of curiousity.

This reminds me of something a lesbian folk-singer once said, "In the '70s we were living separate from men and shaving our heads so we wouldn't look like the idealized woman...but then we realized that we liked our girlfriends to have hair, too!"

Do whatever you like, what brings you and your partner pleasure. There are much bigger problems in the world!

(I'm a big fan of makeup. I'm pale and it makes me look much more lively. When I lived in Jamaica for two months, I didn't wear a lick of makeup ever. Too hot, too sweaty, too dirty, just silly)