OT (sorta): The Leg Shaving Thread

[susiej]

It happened again today. I got junk mail for MY business that was addressed to DH.

HE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY BUSINESS!!! except get out of the way when things aren't going well.

I was going to reply that I got e-mail spam addressed to my husband at my domain when he went to a web site that lets you apply to multiple mortgage companies with just one form submission. I could have killed him. The address on the DNS record was the address of the property being remortgaged.

BUT.

Today we got snail spam from the cable company addressed to G---- B------, OWNER, SUSIEJ, INC. which isn't even a real company! My webhost used SusieJ Inc for the business name when I first registered the domain, but I had it changed years ago because there is no business of that name. (Friends did the registration -- who knows why they added a company name.) So, the freaking cable company is trolling years-old DNS registration records for .coms and matching addresses to their customer database.

The lengths marketers go to find someone dumb enough to respond to their direct marketing efforts -- matching by addresses, phone numbers, last names -- if they can shuffle the pieces together to get a new combination that might be an "individual" who can/will respond ... I also get mail for my mother, nearly 20 years after she re-married.

[RoadRaven]

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.

This was the ideal of the whole feminism movement - for women to be able to choose what they wanted... that women do something - like shaving your legs Lise - because they like it, not cause they feel they have to!

The feminism of the 60s/70s had that whole anti-male thing going

Post-modernist feminism says that we choose what we want - if we want to make-up our faces, shave our legs/pits, we should - but it should be our choice - not societal pressure.

If we want to choose to study, to work or to stay at home to raise our babies... then we should be able to choose any of those as a valid option and feel no guilt or recrimination from others in our communities.

I am def a post-modernist feminist. I like to dress pretty, I like to look like a slob, sometimes I do my hair nice, other times I dont use a brush for several days. I wear makeup to work, sometimes (takes me ten minutes though).

I bite people who tell me I should or shouldn't do something cause I am a girl!

[Bad JuJu]

Right on, RoadRaven--it's all about having choices and being able to make our own choices.

[JoyfulGirl]

Uhm.. After reading the comments about how freaking long people take to get ready. I felt the need to clarify.

it takes me 5-10 minutes to do my makeup. Maybe 15 if I'm going to the symphony or something I really want to be dolled up for.
3-10 minutes to do my hair normally. 15-20 if I need to dry it or I'm whipping out the curling iron and being fancy schmancy.
My average shower is under 10 minutes.

If I don't have access to a bathroom with running hot and cold water it probably means I'm in the woods somewhere or out on the water and there's no way my lazy sorry self is packing makeup or razors or anything not necessary to keep me warm and my belly filled and safe.. I'll scrub, scrape and brush myself off when I get home.

still trying to imagine 2 hours a day to get ready. I'm not that imaginative.

[Steph_in_TX]

[QUOTE=Nanci]Can we talk about men shaving now? :-) QUOTE]


Since you asked...dh had been toying with the idea of shaving his legs for some time. I told him I didn't care what he did. He finally did it about four months ago. I'm sold!! There's nothing better than two pairs of smooth legs in the sheets.

[Gray Gato]

To me this goes right along with makeup...if the world was devoid of men how many women would still wear makeup? How many would still shave? I admit that I do both but I do it begrudgingly.

Makeup.... I'm 46 years old and I have never worn it. I wonder if I'm the only one? Husband could care less, when he met me I didn't wear it so obviously he didn't care if I did after marriage.

[mimitabby]

Makeup.... I'm 46 years old and I have never worn it. I wonder if I'm the only one? Husband could care less, when he met me I didn't wear it so obviously he didn't care if I did after marriage.

no, you're not the only one. I tried in highschool and it smeared on my glasses and ran when i cried... now i'm 54 and the closest to makeup i ever wear
is chapstick.

[Shimpie]

I absolutely HATE shaving. Hate it! Hate it! Hate it!

But I still like having hairless legs. (The lotion and sunblock apply just a bit easier without hair. Also, bikinis and leg hair don't mix.) I've gone whole winters without shaving, which was easier to do when I lived in northern CA as opposed to where I live now in southern CA.

My leg hair doesn't shave cleanly on a daily basis. When I did shave, I needed to do it every other day. But then, I hated the stubble. I found I got a better shave if a soaked in a bath and then shaved. However, the tub would end up having a soap scum ring decorated with little bitty hairs. Ewww!

Now I WAX and I'm never going back. I deal with my leg hair and girly parts for only 45 minutes every 5-6 weeks. I wax from my ankles up to knees. The hairs on my thighs are very fine, so I don't bother dealing with it. I also get a brazilian with a little upside down triangle in in the front. The pre-pubescent look isn't appealing to me. No more trouble with razor burn, nicks, bumps, cuts, and in my case fewer ingrown hairs. I don't need to think about public hair sneaking out from under my swim suit.

The fiance doesn't mind whether or not I have leg hair. He's seen winters when my leg hair might have been denser than his own hair. What he notices is that I no longer take 30 minute showers to shave. What I've noticed with brazialians is...well...more oral sex.

Oh, for those who think waxing looks increadibly painful, there are numbing creams that are a blessing for first timers.

[makbike]

Gray Gato you are not alone. As a kid my mom "encouraged" me to wear makeup to cover the large birthmark that covers half of my forehead and my left eye. She was concerned that my peers would be mean and cruel to me if they saw it. For many years I got up early just apply the makeup, it took forever to put on, three layers, powder etc. If I did not take my time it looked awful. I remember coming home (4th or 5th grade) one day and announcing I was no longer going to put that "nasty" stuff on my face, I hated it. Again, my mom encouraged me to continue to apply it but in a very mature way I told her if my friends were my friends they would accept me regardless if I had a birthmark or not. I tossed all the makeup stuff in the trash and promised myself I would never wear it or anything like it as long as I lived. I've held true to my promise and I find that most people who know me rarely even notice my birthmark. Every now and then I'll have a student or small child ask about it. To the small kids I tell them it is where the angel kissed me when I was born, to the older kids I simply explain what it really is and they seem okay with it.

As far as the shaving goes, I shave for me for I can't stand the feeling of "nubs" vs. pant legs so I shave every day while I shower. It, again, is a personal choice one not dictated by anyone else, simpy by my own likes and dislikes.

[residentgeek]

Put me down in the "no makeup, no shaving" crowd.

I don't shave because there's no point. I have a little 2 inch band of weird little dark hairs under my socks, and the rest of my legs are nothing but peach fuzz. I do have underarm hair, but since I'm always wearing shirts that cover it, I don't bother caring about it. I will occasionally trim pubic hair when it gets insanely long and starts getting in the way, but I'm not one for the shaved look (too much itching!). When I go swimming, I'm most comfortable in a bathing suit with swim trunks, so I don't ever worry about bikini lines. I honestly can't remember the last time I actually shaved anything. My partner shaves, and it doesn't bother me. It's her body.

As for makeup, I always felt like it was more of a burden on time than a help to appearance, so I avoided it. My mom would spend forever getting ready to go anywhere. "Okay, give me a minute to put my face on." I just thought it was silly, because I thought she looked fine without the makeup. Some friends in middle school got me all gussied up one night, but as soon as they were done I took it all off because it just didn't feel right.

I do wear hair gel now, though, because my hair is short, but it's long enough that if I don't gel it at least a little, I'll just end up with a big ol' afro-looking thing that looks like I didn't even try to comb it. But that's about all I sacrifice for appearances at this point.

[Kimmyt]

Residentgeek your avatar cracks me up! Every time I see it I just about laugh out loud! Thanks for making me smile!

[Duck on Wheels]

[QUOTE=Steph_in_TX]

Can we talk about men shaving now? :-) QUOTE]


Since you asked...dh had been toying with the idea of shaving his legs for some time. I told him I didn't care what he did. He finally did it about four months ago. I'm sold!! There's nothing better than two pairs of smooth legs in the sheets.

I actually prefer softly fuzzy to prickly "5 o'clock shadow" on legs, chin, arms ... wherever. Think teddy bear. I mean, I ask you, how cuddly would that be without fuzz? Don't know if I'd even recognize my dh without the full beard.

[DrBee]

My hubby is pretty furry - and I like it! Like Duck said - a teddy bear without hair - nah. To each his/her own, though. I shave - don't know why. I just do. Not everyday, but more often than not. I tried shaving elsewhere when I was younger - no go. That did not work for me.

And as far as makeup and getting ready in the AM goes, I haven't worn makeup for probably 15-20 years. I did wear some when I got married and for the Mardi Gras balls I've attended, but that's it. From alarm going off to walking out the door to work (if no ride or running), it takes me about 30 minutes in the AM. Short hair that barely needs a brush run through it and no makeup makes for a quick prep in the morning.

[margo49]

Wow!
I *never* shaved my legs (which were very hairy). Just thought "Oh.So that"s my body" and carried on regardless. Later I added a feminist ideological tirade to it but always felt superior to my ideological sisters who had up till recently been shavers.

Then in 2003 when Le Tour was riding into Paris I thought "I know how I can celebrate My Life and surviving to see another Tour (ride into Paris)...I'll shave my legs!"
Asked DD (then 14) how and she gave me some Blueberry flavoured foam (I had bought a nice coloured razor on the way home).
Then I watched Eurosport with tears streaming down my face as usual.
Elder DS (then 16) said " About time!", younger DS (then 11) said "What on earth happened to your legs?" and the DSO didn't notice till DD pointedly said "Didn't you notice Mummy's nice legs?"

Now I am hooked on it. Tho' I am not prepared to do it with anything other than a razor. Do it every other day (heard that on a Tour commentary in the same Tour - some viewer asked and David Duffield explained in his inimitable fashion that they "did it every other day")

Under arms I don't do either. Did as a teen then stopped as a Real Feminist . Re-started when I had breast cancer - Thought I was strange enough person and wanted the Dr's to feel more at ease with me. But got a lot of rashes (i guess micro abrasions on an immuno-supressed system) so stopped . Thinking about starting (trying) again this summer
Well, that's all folks
Great fun thread

[colby]

Interesting topic, with so many different replies!

Personally, I don't really shave a lot. What I do shave is to avoid being stinky or feeling dirty. Leg hair doesn't bother me (I don't have a whole lot of it), but if I grow too much armpit hair or "down there" hair, I feel dirty (and I know I get sweaty stinky pits when I don't have hair, let alone when I do!).

As for the makeup, I don't really do that either... just not that into it, and haven't ever been. Honestly, the last time I wore makeup was on my wedding day, and that was 7 years ago. To put it in perspective, I think that was the last time I wore a dress, too. I work in a casual environment (software company), and even when I go to trade shows and other events, makeup just doesn't occur to me (and thankfully khakis are acceptable!).

For me, I like to feel clean, that's what makes me feel good about me. I can really respect the comments from all of you makeup wearers and waxers and super shavers (and all of you who don't do those things), the consistent theme here is that we're doing it for us (and sometimes our significant others, because after all, they make us feel good about us, too).

It's too bad there's no "real" equivalent to this forum... it's nice to chat with such a diverse group of women who still find things in common.