Hairy legs

Hairy legs with tights is bad IMO and that's nothing to do with anything else on the thread. Aesthetically it's not nice to have what looks like hairy clothing, and also if you wear tights with hairy legs you can feel the hairs doinging through one by one all day.

i totally agree. i often think about women's taxes. how all the time i spend faffing about with every aspect of my appearance my DH is working, relaxing. it's bollocks. we should start a movement and normalise what is normal.

I'm much more relaxed about body hair now than in my 20's. I rarely shave my legs. Never done more on the lady garden than a bikini line wax so I don't scare the horses.
Thinking about it though, it is for other people, not myself that I do it. I shave my legs (and hobbity toes) when I have a pedicure. The pedi is for me as I like the way it looks but I shave my legs to fit in with the beauty salon vibe. Although the girls in them are totally used to seeing hairy women - much of their business is in removing it!
Mainstream hairies - Madonna and her unashamedly unshaved armpits.

OP - I look the same - I don’t bother shaving my legs over winter. Next spring I will. But only to the knees. I am a gorilla below the knees but don’t have any noticeable hair above the knee strangely.
I do keep my armpits shaved though (not as regularly during winter mind) as I seem to be less sweaty if I shave. I’m 50 and single so doing it for me.

@LastMichaelmas I love the idea of a furry rodent! That’s given me a great mental image I love animals haha
@fairydustandpixies I think age has to do with it, maybe because you don’t feel like you have to impress people. Though I say that being 20! For me being with someone who loves me no matter how much hair I have has helped though. I don’t need to impress people now. It’s definitely also come with confidence and trying to be my authentic self too though

I think it is one of those beauty things that "works" psychologically because it's something that is emphasising a difference between male and female bodies.

I don't think it's really the case that the preference for these things is set in childhood or youth. In my experience if there is a widespread change, people get used to it very quickly. But it's not that common that there is a wholesale change, and just a few people doing it doesn't make much difference, it doesn't work to "reset" our sense of what looks right. And most people won't put themselves out there and change on their own so it becomes a collective action problem.

I have wondered why body hair is an area people have such a gut reaction to, because it's not the case with most other fashion and body modifications. People might think someone who doesn't do the other things isn't interested in looking good, or is a bit lazy, or whatever, but that's about it, they don't think it's gross. It seems like it elicits particularly strong feelings.

I've had similar feelings too and I can't think of anything else that compares, for me what bothers me is hairy legs with pantyhose. It's completely irrational, well beyond just thinking it looks bad, and I have really no explanation. I also had an experience once where the person I was dating did some fairly extensive manscaping, and was quite pleased thinking I'd like it, and I found it completely a turn off, actually disgusting. I had a really hard time not showing my emotion and I had to really walk delicately to try not to make him feel embarrassed/awful while not encouraging a continuation. In the end I told him the stubble iritated my skin.

I'd be very interested in any theory of why people feel so strongly about this in particular.

I shave a few times a year, usually for societal pressure, but the older I get the less I can be arsed with it.

We're mammals, we have hair. Spending time and money changing that seems kind of pointless. Using the blunt instrument of the Caitlin Moran Sexism Test, ask "do the men have to do this?" If the answer is no, it's sexist bollocks and we don't need to bother with it.

I don't care if I look manly, or like a transwoman (really?), or unkempt. It simply doesn't matter to me, although I admit to some privilege because I an self-employed and no part of my income depends on someone else's perception of my appearance.

I have shaved in the past, mostly because I like the little rolls of leg hair that form when I use an electric shaver. I haven't shaved on a number of years now, because I don't want to. I swim, I go out and about and no horses have bolted, or delicate ladies fainted. I think that people in general need to get over the idea that it is important for women to be attractive to them, regardless of the situation. Nobody is obliged to alter themselves to make me appreciate their appearance. After all, why should they? All I do is expect the same courtesy.

There is a certain arrogance in declaring "I'm sorry but I find it/you disgusting" as if that should matter. Your thoughts live in your own head, and thoughts about other people's appearance really ought to stay there.

As for the hairy legs in public thing, I only wear maxi skirts anyway, so it isn't a problem for me. Not because of my unshaven legs, just because I lack grace and fear flashing my knickers!

If I saw a woman with legs that hairy I would presume they were transgender

Well that would make no sense because trans women are the biggest leg shavers of all!

You sweat the same amount, but you don't feel it slithering on the skin of your armpit, so you're less disturbed by it.

Those saying they sweat less with hairy armpits, I find that hard to believe. With hairy armpits the sweat sticks to the hair and stinks within a few hours. I once didn't shave for a few weeks and I had to wash under my arms 3 times a day to avoid the odour. Deodorant (even mens) Just wasn't doing it

I'm sorry but to me it looks manly. If I saw a woman with legs that hairy I would presume they were transgender - which I have zero judgement of of course, I'm just saying that's what I would presume.

I quite like a hairy woman sometimes There's something earthy and primal and sexy about it

Interestingly, I feel the same sometimes, and I'm a het woman (AFAIK!).

This discussion reminds me of my 1970s youth, when female nudity in films always involved a glimpse of pubic bushiness. Perhaps that informed my view of what is sexy in a woman, just as porn is influencing a younger generation.

I've had men tell me that women's pubic hair is unhygienic and should be removed.

Guy had a beard, long hair, and body hair and pubes.

And somehow I was the unhygienic one?

I actually have issues with hygiene when I shave my armpits, I seem to swear more because of the contact of skin on skin, my hairy pits stop that from happening so much. Ditto down below.

I shave my legs because I'm hypersensitive to the feeling of friction from clothes, boots, anything, on my head and bodyhair. It's actually only recently that my head hair has become an issue, but it's my shaved sections which cause the nasty feeling. It's also becoming a problem with my armpits and I'm having to try and trim it with scissors so the hairs don't feel pulled. It's really frustrating

Still trim my own armpits/legs/pubes (at different lengths) with a beardtrimmer when I can be bothered, tho…

I am interested to know why we as women feel the need to be bald.

Well why do you? You can’t just say ‘we as women’ - plenty of women don’t care and happily don’t bother shaving.

Have been lax shaver since teens/early 20s but trouser wearer so never a huge issue. Mainly done for the male gaze. Partner not keen but he can do himself first if he's that bothered by body hair (he's very hairy, doesn't bother me, it's just how he is)

I used to try to get to the bottom of why people think female body hair is disgusting, never had a convincing reply 'just is'. I'm a woman, not a child so prefer to be hairy.

Just reached my 50s but last decade or so I've gone swimming, light brown hairy legs/pits on show no probs. Public hair appears darker/thicker (unfairness of puberty eh, I was a white blonde baby/child) so I do 'manage' the bikini side curls a bit (when I remember!) but life's too short to worry. No one cares at the swimming pool. Healthy body is more important than what it looks like.

Cool thanks

The latter.

Last out of curiousity are you a guy or a woman into women?

I quite like a hairy woman sometimes There's something earthy and primal and sexy about it. And you can stroke it. It's like you've got a cute furry rodent living in your armpit…

No body hair = pre-puberty. The battle against normal healthy adult womanhood starts at puberty.

I am very hairy. Usually undertake a deforestation exercise on my legs in spring - it takes about 3 razors - but I'm not too fussed about doing it thoroughly, and stop just above my knees as I find thighs / bikini line get very uncomfortable when shaved. Might do a quick top up shave every week or two during the summer. Don't give a shit who sees my hairy legs - wouldn't think twice about going swimming in full winter plumage - but if I'm dressing 'feminine' I tend to give my legs a cursory shave as part of the costume iyswim. So shorts I probably wouldn't bother, skirt I would probably remove particularly luxuriant leg hair.

Never shave my pits. Shaved pits remind me of plucked chicken and gross me out.