To wish it was socially acceptable to be hairy

[roseability]

I would laugh with relief and cry tears of joy

I am so sick of waxing, plucking, shaving etc.

I am dark haired and have PCOS which means lots of hair in unwanted places. However I am not convinced the hair removal is for myself and having read the thread about pubic hair removal, I despair at yet another war against the hairs

Just be as hairy as you like. The more women that are hairy, the more socially acceptable it will become. I don't remove any hair at all. And I don't care what anyone else thinks. It's none of their business.

When I was about 20 I went on an international youth trip.

I remember that the Italian girls were astonished at how we Brits would put such a lot of effort into removing our body hair, yet many of us wore no or minimal makeup, were not bothered that others had identical clothes, and would actually dress in scruffies for grubby activities.

The Brits OTOH were astonished that the Italians would never be seen without full makeup - even for grubby fieldwork or when swimming - and made a huge fuss about their clothes, yet not one of them shaved their armpits. (And, yes, they wore strappy, revealing tops.)

i love hair, i really want to grow my armpit hair and might do it in time for summer.

i really love hairy men too, especially moustaches.

today i saw a man with really long blond wavy hair, and he had a suit on was really nice to look at for a change - blokes are way too waxed and preened these days.

laser - it's the way forward. My beard is down to 2 hairs after 3 treatments! Really hurts but it only lasts for a couple of minutes. Am going to be brave and zap my tache next

definitely laser - had loads of sessions because my full on beard and sideburns keeps growing back - but each time it lasts about 5 years so that's fab for me!

I have idiopathic male-pattern hirsutism.

Translation: Hairy as fuck but we don't know why.

At one point before I discovered laser I was shaving full face and neck twice a day....

I've had laser on my chin - it wasn't totally successful but I've gone back for some more treatments, and it is making a difference (I stopped too soon before as it was so expensive - false economy). I don't find it too painful (or maybe I'm just hard )

I'm not too fussed about my underarm hair (DH likes it!), but do prefer my legs shaved. I think a lack of pubes is just yucky, if not weird.

yanbu.

I don't own a skirt as I would never get to wear it. Leg waxing only lasts a few days before it gets prickly again.

Such a weird thing hair isn't it?

As we get older, we get more hair on our face but our head hair thins and I've noticed - being menopausal - that bikini hair starts to thin/disappear too! In my case anyway.

YANBU!!!! What a bloody hassle it all is.

I feel your pain.

As for stopping caring what people think - it's usually the blonde, hairless chicks who suggest that :)

PrettyCandlesAndTinselToo I am in the same position as you - hairy everywhere, except for a patch on my head where I have alopecia - soo annoying. Alopecia has improved since my last pregnancy - am about to wean him and wondering if it will return when I cut down on breastfeeding. Is very strange - when to the GP and he googled it!
I'm saving up for laser treatment, but actually as I get older I am less bothered, might use the money to go on holiday instead

Meglet I now have skirts since I discovered that if I wax and then epilate daily I can keep legs in check over the summer - too painful to epilate away full winter plumage, but a daily buzz after waxing isn't too painful, doesn't take too long and you don't get that awful itchy, stubbly regrowth you get from shaving.

Am also a fan of thick, soft cotton tights in winter.

My arms bug me - just not acceptable to have very hairy arms is it - did nothing about them for years but now I do veet them if they are going on show.

Oh not quite on subject but I found a grey pube yesterday - I was gutted.

Yanbu - I hate it, it's such a pain in the bum.

I want laser hair removal on my legs, underarms and bikini line (was going to do one at a time!) but then a friend of mine told me she spent a £1500 on sessions getting it done on her legs and it didn't work. She said she had to sign a form before that said there is a small possibility it won't work on some people. That story has really put me off...

yanbu its such a fucking drag. I could stay in bed for 15 minutes extra every morning if it wasn't for my daily plucking regime.

wonderstuff I never thought about using an epilator for maintenance. My sister got one of the new whizzy epliators for Xmas so I will see how she gets on with it and maybe invest in one.

Has made my summers much nicer - I love summer, but hate having to worry about the state of my legs!

Epilators are great - muchos cheaper than waxing (I bought mine about 6 years ago for £30; works out even cheaper than razors) and very efficient if you use regularly (if you have to do a massive defuzz it can be a pain).

Also, finer regrowth! I have dark hairs on pale skin (oh lucky me ) but this is slowly slowly causing less to grow back, and when it does, it's finer and paler. I can now, in winter, convincingly go for about three weeks without doing much and not looking like a gorilla. Result!

YANBU, I'm with Frenchfancy, I only remove underarm hair and legs in the summer, can't see the point in the winter.

I have my upper lip and eyebrows done, but the upper lip is painful. I don't have the courage to be a moustachioed woman, I wish I did.

Does anybody remember a programme on BBC4 a while back, comedienne Shazia Mirza started a campaign to go unshaved and got all sorts of women to join her, they had a hairy fashion show.

Dh tries to attack me with the tweezer when a rougue hair on my chin keeps appearing.

I have PCOS too and have recently started swimming regularly. If it's a choice between taking the time to completely de-hair and getting regular exercise, I think the exercise should win. My own policy is to try and tame it a bit but not go for total hairlessness - too hard and time-consuming to achieve. Stuff what anyone thinks.

yanbu

Epilators give me ingrown - yuk

I shave my lower legs every day in the shower with baby oil & exfoliate once or twice a week with a mix of coarse sea-salt & olive oil, recommended to me by a MNer, & now have silky legs. Would think about laser if it wasn't such a trek/expense.

Re hair-loss, mine weakened & fell out in handfuls, beyond what is normal, after having dcs but have been taking folic acid & B vitamins & iron to good effect.

dotty2, I'm naturally hairy, always have been, and I have PCOS as well. I've been a swimmer all my life and I refuse to give a monkeys about my hair. My theory is if other people are disgusted about it then they really, really need to get a life. I also think if they can see me enough to see all my hair in it's glory then I'm simply not going fast enough.

Taking out my contact lenses at the pool helps at well. I can barely see the pool, much less the expressions of horror at my natural (and can I say, much loved) fur.

What annoys me is this myth that you can have wonderful tresses swooshing around, and have no hair anywhere else.

Let's face it, if you've got a hairy head, you'll have a hairy body. But we're all fed this thing that celebrities/models are a special breed who not only can have children when they're 48 and fit into size 8 jeans 20 minutes later, but also have the skin of a two-year-old.