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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU To think most women would think I'm weird

136 replies

Welshgal78 · 28/07/2022 22:23

Inspired by a confessions thread I saw on MN earlier. I shower and wash my hair regularly but I've never shaved my legs higher than under my knees, I don't shave my armpits and only have a trim from time to time downstairs and I've never had a single hair on my eyebrows touched with tweezers or anything else.

Am I really strange or can anyone else say the same. I was with my first husband for 11 years until he died and I've been with my 2nd husband for 8 years now and had a few boyfriends over the years and never had any complaints (to my face at least) But I've always wondered if other women shave and tweek a lot more than me.

OP posts:
ladydimitrescu · 28/07/2022 23:58

I shave everything constantly, eyebrows done - I like it that way, for me no one else. I'm uncomfortable in myself with body hair.

Could not care less what you or any other woman does with their body hair tbh!

GreenFingersWouldBeHandy · 29/07/2022 00:00

Really not sure what the point of this is. Why would you shave your ARMS in the first place?

Just shave the bits you want to shave. Nothing to do with anyone else.

Mangogogogo · 29/07/2022 00:04

Intheflicker · 28/07/2022 23:55

Yeah, you're not special.

Yea i got #notliketheothergirls vibes here.

sorry op, you’re like the other girls.

im hairier than holy hell and shave and wax. I don’t mind it and I dont get ingrown hairs or any rashes etc so it doesn’t really bother me. I don’t do my brows tho.. cba

Forgiveitall · 29/07/2022 00:04

This thread is funny. These days anything goes. Do with your body what you wish

StellaGibson2022 · 29/07/2022 00:08

yabu.

Surely it doesn’t matter what anyone person does with body hair?

It’s their hair? Are you making a judgement towards people who prefer being hair free?

CandyLeBonBon · 29/07/2022 00:19

Sometimes I shave, sometimes I don't. Nobody really cares.

TeapotTitties · 29/07/2022 00:23

But I've always wondered if other women shave and tweek a lot more than me.

You know for a fact that some do so for that reason I voted YABU.

Unless you've lived under a rock all your life and never had access to TV adverts, the internet, magazines etc.

Each to their own but you'll know just by using your eyes that hairy armpits aren't particularly common amongst women.

HuffleWoof · 29/07/2022 00:33

Well all my hair has fallen out from chemo and I hate not having hair down there. I like a little covering. I usually shave up to my knees too, cba doing anything else but my hair takes months to grow. Before chemo I think I shaved my legs once in a year and you still couldn't see the hair unless you looked hard because I'm ginger. I did shave my armpits maybe once a week because I sweat like a mofo and I feel like I'm cleaner armpit wise with no armpit hair

One thing I do miss is my nose hair though!

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 29/07/2022 00:35

I do shave my armpits when I feel like it. I've never shaved my legs, arms or public hair. I had my eyebrows done once and I didn't like it. I've never plucked them. I'm in my 50s now and my luxuriant days are passed so I guess I never will.
DH has never complained and I'm less hairy than him.

vdbfamily · 29/07/2022 00:51

I am same as you OP. I hope we nice away from the hairless obsession and join the rest of Europe in embracing body hair. I feel for my teenage daughters feeling they have to shave everywhere🙁🙁

Luredbyapomegranate · 29/07/2022 00:51

I think it’s a bit unusual to have never shaved your pits

Rest is completely normal

MangyInseam · 29/07/2022 01:32

I don't think most women have their eyebrows done. Lots don't do the pubic area, or only enough to keep a bathing suit looking right.

And leg shaving depends on both personal preference and hairiness. Lots of women's legs aren't all that hairy.

I suspect armpit shaving might be the most ubiquitous but even then some don't do it at all and some only occasionally.

JockTamsonsBairns · 29/07/2022 01:45

I acknowledge I'm going to be considered unusual, but I stopped de-fuzzing about 10 years ago. I'm fair skinned with dark hair too, so my hairiness is probably quite noticeable.
In my youth, I shaved almost daily - underarms, legs, bikini area, because I was sure that was the 'look' I was expected to have.
I'm almost 50, and I genuinely couldn't be bothered with it all now. I have hairy underarms and hairy legs, and I have pubic hair on my bikini line.
My approach is part laziness, but also part accepting my body as it is.

All that said, I have zero interest in what other women choose to do with their bodies. I wouldn't want to be judged for my choices, so I don't judge others for theirs ❤

Cormoran · 29/07/2022 01:48

Depends on type of hair. I have a Mediterranean profile so a skin that tans easily and visible body hair. My SIL has never removed a single hair hi her whole life. I am from Monaco, she is from Sweden

Lovelycheesegromit · 29/07/2022 01:49

I don’t think many people give a shit in the ‘western’ world thankfully, women are rising against the pressure that they have to look a certain way. Now take a trip to some Eastern countries (I’m south Asian) where there are beauty parlours even in the most deprived places and the pressure to have perfect eyebrows, hairless skin etc the list goes on…not sure what you’re implying with that reference tbh

Lovelycheesegromit · 29/07/2022 01:53

Btw I’m quite hairy naturally, so I prefer to be hair free or ‘well groomed’ (not that I can always keep on top of things 😂) as my hair is noticeable but wouldn’t judge anyone either way unless there is a hygiene issue, wouldn’t give anyone a medal for it either.

honkeytonkwoman38 · 29/07/2022 01:59

Leg shaving May to October.
Arm pits about twice a year
Eyebrows just before a holiday which is today.

Marvellousmadness · 29/07/2022 02:12

Most women do
Not all by choice
I wouldnt think you were weird
I would raise my eyebrows at your armpit hair probably as im shallow.

PyongyangKipperbang · 29/07/2022 03:36

Shave my pits as I find I am more sweaty if I dont.

Shave my legs up to the knees in summer, in winter i keep my "winter coat" on.

Eyebrows my sister does for me (she runs spa and is a qualified therapist) as in the last ten years they have sprouted a lot and she plucks out the grey ones for me.

Downstairs....only if there is a danger of me putting on beachwear which is never. Very much au naturelle down there. If a man were to complain then it would be the last time he saw it! Dont know if DP cares, but if he does then he has sense enough to not mention it!

Actually thinking about that, he did mention it once when we first got together and I said that I would shave my bits if he would shave his, never said anything since funnily enough!

SpidersAreShitheads · 29/07/2022 03:40

DD is nearly 13 and she has really thick dark hair on pale skin. She doesn't have a moustache and her eyebrows are quite beautifully shaped naturally, which is handy.

However, she has very thick, dark underarm hair - waaaaay more than I could ever grow! - and dark hair on her legs, including on her thighs. Some hair is also visible on her back.

She is a twin who was born prematurely and she had hair over her body at birth (ironically her twin brother doesn't!). This dark hair has never properly gone away and as she's hit puberty, she's now got very dark hair that grows quite thickly (but "neatly" without spreading out IYKWIM).

DD does not give a shiny shit. She has the option of getting rid of any of her body hair if she chooses to, and we've talked about the different choices that women make. As it stands right now, she is very comfortable with her body hair and has zero inclination to get rid of any of it.

I absolutely love her attitude to it, and I desperately hope that she hangs onto this body confidence as she moves into adulthood.There's nothing wrong with shaving/removing hair if you choose to but so many women and certainly our teens are socially pressured to conform to hairless ideals. If you watch Naked Attraction, pretty much every women you ever see is completely hairless down below. Not even a landing strip. There's been a definite shift to women being expected to remove every last shred of body hair and I really hate the expectation.

Glitteratitar · 29/07/2022 03:44

Yea i got #notliketheothergirls vibes here

I agree. Such a disappointing thread.

Pyewhacket · 29/07/2022 04:14

I'm not very hairy so don't need to shave my legs too often but I do shave my pits and trim my bush. I have a scar through my right eyebrow which makes them look uneven so I have them done professionally.

And yes, I do get the full beauty treatment every now and again. Pure vanity.

jewishmum · 29/07/2022 04:37

I only shave if I know my partner and I might be intimate. I have to shave the whole leg including toes and feet and even bum cheeks. I use a razor or tweezers daily on my face and eyebrows. Armpits I don't bother with as I never get completely naked and I wear long sleeves. But I'm a complete gorilla otherwise.

Confusion101 · 29/07/2022 04:57

ladydimitrescu · 28/07/2022 23:58

I shave everything constantly, eyebrows done - I like it that way, for me no one else. I'm uncomfortable in myself with body hair.

Could not care less what you or any other woman does with their body hair tbh!

Same as this. All for myself, couldn't give a fuck what other people are saying about it or what other women are doing! 😅 A lot of my friends would only de-fuzz for an occasion, not on a regular basis at all

changzi · 29/07/2022 05:09

In terms of 'normal' it really depends on the circles you move in. There would be lots of subcultures in the western world where most women do extensive and regular grooming. Among my own circles, nobody I know goes to beauticians and most shave legs and armpits.

I can't be bothered to shave more than my lower legs and I shave my pits when needed.