Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do you shave your legs in the winter?

213 replies

beebee25 · 07/12/2025 06:55

I last shaved my legs in September and won't shave them again until about April.

OP posts:
howthemoonshines · 07/12/2025 11:44

icantbelieveitsnotcake · 07/12/2025 11:02

I am not denying that women are subject to societal expectations and that body hair goes through fashions. But people are still allowed to groom themselves as they wish without having insults hurled at them and that applies to BOTH sides- both those who shave and those who choose not to.

Shaving your legs doesn’t make you look like a child—it makes you an adult making a personal grooming choice. You might not agree with that choice but that doesn't mean throwing out insults to other women implying they want to attract paedophiles is going to make them suddenly change their minds. On the contrary, its yet another lecture directed at women as to how they "ought" to look, according to someone who isnt in their body.

The idea that hair removal infantilizes women doesn’t hold up logically: if it were true, then men who shave their faces, chest, or other body hair would also look prepubescent—but clearly, they do not.

This huge double standard shows that your criticism isn’t about hair itself, but about controlling women’s bodies and policing their choices.

Many adults experience hair loss for reasons entirely beyond their control, such as alopecia or chemotherapy. These adults don’t suddenly appear childlike—their maturity and adulthood remain intact, regardless of hair. Suggesting that hair—or the absence of it—defines a person’s age or sexual maturity is not only biologically inaccurate but also really bloody offensive.

Would you tell someone who just had chemo that they resembled a child?

So yeah- you are spouting bollocks.

Edited
Show quote history

Well said! 👏

Missj25 · 07/12/2025 11:45

RichardMarxisinnocent · 07/12/2025 11:21

I appreciate your honesty, thank you. I don't think I'd class it as sexism, but I do think that you've probably been conditioned, probably over many years, to think that body hair on women looks unfemimine. It is something which is quite ingrained into society, so possibly hard to make yourself think differently.

Show quote history

Yeah but if you think about it , say no woman shaved ever .
Trying to moisturise alone , I can’t imagine how it would work .
Putting on deodorant with loads of hair under your arm pits .
Having periods & not being tidy there 🤮.
It isn’t just the aesthetic side of it

Missj25 · 07/12/2025 11:51

YouHaveAnArse · 07/12/2025 11:39

I'm guessing you're shaving your vulva, not your actual vagina - ouch!

Show quote history

You know what I mean , I call it all vagina ,
It’s actually a common misconception to say vagina instead of vulva , Google just told me that there 🙈 😂

zingally · 07/12/2025 11:51

Legs last get done in August, and probably not again until Easter holidays. Armpits get done most days in summer, once a week in winter!

BarbarasRhabarberba · 07/12/2025 11:53

DouglasBader · 07/12/2025 07:55

Nope.

Not in summer either.

Same. I’m au naturel all year round and it’s thick, black and fuzzy.

gamerchick · 07/12/2025 11:53

I do, I rarely come out of shorts unless it goes below zero.

RichardMarxisinnocent · 07/12/2025 12:10

Missj25 · 07/12/2025 11:45

Yeah but if you think about it , say no woman shaved ever .
Trying to moisturise alone , I can’t imagine how it would work .
Putting on deodorant with loads of hair under your arm pits .
Having periods & not being tidy there 🤮.
It isn’t just the aesthetic side of it

Show quote history

When I had periods I did trim my pubic hair as that for me made it less messy. But I don't have any issues moisturising with hairy legs, it works perfectly fine, and when I haven't shaved my armpits (I do shave them semi often) applying deodorant is also not a problem. I guess if they're things you've not tried you might imagine it's problematic but it's really not.

Terrytheweasel · 07/12/2025 12:11

Missj25 · 07/12/2025 11:45

Yeah but if you think about it , say no woman shaved ever .
Trying to moisturise alone , I can’t imagine how it would work .
Putting on deodorant with loads of hair under your arm pits .
Having periods & not being tidy there 🤮.
It isn’t just the aesthetic side of it

Show quote history

I’m with you. I also find it itchy and uncomfortable when it has been long.
I just feel cleaner and more comfortable with everything shaved and as I’m fair haired, it’s an easy job.

Shmee1988 · 07/12/2025 12:15

Namechangedforgoodreasons · 07/12/2025 10:25

If you look like a gorilla unless you shave you have a very big problem… Presumably you also shave your face, neck, in fact entire body then?

Show quote history

Well no, because i dont get hair on my face, neck and entire body. At least not to the same degree as i do on my legs/arm pits. Do you?

ColinOfficeTrolley · 07/12/2025 12:45

Missj25 · 07/12/2025 09:22

Yuck !
Is your husband not turned off by hair ?
I’m single & keep everywhere shaved no matter what the season , if it was only for hygiene reasons alone .

Show quote history

Not at all. We've been together 25 years. How dare you say 'yuck'!

I'm so sorry that you can't find a man who likes you beyond the superficial.

I feel so so sorry for you that you think you have to be hairless for a bloke to be interested 🤣🤣🤣

I can only assume your personality is shit. I'm sorry for your lack of anything other than the outside periphery.

ColinOfficeTrolley · 07/12/2025 12:48

verybighouseinthecountry · 07/12/2025 09:21

Are you not intimate with your DH in the winter months either? I'm just wondering why you had to show him the hairy pits, has he not seen them in the last few months?

Show quote history

Umm yes, but he doesn't tend to focus my armpits when we shag.

Does yours?

ColinOfficeTrolley · 07/12/2025 12:49

This thread has made me realise how weird people are about women having hair!!! 🤣 It's all to do with porn and patriarchy.

Think I better stick to the FWR boards.

Gamerlady · 07/12/2025 13:10

Rarely shave legs , can't be bothered

Missj25 · 07/12/2025 13:14

ColinOfficeTrolley · 07/12/2025 12:45

Not at all. We've been together 25 years. How dare you say 'yuck'!

I'm so sorry that you can't find a man who likes you beyond the superficial.

I feel so so sorry for you that you think you have to be hairless for a bloke to be interested 🤣🤣🤣

I can only assume your personality is shit. I'm sorry for your lack of anything other than the outside periphery.

Show quote history

I shouldn’t have said yuck , sorry ..

I don’t think women have to be hairless in order for men to be interested in them physically , eventhough that’s exactly what I said 🙈
Well now I take it all back 😂

I actually don’t have a shit personality , I just can’t seem to meet the right person 🤷🏻‍♀️

Soony · 07/12/2025 13:17

pinkdelight · 07/12/2025 07:10

nope but I only do them about once a year anyway as fair and not hairy.

Same here. Also post menopause I don't have any underarm hair at all, not that I shaved it more than once a year before.

Toddlerteaplease · 07/12/2025 13:21

Not unless I have too. But when I needed to do it for a party last week, I needed a lawnmower 😬

Doyouthinktheyknow · 07/12/2025 13:25

I do because I go in the pool and sauna at the gym. 3 times most weeks! Do prefer having hair free legs and pits on balance although before I joined the gym I didn’t bother in winter!

PlazaAthenee · 07/12/2025 13:26

I used to wax them. Lasered them in the pandemic so I don't have to think about it anymore.

ColinOfficeTrolley · 07/12/2025 13:27

Missj25 · 07/12/2025 13:14

I shouldn’t have said yuck , sorry ..

I don’t think women have to be hairless in order for men to be interested in them physically , eventhough that’s exactly what I said 🙈
Well now I take it all back 😂

I actually don’t have a shit personality , I just can’t seem to meet the right person 🤷🏻‍♀️

Show quote history

Fair do's

I can tell you don't have a shit personality. I was just so taken aback by the 'yuck' 🤣

Missj25 · 07/12/2025 14:02

ColinOfficeTrolley · 07/12/2025 13:27

Fair do's

I can tell you don't have a shit personality. I was just so taken aback by the 'yuck' 🤣

Show quote history

I don’t know why I said yuck 🙈.
I’m separated 10 year’s, we were together for 20 , we have children together, obviously I wasn’t always shaved !

DropHopStop · 07/12/2025 15:19

Summer or winter i only shave when they will be seen (in shorts, dresses), which is rare. Going the same way with armpits.

Partner occasionally comments, but doesn't seem to actually mind. I don't have time (can't be bothered) to shave every hairy part of me 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ if he's bothered that much, he can leave and find someone hairless. I certainly don't care about a bit of hair.

MiddleAgedDread · 07/12/2025 17:00

And that too @Crumpt !

FlyingApple · 07/12/2025 17:17

No but I'm not very hairy.

SocksAndTheCity · 07/12/2025 17:54

No, and nor do I shave them (or anything else) in Spring, Summer or Autumn.

I also don't say 'yuck', because I'm not five.

NormanSicily · 07/12/2025 17:54

Nope, unless I'm going somewhere fancy which involves sheer tights. Too cold!