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
Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

Original poster

Hairy legs

116 replies

TiggersLikeToBounce · 14/12/2019 00:39

This is me. I hate shaving, waxing etc. It irritates my skin. I hate the way Gillette 100 plus years ago advertised us to shave. He made millions...
But! I am still embarrassed to show my hair in public...why?

Hairy legs
OP posts:
Redshoeblueshoe · 14/12/2019 00:44

It's winter just put on a pair of tights or trousers, and forget about it until March Xmas Grin

ACatWhoBinds · 14/12/2019 00:49

I struggle with the same thing. It was only recently I learnt about the marketing of razors to women - that kind of stuff really interests me, similar to how diamonds were marketed. I still feel conscious about it. More so with my armpits as the hair there is really dark. I know some women can be really catty - not their fault in a society that pits them against other women and teaches them to hate each other - and I don’t want people to stare.
It’s just how we’ve been conditioned to behave 🧡

TreacleBee · 14/12/2019 00:51

I'm the same until spring happens. But I can't bring myself to go out with hairy legs on show once spring has happened.

I wish I was braver and could do it. If I had blonde hairs I wouldn't shave.

TreacleBee · 14/12/2019 00:53

Weirdly hairy legs (or anything else) on my partner doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Pinkbonbon · 14/12/2019 00:54

I'll see you and I'll raise you.

I'm not dating, I'm not due a night out and it's winter, so wtf would i bother shaving my legs? xD

I'll happily go to the shops with hairy legs but if I had to meet someone for coffee or something then I'd probably cover them/shave.

I think people don't tend to notice legs when we are walking places (plus I don't know passers by so who cares) but if we are sitting down with them they are more of a focus.

Wish it was more socially acceptable. But I think part of it at least is just about confidence.

Hairy legs
JellySlice · 14/12/2019 00:57

Because society drums into us that women are smooth and hairless. Have you ever seen any images of female models/actors/public personalities who were hairy? Have you ever seen any published images that reflect your natural reality?

I certainly haven't.

How do we know whether we are unusually hairy, when we never see other women's leg hair? FWIW I was like you until a skin condition caused me to lose a lot of hair, including on my legs. I left them au naturel. Only if society was going to see my legs did I de-hair them to meet society's expectations.

ACatWhoBinds · 14/12/2019 01:01

@JellySlice even in hair removal ads the woman is always shaving bare skin - it’s a joke!

Original poster
TiggersLikeToBounce · 14/12/2019 01:03

Covering up with leggings is not what I asked. I am interested to know why we as women feel the need to be bald. If we aren't we feel extremely self concious. I was self concious swimming with my little one without having shaved my pits or legs. I judged myself! No one maybe even looked or cared but I felt in a way dirty.
After it made me think about what happens when my little one grows hair.

OP posts:
ACatWhoBinds · 14/12/2019 01:08

I think it’s just the way society has conditioned us. I remember people making fun of me at school for my body hair and I started getting rid of it out of shame and wanting to fit in. It’s taken a long time to be comfortable with myself like that and also start to become comfortable going out like that. My partner is also great which I admit helps - he’s fine with whatever I do to my body hair as long as I’m happy with it. We shouldn’t have to rely on other people’s opinions to feel valid but I can’t deny that knowing I have one voice on my side helps

TreacleBee · 14/12/2019 01:24

I honestly do feel that when I've got a nice tan on my legs they look nicer if they're not hairy. I just prefer the way they look shaved. I can't deny it.

ACatWhoBinds · 14/12/2019 01:29

@TreacleBee I think that’s fine, as long as you’re doing it for yourself rather than other people. If you feel better like that then heck yeah! The important thing is to be yourself 🧡

Goosefoot · 14/12/2019 01:33

I think nobody should shave if they don't want to, and it would be better overall if it wasn't the norm. It serves no purpose, and it takes time and razors, and if no one did it we wouldn't miss it.

At the same time, I don't think we should feel badly about either being embarrassed or even preferring shaved legs from a purely aesthetic perspective. It's just a matter of being used to it because we see it all the time, like we find women in giant powdered wigs weird looking and people used to think they looked good.

I don't necessarily think fashions or fads that tend to somewhat accentuate maleness or femaleness are a problem, if they don't involve that much effort, and aren't too absolute, so I don't see it as letting down the side in that way. For me it's just beyond what I see as crossing the line where people feel obliged, even socially embarrassed, so feel forced to go to some effort to change something they might not want to bother with, if that makes sense?

ItsNearlyMorning · 14/12/2019 01:34

I'm very blonde and very white, so my body hair doesn't show unless I'm tanned and then it glows like white peach fuzz!
Also I don't have much hair, it's fine and sparse.
All over.
However it was other girls , magazines ( remember the teen mags of the 80's ?) and the media in general who made me start to wax / shave in my younger days.
It's probably only in the last 5 or 6 years when I've thought fuck that .
I'm 44 now.
1 of my sisters has never shaved and the other 3 all stopped in their late 30's too after I did.
I think it was a ripple effect over a few years.
We had discussions about why we did this and actually as individuals one by one stopped shaving.
Some of my friends are the same, some think it's "disgusting " etc
Oh well those hairs are there for a reason .
Especially pubic hair.
I've stopped getting UTIs since I embraced my pubes.
To be fair I have a pitiful bush. It's nothing to brag about 😂

Italiangreyhound · 14/12/2019 01:52

Grow it, show it, do as you like.

The reason you are self conscious is all the media telling you to shave or remove it your leg hair with creams etc. Because the companies making those creams get nothing if you grow you leg hair.

I grow mine for a bit, shave it for a bit. The 'good' news is as you get older it gets finer and less noticeable, in my experience.

There are certainly forces at work to shame women into shaving!

www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/41522160/model-arvida-bystrm-gets-rape-threats-after-an-advert-featured-her-hairy-legs

shiveringsparklingtimber · 14/12/2019 01:56

No. Just no. Fine when hairy legs can't be seen (mine are very hairy atm) but truly, it looks sloppy and unkempt. I'm trying to be objective, but it's unattractive to me personally. My own mother freaked when I first shaved my legs. I was 14. I didn't shave them because some magazine or other insidious form of 70s sexist media propaganda brainwashed me into it - we lived in Africa at the time and there wasn't any media - other than the BBC World Service - to corrupt my innocent (cough) mind. I did it because I thought those black hairs looked ugly.

Goosefoot · 14/12/2019 02:13

I do think there is probably a connection with shortening of skirts and leg shaving.

Italiangreyhound · 14/12/2019 02:19

shiveringsparklingtimber just curious but do men look unkempt when they do not shave their legs?

Soubriquet · 14/12/2019 02:54

I got hairy legs, hairy armpits and a full bush Crown Grin

Dh loves every bit of it.

I’m glad I don’t have to shave

Italiangreyhound · 14/12/2019 02:56

I can't imagine not having a full bush! I think it's brilliant and best and turns out it is healthier too!

www.insider.com/health-benefits-not-shaving-2018-5

WatchingTheMoon · 14/12/2019 02:59

I don't bother with my armpit hair, I like it and think it's cute. Also I sweat more if I shave it.

Leg hair looks disgusting to me and I wish it didn't. It's such bs that's been drummed into us that it's ugly.

People who say it's a choice are deluding themselves, when was the last time you even saw leg hair on a woman in the media?

ItsNearlyMorning · 14/12/2019 03:06

That mildly annoying Stacey Solomon is a hairy girl and loves to show her body ( and facial hair ) to the world.
I had no idea who she was until my friend showed me a story online .
Her DP loves her hairy.
I'm going to say I think that although she is very bloody loud , she's a breathe of fresh air.
She has no fucks to give.

Time40 · 14/12/2019 03:08

I was self concious swimming with my little one without having shaved my pits or legs. I judged myself! No one maybe even looked or cared but I felt in a way dirty

It's sad that you say "dirty", OP. No one should have to feel like that.

I am absolutely convinced that hardly anyone either looks or cares. Where is this "pressure" to remove hair that so many women talk about? Apart from in hair-removal ads, I mean? It's not something that you see written anywhere, is it? Or is it, and I've just missed it all these years? I honestly think that this "pressure" is something that women impose on themselves.

RadicalFern · 14/12/2019 03:12

I strongly resent the societal pressure to be so weirdly hairless. Especially the implication that it is gross/dirty to let everything grow. Nevertheless, one of the only things that is comforting me right now with the horrible insomnia is that I shaved my lower legs this evening and the smoothy smoothness is very nice.

RadicalFern · 14/12/2019 03:15

My armpits and bush can grow and thrive though!

Time40 there's definitely a vibe amongst pornified young men and teenagers that women should be completely hairless, because that's all they've ever seen.

Italiangreyhound · 14/12/2019 03:24

"People who say it's a choice are deluding themselves, when was the last time you even saw leg hair on a woman in the media?" I just linked to it.

It is a choice.

Images of women with hair on their bodies are out there!