(no subject)

[lesmisloony]

A couple months ago I stopped shaving my legs. Basically, I hate it and have always hated it, and no amount of stinky Nair, painful epilators, or sticky wax strips made it any better. Plus, whenever I was done shaving, my legs were revealed to be white as a skull and covered in tiny pink spots. My hair grows really fast, so the smoothness couldn't even last a full day. As soon as black-as-night hair started growing back, it was crazy visible against the aforementioned alabaster skin. So, to sum up, to have "ideal" smooth legs, I would have to shave them at least once a day, and the amount of time and water that would waste, not to mention money to replace razorblades and stuff, is more obnoxious than anything else. Also, I have reached a point in my life where it's ME who cleans out the shower drain, if you see what I'm saying. Nuh-uh.

So yeah, the hair is pretty sparse, but it's noticable since it's so dark. I've gotten used to it, but as someone who always wears tights to avoid thigh chafing, I'm also the only person who ever sees it.

But yesterday it was too hot to think about tights, so I hit franprix in my sundress and hairy legs. I thought I would be nervous about it, but it turned out I didn't give a shit what people thought. It's my body, and if I hate shaving, why should I do it? Who am I trying to impress, and why do I want to impress someone who would require I do something I'm not interested in doing? I don't need to please strangers in the street.

I didn't notice any looks at first, but as I was returning an older guy with a handlebar mustache was sitting outside a café. He looked me up and down the way men think they have the right to do in a world where women are just parading around trying to impress them, and when he saw my legs, his nonchalant expression turned into what can only be described as a glare. He sat there GLOWERING at my hairy legs.

So many things went through my mind as I walked by him with my head held high. Honestly, how can a man unironically say that hairy legs disgust him? Does he actually shave his own legs, or does he just hide them from his own sight to avoid offending himself? Even if he was a man who regularly shaved his own legs to avoid offending himself, why would he expect every other being on the planet to adhere to *his* beauty standard?

Secondly, and more amusingly: a man with a handlebar mustache was judging my body hair. Really? At least I don't have to buy a new tin of mustache wax every week. At least mine isn't plastered across my upper lip.

I wasn't embarrassed at all.

(Now I just have to get comfortable with my armpit hair.)

Comments

[apollinnaire.livejournal.com]

«He looked me up and down the way men think they have the right to do in a world where women are just parading around trying to impress them»

THIS. And this is what makes me sad about the human condition.

I'm personally a freak about body hair and according to my aesthetics it doesn't look good - in both women and men - so I obsessively shave in the shower everyday. But haha, yes, I also have alabaster skin and I know exactly how annoying those pink dots are.

I think you are one very brave woman to stand up against sexist beauty standards. I wonder how much freer women would be if more of us were like you. Unfortunately there's probably still a long way ahead of us before we become more than shallow lamblike creatures parading around to impress men.

[mrs-tribble.livejournal.com]

I shave my legs and armpits maybe four times a year - and that's if I remember to!

I'm perfectly comfortable with my body hair; anybody who doesn't like it can sod off.

(I'll be shaving for the Convention this weekend, but only because it makes me faster in the swimming pool)

[mmebahorel.livejournal.com]

Always remember: the aesthetic of women shaving was really invented by Gillette in order to sell more safety razors. It was all about market expansion around the turn of the century. Before that - all those lovely 1880s evening gowns with no shoulders and no sleeves - no one gave a fuck about the women wearing those having armpit hair.

Leg hair wasn't an issue until the 1920s with the shorter skirts and popularity of hanging out on the beach in swimsuits, but it's really an extension of the armpit hair thing. If we hadn't started depillating one area, I doubt we would have cared as much about others.

[yvonnejanvier.livejournal.com]

Four for Erin, you go Erin!

I still occassionally shave (mostly when I don't have enough spoons with assholes who think it's their goddamn business, which is probably not very brave, but then again, spoons don't grown on trees), but I'm very much done with this. I have black, thick body hair, and I have a hella lot of it. There's no reason why anyone should spend so much time and money, unless they're doing it for themselves.

"He looked me up and down the way men think they have the right to do in a world where women are just parading around trying to impress them"

Girl, that's perfectly said. This should be quoted. A lot.