Could You Dare to Bare Your Hair?

September 25, 2007     Posted in Body

shave legsLike Nair, I’ve always been a little freaked out by my hair.


By Jess

Being Italian, I’m blessed with lots of the stuff. It’s nice on my head, but anywhere else…a little less so. At least according to society.

The first time I realized nobody liked a hairy girl was in 6th grade. I was sitting in class in a t-shirt, trying to deal with early June heat and a new sensation I now know as “bra sweat”.

A kid, who I’m pretty sure was (and probably still is) named David, turned around and stared at me while the teaching wasn’t looking. “Yo, look at your arms!” he said as loudly as only a 12-year-old boy can, “who invited Harry and the Hendersons over?”

Harry and the Hendersons was a show based around Bigfoot.

That stinging comment has (obviously) stayed with me for years, and since then I have shaved everything—at least everything I could reach.

I often wish I could just chuck the razor in the drawer and never deal with balancing precariously in my shower again, but 6th grade David is always around, along with completely hairless movie stars, magazine models, and guys who continually obsess over girls being clean shaven “down there”.

This girl, on the other hand, is no slave to the razor. At least, she hasn’t been for a year. In a post on The F Word website about growing out both her leg and armpit hair, she explains how empowering and amazing it feels, and how she never plans to shave again.

“Eventually I grew to love my hairy armpits.” She writes, “I grew to love myself, to accept my grown woman’s body and, more than anything, to love the freedom I discovered when I no longer had to waste time and money preparing my supposedly unacceptable body for the outside world.”

Her liberated words and legs sound awesome, but I’m just not sure I’d ever be able to follow in her free footsteps. I’ve become so used to being sleek and smooth that going back to hair just doesn’t feel cool.

Society has convinced me that 6th grade David was right.

What about you? Why do you shave? Could you ever go for months without doing it?

11 Comments on "Could You Dare to Bare Your Hair?"

  1. Lee says:
    Tue, 25th Sep 20078:04 am 

    Forget about shaving. Get Laser hair removal. Its worth the investment (and the slight pain) if you add up all the money you will spend for the times you need to get waxed.

  2. brandi says:
    Tue, 25th Sep 20079:01 am 

    i really think it's up to the individual. BUT, i am italian!!! thre is no possible way for me to go without shaving. someone would call the zoo on my ass. i totally accept my need to shave.

  3. Darcy says:
    Tue, 25th Sep 200712:45 pm 

    I shave my pits and legs, but draw the line at ridding myself of hair down there. It feels nice to have smooth legs and arm pits, but hairless crotches make grown women look like little girls. Plus, pubic hair really doesn't get in the way of my life, and if a guy complains about it, he can get the fuck out of my bed. :-D

  4. Tricia says:
    Tue, 25th Sep 20073:32 pm 

    I get rid of pit hair only because I'd rather not have sweatstained…pit hair. and it clashes with my tank tops, so, no.

    I could go a whole season (winter and fall indeed) without shaving. Actually, this past summer, I didn't shave at all due to pure laziness. My leg hair isn't that bad right now, surprisingly. I'll probably do it again in Spring.

    Pubic hair, well, I guess I trim it every so often because I like the feeling of freshness, NOT for my boyfriend. Puh-leeze.

    I rid of my chin and upper lip hair because I'll be damned if it doesn't. So I'm a bit of a slave to the razor/depilatory, whatever. Being smooth feels nice sometimes.

  5. Lee says:
    Wed, 26th Sep 20075:34 am 

    So are you all saying Laser is out of the question?? I'm sure when I'm 40 years old I would have wished I took the time and expense to get it done. Especially if i'm still single.

  6. Mal says:
    Thu, 27th Sep 20079:19 am 

    I'm definately one of those people who will go long stretches withough shaving my legs. It'll eventually get to the point of being kinda yeti-ish so then i have to shave. My armpits take about 6 seconds total so thats not a big deal. I just feel like its hard to keep up with sometimes!

  7. Ayla says:
    Wed, 3rd Oct 20075:12 pm 

    I shave, for the most part, for me. Sure, it's nice to be clean shaven for my boyfriend too but really when it comes down to it I shave legs, armpits, and all down there because I just can't stand it. Itchy, scratchy, stubbly hairy legs while I try to sleep is horrible, and I started to shave down there so it'd be less nasty when that time of the month came around. Now I do it because I prefer it that way.

  8. Valerie says:
    Fri, 29th Aug 20086:59 am 

    I can be random about shaving, but generally I do leg and armpits, and wax upper lip (I'm very blonde, but I don't like the fuzz). I also like to wax my pubes and leave a landing strip. My current bf likes it all gone. I once had a bf who likes armpit hair, so I grew it out for him. It turns out I don't really have much, so it wasn't much different.

  9. Lauren says:
    Mon, 10th Nov 20086:11 pm 

    I'm in college & the dorm showers are simply impossible to shave in. Plus people walk in and out and it gives a burst of cold air giving you goose bumps all over your legs which makes it worse. so.. i tend to not shave until entirely necesary.

    Plus, I used to swim competitively. We couldn't shave all season. Anything. So i'm pretty much used to it by now.

  10. Hair Remover Queen says:
    Mon, 1st Mar 20102:22 am 

    There are ways to go for months without shaving and still be hairless and I'm not talking about painful laser treatment or exhausting electrolysis.

    Creams and heat based solutions offer long term hair removal with very little effort and time spent. We're living in a golden age and it's only going to get better ast eh technology improves.

    I came across a great website with provides comphrensive reviews on good hair review products. Check it out by going to http://www.hairremoverreviews.com.

  11. taylor says:
    Sun, 22nd May 20119:52 pm 

    I'm !/2 Italian also however I'm only 16. I had a similar experience in 6th grade. I'm also 1/2 Greek so my olive skin blends it really well. I only shave my arm pits and legs. I was told that shaving your arms is bad for you but I am not sure. My arm hair is bad but because i've never shaven it its soft. I'm alright with not shaving for a while. once i start wearing jeans in the winter and here we have long winters) I dont shave until I want ot go to the indoor pool or Its time for shorts again.

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