WHY DO WOMEN SHAVE?

The body hair debate has been going on for some time now. There are some women who want to be smooth all over and then there are others who are completely comfortable with seeing hair on more than just their head. The question, should women have to shave?

There are women who shave simply because they don’t like the prickly, itching feeling on their legs but I would argue that most women have been classically conditioned into shaving. Think about it? We shave because our mothers shaved. My mother was the one who placed the little pink razor in my bathroom when she deemed it “appropriate” for me to start shaving. She didn’t ask whether I wanted to or not, it was a right of passage…the natural next step for a preteen girl.

Writer Erin Mayer wrote an article emphasizing how much people are truly disgusted by female body hair. According to her article in Bustle, “…Most women are totally revolted by both the thought of other women’s body hair and by actually not shaving themselves.” Which leads to me ask, why do women shave their legs? Could it be because society has convinced them that women only look beautiful when hairless?

Women who have noticeable armpit and leg hair are judged. They are hippies, dirty, unhygienic, etc. Be honest, if you came across a woman in her daisy dukes with long curly hair on her legs, what would you think? Exactly. Sure, we may have grown accustomed to shaving our legs and armpits a couple of times a weeks. And now the feeling of a few strands of hair throws us into a frenzy. I’m not telling anyone to stop shaving. But I do believe we inevitably shave because we don’t want to be judged.

I asked 6 women why they shave and they all had similar reasons:

I shave my legs because I don’t like the feeling of hair there. Honestly, I wouldn’t shave my armpits if I didn’t have to.

I don’t know why I shave. It’s just something I have done ever since I was 10. 

I would never get a guy if my legs were hairy like a chimp.

I shave because it’s what women do. 

I shave my legs multiple times a week because I wouldn’t want them to be all prickly for my boyfriend. 

I just feel like shaved legs are sexy and appealing to most guys. 

Well…why do you shave?