Men shaving their legs

[Fox Saint-Just]

Shampoo has nothing to do with that. Washing your hair daily is a very recent trend, the only advantage of which is looking and feeling clean.

I'd like to think germs come into play, too.

This.

Also, if you are hairy, you'd better shower often in summer.

[Hoogstwaarschijnlijk]

Those examples are a little muddy since one of their main uses (if not the main one) is for survival and health, while body hair has no such disadvantage.

Shampoo has nothing to do with that. Washing your hair daily is a very recent trend, the only advantage of which is looking and feeling clean.

I know this is slightly offtopic, but do you really wash your hair every day? I doubt there's advantage of that, it's really bad for your hair to wash it more than three times a week, it's really not necessary to do it so often. According to my hairdresser and in my experience. But if people wash their hair daily, then that's indeed a recent trend, just like a lot of people take a shower each day. What a waste of water, seriously. Of course it depends on where you live and what you do, but a lot of people shower each day even when it has been 10 degrees and they have been sitting in an office whole day.

[mōdgethanc]

I know it's not necessary. My entire argument was about things people do that aren't strictly needed but which they do anyway.

[Varislintu]

On the one hand I don't think it takes a lot to stimulate our libido, we're not that complicated... but on the other hand I do find hairy armpits quite off-putting... So, yeah, I do think it would have an effect on my libido.

About the legs, I don't know how hairy they can get.

I don't think it's a dealbrealer, but it does affect my opinion of another's attractiveness. I would like to point out that I don't really like body hair on men either and I'm not all that hairy myself.

Now, I've met guys who loved leg hair on women, and women who shuddered at the idea of a man seeing their legs when they hadn't shaved. It's a very individual thing.

Thanks for your replies, btw.

It's interesting to me. To be honest, a guy caring about my body hair would be a deal breaker for me. And I don't mean that in a frothy mouthed feminist way, but really I don't think I could stand a long term commitment to someone so... sorry, but superficial. That I'd have to feel like I need to hide something like that from him so as not to give him negative feelings. And I think if it was like this for body hair, it would be like this for other things as well. I'd just feel like he'd be in a relationship with an idealized image of me, and not the real me. We'd be wasting each other's time.

Edit: I want to add a thing I forgot to mention earlier. Finding body hair on women ugly is, of course, not a completely random esthetical idea -- the undelying issue is that it is considered to be masculine, not-feminine. That's a major reason why a guy caring so much about my leg hairs would be a relationship deal breaker for me. I don't want to spend time around someone who makes me feel masculine, or who wants to define femininity for me. Again, it would feel like they were in a relationship with a specific idea of a woman and not me. I'd feel really weird getting the message that my whole body doesn't look like a woman's body to them, if my natural hair shows. Like what the heck?

But naturally this is why it's so wonderful that we get to choose our long term partners so they match our personalities. There are women out there who see body hair entirely differently than I do, and feel it's an important part of normal life to look trimmed and groomed all the time.

[ashira_amjad]

Here in Pakistan it would be very very very strange

[mōdgethanc]

Thanks for your replies, btw.

It's interesting to me. To be honest, a guy caring about my body hair would be a deal breaker for me. And I don't mean that in a frothy mouthed feminist way, but really I don't think I could stand a long term commitment to someone so... sorry, but superficial. That I'd have to feel like I need to hide something like that from him so as not to give him negative feelings. And I think if it was like this for body hair, it would be like this for other things as well. I'd just feel like he'd be in a relationship with an idealized image of me, and not the real me. We'd be wasting each other's time.

Edit: I want to add a thing I forgot to mention earlier. Finding body hair on women ugly is, of course, not a completely random esthetical idea -- the undelying issue is that it is considered to be masculine, not-feminine. That's a major reason why a guy caring so much about my leg hairs would be a relationship deal breaker for me. I don't want to spend time around someone who makes me feel masculine, or who wants to define femininity for me. Again, it would feel like they were in a relationship with a specific idea of a woman and not me. I'd feel really weird getting the message that my whole body doesn't look like a woman's body to them, if my natural hair shows. Like what the heck?

But naturally this is why it's so wonderful that we get to choose our long term partners so they match our personalities. There are women out there who see body hair entirely differently than I do, and feel it's an important part of normal life to look trimmed and groomed all the time.

And of course you have every right to feel that way - why should you change just to please someone else? On the other hand, relationships are all about compromise. I've had girlfriends who insisted I looked better with a beard or stubble and found it a big turn-on. I don't like having a beard since I find it too much work to keep trimmed and it gets itchy. Sometimes I would not shave for a couple of days and grow a little stubble just to make them happy, though.

[Varislintu]

And of course you have every right to feel that way - why should you change just to please someone else? On the other hand, relationships are all about compromise. I've had girlfriends who insisted I looked better with a beard or stubble and found it a big turn-on. I don't like having a beard since I find it too much work to keep trimmed and it gets itchy. Sometimes I would not shave for a couple of days and grow a little stubble just to make them happy, though.

Yeah, sure. But at least it's not a situation for you guys where, for example, beards would be considered effeminate by society around you and if you are lazy and let it grow to a visible stubble people are disgusted and think you look like a woman, or that at least you have just lost a lot of your manly sex appeal.

[Marah]

There's the "You could bulk up a little, honey..."

[mōdgethanc]

I'm not too offended by that. I could stand to put on a few pounds of muscle.

Yeah, sure. But at least it's not a situation for you guys where, for example, beards would be considered effeminate by society around you and if you are lazy and let it grow to a visible stubble people are disgusted and think you look like a woman, or that at least you have just lost a lot of your manly sex appeal.

Fair enough. I guess the equivalent would be the topic of this thread - men shaving their legs for whatever reason and being ridiculed for their perceived effeminacy.

[Varislintu]

Fair enough. I guess the equivalent would be the topic of this thread - men shaving their legs for whatever reason and being ridiculed for their perceived effeminacy.

It's almost equivalent, but I decided to use the fictive example due to the differences. Men shaving legs is them modifying, removing something. Actually, I couldn't think of anything men are supposed to remove, so as not to look feminine. Unless they have some real condition, like breast growth. But that's rare and a bit different, I think. But of course that stigma is horrible too, and it would be great if men didn't have to feel so ashamed if their bodies do that.

[Marah]

It's almost equivalent, but I decided to use the fictive example due to the differences. Men shaving legs is them modifying, removing something. Actually, I couldn't think of anything men are supposed to remove, so as not to look feminine. Unless they have some real condition, like breast growth. But that's rare and a bit different, I think. But of course that stigma is horrible too, and it would be great if men didn't have to feel so ashamed if their bodies do that.

Nails.

[Varislintu]

It's almost equivalent, but I decided to use the fictive example due to the differences. Men shaving legs is them modifying, removing something. Actually, I couldn't think of anything men are supposed to remove, so as not to look feminine. Unless they have some real condition, like breast growth. But that's rare and a bit different, I think. But of course that stigma is horrible too, and it would be great if men didn't have to feel so ashamed if their bodies do that.

Nails.

Good idea, but is it really like that? Both my brother-in-common-law and father-in-common-law are tinkerers, and they keep relatively long nails to be able to use tools better. I don't think they face any feminising stigma for it at all.

[Marah]

Yeah, it's not as harsh as not shaving legs can be.

[mōdgethanc]

Actually, I couldn't think of anything men are supposed to remove, so as not to look feminine.

"Get a haircut, you look like a girl!"

[Varislintu]

Actually, I couldn't think of anything men are supposed to remove, so as not to look feminine.

"Get a haircut, you look like a girl!"

Yeah, that really is a good equivalent! And now, both sexes should do onto the other as they would like to be done unto them.

[Hoogstwaarschijnlijk]

Except that both cutting your nails and hair doesn't itch that much...

[Lur]

I just got rid of the hair in my back and shoulders. My skin is still a bit irritated, but I have the feeling (I lie: the absolute conviction) that I'd be much more comfortable with myself with much less hair and a softer skin (I'm the first one to say, we're not frogs, and the only thing wrong with hair is when it bothers you).

So my next steps are everything else, although I wonder how exactly to approach the genital area.

My problem is, I do have a lot of hair (enough to form a "bat symbol" in my chest), and it is thick and hard to pull out. My dad is less hairy than me, I don't have brothers to compare.

[Varislintu]

I just got rid of the hair in my back and shoulders. My skin is still a bit irritated, but I have the feeling (I lie: the absolute conviction) that I'd be much more comfortable with myself with much less hair and a softer skin (I'm the first one to say, we're not frogs, and the only thing wrong with hair is when it bothers you).

So my next steps are everything else, although I wonder how exactly to approach the genital area.

My problem is, I do have a lot of hair (enough to form a "bat symbol" in my chest), and it is thick and hard to pull out. My dad is less hairy than me, I don't have brothers to compare.

More comfortable physichally or mentally?

My boyfriend is also very hairy, and apparently he finds it somewhat itchy. I don't mind his hairs at all, though, except at the end of their life, when they end up on the floor.

[Reinder]

So my next steps are everything else, although I wonder how exactly to approach the genital area.

Why would you want to get rid of all of that? It's so much work and nobody will actually see it except for yourself and your bed partner.

Today I did some shaving as well, I always prefer my lower abdomen to be hairless, but on the rest of my belly I have a little hair as well, but that's just thin hair, so I usually try to shave it all. The area below my bellow button always gets a little bit irritated though, which doesn't look nice. I also did my lower back for the first time, I barely have any hair on my back, just for a little spot on my lower back, which I wanted to be gone, so that was just very easy to do. It's also not a sensitive spot for me, so I don't feel that I shaved it.
But I also tried to shave my behind today and that was really freaking hard. I still haven't managed to shave it very well. I don't have the right supplies to do so either. It's really hard to see what you're doing and it's really hard to reach some spots. Now I still have some hair, although it's hardly noticeable and it's very much shorter, but it took me a long time to reach this point. I just realized it isn't worth it, no one will see it, except for me, since I don't have a bed partner and I probably won't in the nearby future. It's very pleasant to be (almost) hairless in that area though, because I always thought of it is unhygienic, but it's just too much work, you would need to shave it every week, that's not worth it for me, since nobody sees it.

I did realize though that I would probably shave my legs if I lived in a culture where it's normal to do so. The legs are probably the easiest part of your body to shave, it's in well reach and it's not so much work since boys wouldn't have to do it perfectly. But I won't bother to shave my legs, I prefer living in a culture where it's normal (and most preferably beautiful) for guys to have hairy legs. ^^

[Lur]

More comfortable physichally or mentally?

Both.

Why would you want to get rid of all of that?

I don't like the sensation of having hair there, specially when I touch myself.