Hi Lovely!

So, I decided to try not shaving. Here is the thing. I’ve been shaving my legs and armpits since I was like 13. I’ve continued to do it because I thought I had no choice. There is still a social stigma surrounding female body hair and I thought people would look at me like I am a disgusting weirdo for letting my hair grow naturally. So, I continued to shave and shave. I constantly complained about the cost, dealt with the itchy-ness of hair growing back, and lusted after men’s freedom to say eff-it and let their hair-freak flag fly.

After pondering this for a while I decided that I wanted to take a swing at letting my hair grow. If women can feel comfortable dying their armpit hair then why can’t I try throwing out my razor? *Note: here I did not throw it out because I didn’t want to have to buy another one. I already said that the whole thing is expensive and I am not about to cost myself more money.* Now that the temperature has decreased, I finally felt comfortable letting the hair on my legs and armpits grow. I thought this would be a way to try it out while still feeling a little protected. I wear tights and cardigans most of the time so people won’t see anyways.

This is what I wanted to figure out. Do I shave for myself or do I shave for others? Do I continue to share my armpits so people won’t think less of me? Do I make sure my legs are stubble-free so people won’t stare and ask questions? Or do I do it because I genuinely like it? So far I’ve discovered that I don’t miss shaving. I save time in the shower, I don’t really worry about the hair in my armpits because I already know it is there, and I don’t stress about whether I have a new razor head or not. I will admit that I love that first hour or so just after shaving. Your legs feel like a baby’s bottom, you do the little Nair’s short short high kick to show them off. But here is the thing. My hair is back by the end of the day and I have to deal with the prickly hell that is grow out.

Now to my final thoughts after the experience.

I’m not sure that this one can fall on the Hilary Scale. I don’t have strong feelings either way. After a month or so of not shaving I’ve decided that I’ve really liked the freedom I’ve given myself in regards to not shaving but at the same time I miss not having hair. I’m not sure whether I will shave or not moving forward. There were times when I felt self-conscious of my body hair. I saw people stare and make comments. It made me feel uncomfortable with my decision to take a break from shaving. I felt like I had to take a stand and explain myself daily for my decision. It is a little exhausting. So we will see what I decide. I know that moving forward I’m not going to force myself to shave regularly. If I take a break for a week or month then cool. If I decide to shave every day then awesome. As long as it makes me happy then that is good enough for me.

What about you? What do you think of female body hair? I’d love to hear your thoughts!