Releasing my inner beast!

pinkandblueshoe

I think this thread is more than a bit odd. For the people who are saying that it's normal for women in the western world to remove body hair, what about countries that don't have a problem with body hair showing. There are other European countries that don't have the get rid of it attitude the way that the UK does. Germany for example and I bet other European countries as well.

Body hair isn't gross as far as Im concerned. Out of all the men I know, I cant ever recall thinking, yuk, your armpits smell gross because they hadn't shaved them, so why should it be any different for a woman.

Its boak for a woman to have underarm hair and on their legs but not a man? Why? Because society says that women should be hair free? I'm actually allergic to many razors, even the sensitive ones, so when I've shaved my legs with them (and when you buy them its not easy to know which ones will be ok and which ones not), its painful and really not pretty.

Im also allergic to many hair removing creams, I've got very sensitive skin. I use mits for my legs, you can get them from places like superdrug, you rub them on your legs and it smooths the hair off but they aren't recommended for underarms.

So, if I leave my underarms for a while between removing hair, its because I only do it if I think its necessary and that goes back to feeling that you have to (which is I suppose partly the point of the thread), it's my choice and I bet if people had the kind of skin I have, they might remove hair every few weeks rather than every few days. I don't smell, I shower regularly and I apply deodorant.

It's my body and it's my life. As for anyone coming on here calling women who don't remove body hair man haters and having a moustache, that's just ridiculous trollling or very anti women comments.
I'm actually not that hairy as it happens, but I'd hate to be someone who was or someone who had PCOS which can lead to excess body hair and have to deal with people's prejudice.

What business is it of mine if someone wears a skirt and they haven't removed the hair on their legs? I'd say none.

pinkandblueshoe

I know plenty of bodybuilders who shave not only their armpits but remove the hair on their arms and their legs, it's so they look a certain way when competing. Ive never looked at anyone I know who who is male who removes body hair and thought, you look odd. Other people might but I can't speak for them.

pinkandblueshoe

I also know people who don't remove body hair but don't show it off and wear T shirts and trousers, they don't walk around with their body hair showing. There could be plenty of people who don't shave their armpits or legs and you'd never know. Again, I really don't see the difference between a man who doesn't shave his armpits and wears deodorant and anti perspirant and a woman who does the same. Having a shower and putting body spray or deodorant over underarm hair won't automatically make someone smelly. What will make someone smelly is not washing for a few days or doing a tough workout where they end up sweaty but a shower would sort that.

As for legs, I've never actually got down and smelled someone's legs so I don't see how not removing leg hair would make someone automatically unhygenic.

I think peoples issue is they don't like the way it looks, but that is vastly different from being unhygenic.

Pollycat

pinkandblueshoe wrote: »

I know plenty of bodybuilders who shave not only their armpits but remove the hair on their arms and their legs, it's so they look a certain way when competing. Ive never looked at anyone I know who who is male who removes body hair and thought, you look odd. Other people might but I can't speak for them.

It's because they use lots of oil on their bodies and hair would spoil the 'look'.

That's one of the reasons I shave my legs, I have very dry skin so moisturise every day, sometimes twice depending if I shower early morning or later in the day.
It's really horrible when legs are hairy.

So I do it for my convenience.
Not because my OH says he will leave me if I don't.
Not because some ignorant oiks on a train or bus might laugh at me.
Not because society dictates that I should.

It's my body, my choice.

Georgiegirl256

onlyroz wrote: »

Why is it unhygienic and smelly for a woman to have hairy armpits but not for a man?.

Tbh, I think it's similar for both sexes in that both men and women feel more comfortable and look cleaner with less underarm hair. My husband is very hairy, and is always getting me to give him a trim. If he left it to just grow, it would be that long that you could plait it, I kid you not. So he gets me to trim it right down but not shaved because of the itch that comes with that.

So obviously there's less hair there to get soaked in sweat (if he's doing something energetic/manual work, not because he's excessively sweaty!) and so it's more comfortable for him, and sweeter smelling for everyone else.

A lot of men groom their body hair nowadays, and I think a lot of women prefer that nowadays and possibly would judge someone who had Sherwood Forest coming out of their armpits. It's just that it's more socially acceptable for a man to be hairy, because men are meant to be and women aren't, it's just how nature has evolved. Men the hunters and gatherers and women taking care of the house and children.

So people don't really think much of it if a man is smelling non too sweetly (due to hardwork of course, not lack of hygiene :eek: ), but people are used to women smelling all sweet and lovely and therefore consider underarm hair to be dirty, unhygienic and unkempt. That's just my theory on it anyhow?

pinkandblueshoe

What people do with their own bodies is entirely their choice. I dont care if someone waxes or shaves every single day in life or doesn't remove their body hair. It's their choice. But going back to posts where it's being said that people would look at someone and if they had body hair it would look as if it smelled, well all I can say is, if someone saw my legs after I had a run in with some razors that left me with welts or hair removing cream that left me with a horrible unsightly rash, if you saw my legs then, you might be thinking, look at the state of her.

The fact is, people will always judge you on something, weight, looks, body hair. You see articles in the press where people have lost loads of weight and comments with others saying, still fat. Stunning people getting picked apart. I think as a nation, the UK really has a habit of knocking other people down. Of course you will always get exceptions to that, but I think we are a very critical nation on the whole.

What someone does with their body hair is their business, not mine. What I do with my body hair is my business, not theirs.

pinkandblueshoe

Many women do jobs that won't mean they smell all sweet and lovely. You'll get women mechanics, women fitness instructors, personal trainers, firefighters, police officers. Unless someone is sat at a desk doing a job, which some people do but not everyone, it's fair to say that many women will get dirty and sweaty as a result of the job they do.

Some people don't smell sweet because they don't wash, or they don't wash their clothes or because they have a body odour problem, which isn't always linked to bad hygiene.

I actually don't prefer men to be shaved or trimmed. Ive never known any man to trim their armpit hair, of course that's personal preference and it's also to do with how hairy someone is.

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If you aren't in a relationship with someone where there's a difference of opinion about how hairy you should be, what does it matter whether some random person removes their body hair or not?

Patchwork_Girl

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But, as others have pointed out, we are talking more about underarm and leg hair here and there is a definite double standard!

pinkandblueshoe

I think there's a massive double standard and if it boils down to a case of women are meant to smell of sugar and spice and all things nice, what year are we living in? 1872?

We are all different. Some women will be hair free, some not, some will be happy with anti perspirant on in the morning, others will use all sorts of perfumes and body lotions and there will be many different combinations in between.

If I go for a run, I can assure people at the end I smell rank. Id smell rank if I had body hair, but Id also smell rank if I had no body hair. Its not the hair that makes me smell, its the sweat and all I need to do to deal with that is have a shower and change my clothes.

Society dictates that women should shave, nothing else. In other cultures body hair won't be seen as gross.

If someone was seriously ill and couldn't shave and had a partner who told them shave or divorce, Id be thanking my lucky stars that divorce was on the cards.

Georgiegirl256

pinkandblueshoe wrote: »

Many women do jobs that won't mean they smell all sweet and lovely.

pinkandblueshoe wrote: »

I think there's a massive double standard and if it boils down to a case of women are meant to smell of sugar and spice and all things nice, what year are we living in? 1872?
.

Well you know that and I know that, I'm just saying that's how some people's minds still work.