Can girls be beautiful if

they don't shave their leg and underarm hair?

(I am one of these girls so keep the cries of disgust to a dull roar please). I ask because I'm feeling much happier about my body since I've slimmed down a bit and I'd love to do something goofy/fun/sexy like burlesque but in all honesty, could I show my body on stage if I don't shave (and I probably won't shave, it's the last frontier. We're allowed to be fat now, why can't we leave hair where it grows?!!!!!!)

Isn't that a European trait for some people? I believe the US has a small portion of people that choose not to, but I believe it's all personal choice anyway. No one else has a say so in that, unless your family or significant other has a good argument about it.

To each his own - live and let live - and all those other cliche's that tout about it.


~katie

This is bordering on the TMI Thread, but what the hey.

I shave, because I personally prefer the feel of smooth pits. But as dark as my hair is, I have five o'clock shadow permanently, so I still feel self conscious about my armpits in public.

And that is annoying. Nothing to do about it though.

I have that too, it's so annoying.

It really depends on if you are asking Men or Women. Most men would probably not really think much about it. Women in general are much more... finicky, about themselves and other women (from an aesthetic perspective). Of course, this is only a generality, and there are excepts, but for my part, I don't think it detracts at all.

and this whole european thing.

im european, its not a european thing and hasnt been for a long time.

oh - i just caught the burlesque thing ...

I AM in a burlesque troop and while we have girls of all types and sizes, I've never seen an unshaven/waxed girl.

I would think the majority of the crowd wouldn't react too kindly to a hairy dancer.

I prefer women with shaved legs and underarms.

Yes, we can be beautiful. My husband still gives me action if I haven't shaved. It's not a big deal. I don't let it grow out like his body hair does, but a little stubble never ruined a good time for us.

I think that since women have less body hair than men, we end up removing a little more hair to look more feminine. However, in my personal belief, if you remove *too much* hair a woman starts to look like a child, and when that becomes sexy, that becomes sick in my mind.

I shave my pits because the deodorant sticks better. I shave my legs more in the summer than in winter because I don't want to explain why I don't if anyone notices. The rest does not get shaven. I might give it a little trim, but I have gotten some nick names over the years for my refusal to shave it. It itches like hell when it grows back in, so I am not trying that ever again.

I'll echo the "Beautiful, yes; sexy, no" sentiment. I like things smooth.

Sure... until fairly recently, western culture didn't have nearly the obsession with removing every bit of body hair that we currently do. For example, check out Sophia Loren. She has always been considered a great beauty, in Italy and around the world. Look her up! She sported armpit hair in all her glamorous photos:



And more recently, Julia Roberts

GROSS.......

they don't shave their leg and underarm hair?

(I am one of these girls so keep the cries of disgust to a dull roar please). I ask because I'm feeling much happier about my body since I've slimmed down a bit and I'd love to do something goofy/fun/sexy like burlesque but in all honesty, could I show my body on stage if I don't shave (and I probably won't shave, it's the last frontier. We're allowed to be fat now, why can't we leave hair where it grows?!!!!!!)

Move to France.

That is such a myth. HARDLY any French women don't remove their underarm and leg hair. They WAX. shaving is for amateurs.

Move to the Yukon!! Hehe

We have a celebration every winter and there are lots of silly contests. One of them is "The Hairy Leg Contest" where you go on stage and show off your hairy legs! We love it.

(I shave personally. I enjoy being smooth. Even when I am single I just don't personally like the feel of hair, especially on my legs)

Good for Julia Roberts imo.

It seems to me that the more opportunities women have in the workplace, the closer we get to equal pay, the more childcare duties fathers take on 'as a norm'............ the MORE WORK WOMEN HAVE TO DO TO BE CONSIDERED FEMININE.

We (as a gender) change our hair, our eyebrows, tint our lashes, whiten our teeth, bleach our upper lip! remove underarm hair. WE exfoliate, moisturise, blah blah blah blah blah.

I don't do all of this, but I succumb to pressure to do some of it. like pteale, I also feel conflcted that I feel obliged to do some of these things.

I shave below the knee and that's it - and even that's fairly irregular and down to personal preference. I stopped shaving my underarms last year because I prefer them that way (they're all soft and strokeable now :laugh: ) plus I didn't want to be manipulated by other people's ideals of beauty anymore - everyone's fed a certain ideal from such a young age that it eventually complete manipulates the psyche to the point we get grossed out by something normal like female body hair.

I've yet to have anyone pass out in shock at the swimming pool at the sight of my hairy pits and my husband still finds me sexy as anything so it's all good

I don't shave my legs ( I don't need to, they aren't that hairy and most people don't believe me when I say I don't because they are still so soft and smooth)

But I do shave my pits because I personally can't stand the look of hair under there.

but to each its and own and more power to you if you can feel sexy and beautiful with not shaving legs or pit.

and don't care about whether or not a guy finds it beautiful. You'll eventually find a guy who either does or doesn't care.

Me too. ANd I find that the underarm hair makes me smell more. But I never had any hair above the knee, and every year my leg hair just falls out, so there just isn't enough to bother. I have one small patch of hair left on my knee, so I shave every few months.

My theory: men (speaking generally) want women to look like little girls because it make us easier to control. Not that they consciously think this, it just seems to be human nature. That explains why ideals of beauty in women involve shaving, makeup, and all sorts of other things, which I believe have been defined and dictated by men. Personally I view not shaving, wearing makeup and shoes I can barely walk in as a moral issue, although I admit I do shave in the summer because I don't want to draw attention to myself.