I Will Not Shave My Legs
For the first time, in December 2019, I shaved my legs.
I was preparing for detty December like every other fun-loving privileged person. I have always been averse to the idea of shaving one’s leg hairs, I have a lot of it and constant attempts at shaming me into shaving it always met with deaf ears.
Here comes December ’19 with lots of ads on my Instagram from a particular depilatory cream brand with two of my favorite lifestyle bloggers advertising for them as well. I gave in and decided to shave my legs, to see what it felt like.
I did not feel good. I felt exposed. Naked. My legs looked to me like a defeathered chicken; frail and unattractive. My friends had different opinions however, “you look great!” said one, “your legs are so sexy!” said another, but I did not feel these things.
I felt very vulnerable, are the hairs not there to protect my legs, can I even wear shorts with my legs stripped of their protective gear? I felt safer with my leg hairs, better too.
“Look how hairy your legs are, like that of a man.” This was said to me by a man, while trying to touch my legs as if that would make his point clearer. This is how most people view leg hairs; like a masculine thing, something that somehow waters down the feminity of a woman.
Sometime in November of 2019, a woman posted on Twitter, showing off her footwear, her hairy legs were visible in the picture and a man commented something that looked like, “if the beginning of your street looks like this how will the cul-de-sac look.” How offensive!
These creams guarantee smooth legs for up to seven days, at most, ten days. I cannot imagine having to shave my legs every ten days and when I don’t, I have to wear trousers or maxi skirts to cover my legs, so as not to get unsolicited comments from Ill-mannered people.
I once read an article where the writer kept telling his readers how he couldn’t have sex with a woman if her legs weren’t shaved, “it’ll rub against me,” he said, “I’ll feel like I’m having sex with a man.” Again, classifying leg hairs as a masculine composition.
Today, the media has the biggest influence on our thoughts and opinions, whether you like it or not. The media unfortunately portrays shaved and shiny legs as the way our legs should look. In this beautiful trend of high slit dresses, what do hairy women do? Shave their legs so they’re not left out of the, “legsss,” “look at those glowing legs,” comments. Not join the trend and just admire from the audience?
In my confusion on how to go about my legs, I found a post by a fashion and lifestyle blogger on Instagram talking about how shaving her legs made her feel weird and uncomfortable and I related to that post, heavily. I went through the comments and there were lots of young women talking about their hairy legs, how they don’t shave, and not unsurprisingly, how they constantly got comments about their legs.
December 2020 is here, no, I will not be shaving my legs, no, I did not try shaving it after the first time, and a loud yes to wearing shorts and high slit dresses with my hairy legs because variety is the spice of life.
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