Shaving legs?
- Thread starter gggg75
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Heya gggg75
Shaving legs really depends on your attitude. I'm 44 live in Africa, and although I don't shave I wax my legs and I see nothing wrong with it. It's my preference, I find it more sensual for one thing, I find it more visually attractive for another. I don't like seeing women for example with hairy armpits, and why would those same women who shave their armpits find that armpit hair to be attractive on men? There is a double standard being set saying it's Okay and fashionable for women to have to shave their arm pits and legs, but it's not okay for men to do so. Those attitudes are changing.
I don't have a lot of body hair anyway, but there are however some really hairy men out there, and to be honest seeing them "shaved" looks odd, it doesn't suit their overall appearance, so leg and armpit shaving isn't going to be for everyone.
It became fashionable 30 years ago for swimmers and cyclists to shave their legs and armpits, partly in an effort to gain a competitive edge in their sport, and partly to look tidier for television cameras. It has slowly taken off since then and I noticed in my last trip to Europe that it was actually not uncommon to see men shaved. The setback for men who prefered to shave, has been the unfair labelling of them by the homophobic, but with more tolerence of gays and gay culture it's becoming more fashionable for men to present a tidy appearence, of their body hair, as has been expected of women for some time. The new fashion of wearing baggy pants that are worn on the groin as it were, dictates that young peope are certainly going to have to shave down there, or be had up for public exposure offences lol
So my opinion is that I prefer to do it and to see it, but it's up to the individual, for those youngsters out there that want to stay as young as they can for as long as they can, well, a mass of body hair gives an older appearance, so if to stay looking younger for longer means shaving or waxing, I say go for it.
Shaving legs really depends on your attitude. I'm 44 live in Africa, and although I don't shave I wax my legs and I see nothing wrong with it. It's my preference, I find it more sensual for one thing, I find it more visually attractive for another. I don't like seeing women for example with hairy armpits, and why would those same women who shave their armpits find that armpit hair to be attractive on men? There is a double standard being set saying it's Okay and fashionable for women to have to shave their arm pits and legs, but it's not okay for men to do so. Those attitudes are changing.
I don't have a lot of body hair anyway, but there are however some really hairy men out there, and to be honest seeing them "shaved" looks odd, it doesn't suit their overall appearance, so leg and armpit shaving isn't going to be for everyone.
It became fashionable 30 years ago for swimmers and cyclists to shave their legs and armpits, partly in an effort to gain a competitive edge in their sport, and partly to look tidier for television cameras. It has slowly taken off since then and I noticed in my last trip to Europe that it was actually not uncommon to see men shaved. The setback for men who prefered to shave, has been the unfair labelling of them by the homophobic, but with more tolerence of gays and gay culture it's becoming more fashionable for men to present a tidy appearence, of their body hair, as has been expected of women for some time. The new fashion of wearing baggy pants that are worn on the groin as it were, dictates that young peope are certainly going to have to shave down there, or be had up for public exposure offences lol
So my opinion is that I prefer to do it and to see it, but it's up to the individual, for those youngsters out there that want to stay as young as they can for as long as they can, well, a mass of body hair gives an older appearance, so if to stay looking younger for longer means shaving or waxing, I say go for it.
Thanks for the great analysis hunt3ed,i'm thinking about doing it but although i'm by no means homophovic,I think that hairless makes men losing their different attitude towards women and the aura of being a traditional style of it.Don't you think we're mixing things up ? Whats your opinion ?
It's a trend I wish would go away. I think trimming is fine. But I like men with hair.
On another side of that...I have a lady friend who has to get her nipples waxed and arms lazered as she has more hair on her arms than I do. The thought of her hairy nipples makes me head directly to a bottle of Scotch!
On another side of that...I have a lady friend who has to get her nipples waxed and arms lazered as she has more hair on her arms than I do. The thought of her hairy nipples makes me head directly to a bottle of Scotch!
I have shaved my entire body several times, according to my own preference in a given period.
Now, I just trim my legs, I like them better like that as of lately.
Sometimes armpits, but I realize I sweat more like that, so I don't do it.
I don't have much chest hair, so I take out the rebels lol.
Balls and penis are always neat and shaved
Some friends when seeing my shaved (not trimmed) legs thought that was too gay, but I don't mind, I know what i am.
Now, I just trim my legs, I like them better like that as of lately.
Sometimes armpits, but I realize I sweat more like that, so I don't do it.
I don't have much chest hair, so I take out the rebels lol.
Balls and penis are always neat and shaved
Some friends when seeing my shaved (not trimmed) legs thought that was too gay, but I don't mind, I know what i am.
Not_Punny
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It's nothing new at all for men AND women. I cut and pasted the following interesting dissertation from a thread discussing this at "Talk about Nudism"
quote:
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] The practice of pubic hair removal goes back to the dawn of civilization. To early Egyptians, a smooth and hairless body was the standard of beauty. The practice first gained total acceptance when it was practiced by the wife of Farao; afterwards, every upper class Egyptian woman made sure there was not a single hair on her body with the exception of her head. They used primitive depilatory creams and a form of waxing that utilized a sticky emulsion of oil and honey - the forerunner of what we now call "sugaring."
The Greeks adopted the ideal of smoothness, capturing it over and again in their sculpture. Ancient Greek sculptures of women are universally clean-shaven, whereas the sculptures of men have pubic hair. The Greeks believed that a smooth, hairless body exemplified youth and beauty. In "Sexual Life in Ancient Greece" by Hans Licht, the author describes how the Greeks disapproved of women with pubic hair and considered it ugly. It was considered a sign of class distinction and subsequently all upper-class women and practiced pubic hair removal, as did many women of the lesser classes.
The Romans also disapproved of pubic hair; young girls began removing it as soon as the first hair appeared. They used tweezers, which they called the "volsella" as well as a kind of depilatory cream called the "philotrum" or "dropax" which was sometimes made with bryonia and foreshadowed modern depilatory creams. Waxing with resin or pitch was also used to depilate. Furthermore, the practice of pubic hair removal wasn't unique to Rome - it was practiced in even the most remote parts of the empire. Julius Caesar (101-44 BC) writes that, "The Britons shave every part of their body except their head and upper lip." It is reported that Poppaea, wife of the Roman Emperor Nero, used depilatory creams to remove unwanted body hair daily. At that time, the latest available creams included some wonderful ingredients like resin, pitch, white vine or ivy gum extract, ass' fat, she-goat's gall, bat's blood, and powdered viper.
Islam also has a long history of pubic hair removal. According to the Sunnah, every adult Muslim, as a part of keeping his/her body clean, should remove the hair from his pubic area and armpits. The hair may be removed through any method that one feels comfortable with. The spread of Islam brought the practice to India, Northern Africa, and the other vast areas of the world under Muslim influence. In 1520, Bassano de Zra wrote that "The Turks consider it sinful when a woman lets the hair on her private parts grow. As soon as a woman feels the hair is growing, she hurries to the public bath to have it removed or remove it herself." The public baths all had special rooms where the ladies could get rid of their hair. Even today, the hamams (public baths) still have special rooms for the ladies to depilate.
The returning Crusaders (1096-1270) brought the practice back to Europe. In many European castles built between 1200 and 1600 AD, a special room was constructed where the ladies of the court could gather to shave. During the Renaissance, the practice of pubic hair removal flourished. Sixteenth and seventeenth century artists portrayed women as having little or no pubic hair. The work of Rubens, whose models typified the ideal in feminine beauty at the time, most dramatically reveals this.
The habit of depilating started to wane (publicly at least) during the reign of Catherine de Medici (1547-1589) who was then queen of France and something of a religious zealot. She forbade her ladies in waiting to remove their pubic hair any longer; however, it was still widely practiced until the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) and the smothering prudishness of the "Victorian Era." Even then, it remained popular in private, especially for the ruling classes. There is some photographic evidence ranging from the time of the Civil War to the "blue movies" of the 1920s and 30s that shows that the amount of pubic hair during that time varied from full to none. Even though repressed by the outward morality of the era, it appears pubic shaving never disappeared but instead more appropriately went underground.
The modern industrial age saw the rise of such razor manufacturers as Gillette, Schick, and Wilkinson. With the availability of cheap, quality razors, the practice of women removing their body hair became more publicly acceptable again. When women's clothing styles began showing bare arms and legs in the 1920s, leg and underarm shaving followed immediately. In fact, armpit shaving was not common until May of 1915 when Harper's Bazaar magazine featured a model in a sleeveless evening gown that showed her bare shoulders and hairless armpits. Shortly thereafter, Wilkinson Sword launched an advertising campaign to convince women that underarm hair was "unhygienic and unfeminine." Sales of razors doubled in two years, perhaps the result of pent-up demand.
With leg and underarm shaving now publicly accepted, it wasn't too long until pubic shaving was once again more widely, and publicly, practiced. With the advent of the bikini, there became a need to remove "bikini line" hair. From the bikini line to complete hairlessness was not a large step, and pubic shaving began to be widely practiced again in the 1960s. A quick scan of Playboy and Penthouse magazines over the last few decades will show that full bushes in the early 1970s trended towards the little or no hair that is common today.
These days, there is far more public acceptance of pubic shaving. In spite of years of religious constraints and hysterical comparisons with pedophilia, pubic shaving is becoming generally accepted. After all, a large portion of the world's population practices it for religious reasons, and another large potion for esthetic and hygienic reasons. Besides, it's hard to shave your underarms and legs and then chastise someone else for shaving their pubic area. What's the difference? Body adornment/enhancement has been with us since we lived in caves. It's part of who we are. Enjoy it.
unquote
[/FONT][/FONT]
quote:
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] The practice of pubic hair removal goes back to the dawn of civilization. To early Egyptians, a smooth and hairless body was the standard of beauty. The practice first gained total acceptance when it was practiced by the wife of Farao; afterwards, every upper class Egyptian woman made sure there was not a single hair on her body with the exception of her head. They used primitive depilatory creams and a form of waxing that utilized a sticky emulsion of oil and honey - the forerunner of what we now call "sugaring."
The Greeks adopted the ideal of smoothness, capturing it over and again in their sculpture. Ancient Greek sculptures of women are universally clean-shaven, whereas the sculptures of men have pubic hair. The Greeks believed that a smooth, hairless body exemplified youth and beauty. In "Sexual Life in Ancient Greece" by Hans Licht, the author describes how the Greeks disapproved of women with pubic hair and considered it ugly. It was considered a sign of class distinction and subsequently all upper-class women and practiced pubic hair removal, as did many women of the lesser classes.
The Romans also disapproved of pubic hair; young girls began removing it as soon as the first hair appeared. They used tweezers, which they called the "volsella" as well as a kind of depilatory cream called the "philotrum" or "dropax" which was sometimes made with bryonia and foreshadowed modern depilatory creams. Waxing with resin or pitch was also used to depilate. Furthermore, the practice of pubic hair removal wasn't unique to Rome - it was practiced in even the most remote parts of the empire. Julius Caesar (101-44 BC) writes that, "The Britons shave every part of their body except their head and upper lip." It is reported that Poppaea, wife of the Roman Emperor Nero, used depilatory creams to remove unwanted body hair daily. At that time, the latest available creams included some wonderful ingredients like resin, pitch, white vine or ivy gum extract, ass' fat, she-goat's gall, bat's blood, and powdered viper.
Islam also has a long history of pubic hair removal. According to the Sunnah, every adult Muslim, as a part of keeping his/her body clean, should remove the hair from his pubic area and armpits. The hair may be removed through any method that one feels comfortable with. The spread of Islam brought the practice to India, Northern Africa, and the other vast areas of the world under Muslim influence. In 1520, Bassano de Zra wrote that "The Turks consider it sinful when a woman lets the hair on her private parts grow. As soon as a woman feels the hair is growing, she hurries to the public bath to have it removed or remove it herself." The public baths all had special rooms where the ladies could get rid of their hair. Even today, the hamams (public baths) still have special rooms for the ladies to depilate.
The returning Crusaders (1096-1270) brought the practice back to Europe. In many European castles built between 1200 and 1600 AD, a special room was constructed where the ladies of the court could gather to shave. During the Renaissance, the practice of pubic hair removal flourished. Sixteenth and seventeenth century artists portrayed women as having little or no pubic hair. The work of Rubens, whose models typified the ideal in feminine beauty at the time, most dramatically reveals this.
The habit of depilating started to wane (publicly at least) during the reign of Catherine de Medici (1547-1589) who was then queen of France and something of a religious zealot. She forbade her ladies in waiting to remove their pubic hair any longer; however, it was still widely practiced until the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) and the smothering prudishness of the "Victorian Era." Even then, it remained popular in private, especially for the ruling classes. There is some photographic evidence ranging from the time of the Civil War to the "blue movies" of the 1920s and 30s that shows that the amount of pubic hair during that time varied from full to none. Even though repressed by the outward morality of the era, it appears pubic shaving never disappeared but instead more appropriately went underground.
The modern industrial age saw the rise of such razor manufacturers as Gillette, Schick, and Wilkinson. With the availability of cheap, quality razors, the practice of women removing their body hair became more publicly acceptable again. When women's clothing styles began showing bare arms and legs in the 1920s, leg and underarm shaving followed immediately. In fact, armpit shaving was not common until May of 1915 when Harper's Bazaar magazine featured a model in a sleeveless evening gown that showed her bare shoulders and hairless armpits. Shortly thereafter, Wilkinson Sword launched an advertising campaign to convince women that underarm hair was "unhygienic and unfeminine." Sales of razors doubled in two years, perhaps the result of pent-up demand.
With leg and underarm shaving now publicly accepted, it wasn't too long until pubic shaving was once again more widely, and publicly, practiced. With the advent of the bikini, there became a need to remove "bikini line" hair. From the bikini line to complete hairlessness was not a large step, and pubic shaving began to be widely practiced again in the 1960s. A quick scan of Playboy and Penthouse magazines over the last few decades will show that full bushes in the early 1970s trended towards the little or no hair that is common today.
These days, there is far more public acceptance of pubic shaving. In spite of years of religious constraints and hysterical comparisons with pedophilia, pubic shaving is becoming generally accepted. After all, a large portion of the world's population practices it for religious reasons, and another large potion for esthetic and hygienic reasons. Besides, it's hard to shave your underarms and legs and then chastise someone else for shaving their pubic area. What's the difference? Body adornment/enhancement has been with us since we lived in caves. It's part of who we are. Enjoy it.
unquote
[/FONT][/FONT]
huw ginnit
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When it comes down to your own body, I say do what makes you happy, put bolts through fleshy parts if you choose, bleach and dye the hairy parts if you choose, and deal with YOUR body hair however you see fit.
As for men removing hair, why in the world anyone sees it as more or less manly I do not understand. Sumo wrestlers have smooth bodies and they don't look fey or weak to me....
I remove body hair as my wish dictates, I always remove it all for holidays sunbathing etc as I like the look and feel of smooth tanned healthy looking skin, back home in colder climes, the sensation of goosebumps with stubble is not fun so tend to leave it, but then for the change might just Veet/Nair/Nads it off... I make my rules not anyone else, fashion, society or convention...
Never let anyone tell you what is right when it comes to your own body, grow it long enough to plait should you wish, wax it bald if thats your thing. The most beautiful thing in the world is someone at ease with themselves. Whether thats as a hairy woman or a smooth bodied man.
Be happy, be free, be yourself!
As for men removing hair, why in the world anyone sees it as more or less manly I do not understand. Sumo wrestlers have smooth bodies and they don't look fey or weak to me....
I remove body hair as my wish dictates, I always remove it all for holidays sunbathing etc as I like the look and feel of smooth tanned healthy looking skin, back home in colder climes, the sensation of goosebumps with stubble is not fun so tend to leave it, but then for the change might just Veet/Nair/Nads it off... I make my rules not anyone else, fashion, society or convention...
Never let anyone tell you what is right when it comes to your own body, grow it long enough to plait should you wish, wax it bald if thats your thing. The most beautiful thing in the world is someone at ease with themselves. Whether thats as a hairy woman or a smooth bodied man.
Be happy, be free, be yourself!
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You took the words right out of my mouth.
Of course - all of this relates directly to when and where You grew up. I was raised in the U.S. during a generation where women removed body hair & men didn't. To my eyes - this is the norm.
I can see men shaving their bods if it's for a reason - like swimmers doing it to be more "aerodynamic" in the water.
...But IMHO most men should not be permitted to use a razor below their necks. It's one thing for a man's chest to be naturally smooth, but when they shave it, it invariably gets that razor-bumpy plucked chicken look.
As for legs - does anything look stranger than a steriody gorilla-bod gymbunny with shaved legs?
Armpits? we won't even go there...
By the opposite token - a woman with hairy legs & armpits (shudder...)
Like I said - this was the cultural norm when & where I grew up, so it's the norm to my eyes.
I guess I would be ok with some hairy legs and armpits on a lady...but the hairy nipples no. I can appreciate a woman's body without being attracted to it.
I totally respect those who desire to be hairless...there again, it's an attraction thing not associated with masculine or feminine. I've always been attracted to men with hairy chests and legs. OH and that hairy spot in the small of a mans back makes me melt like butter. Some say it traps body odor. Keep it clean...use the right soap and let it smell like a good clean, natural body. Good clean pheremones are a GREAT thing...
I totally respect those who desire to be hairless...there again, it's an attraction thing not associated with masculine or feminine. I've always been attracted to men with hairy chests and legs. OH and that hairy spot in the small of a mans back makes me melt like butter. Some say it traps body odor. Keep it clean...use the right soap and let it smell like a good clean, natural body. Good clean pheremones are a GREAT thing...
huw ginnit
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Can we change the word "Norm"-al, for common, or typical, or most usual.
What is normal. it wasn't that long ago that Gay men were seen as un-normal, that disabled people were abnormal... when we start accepting what is predominant as what is "Normal" we do ourselves an injustice. We are varied, diverse, and INDIVIUAL.
Allowing a form personal expression might not be your taste but it most certainly isn't your place to dictate what others should and shouldn't do.
I might disagree with your statement, but I will fight to the death for you to be able to make it....
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IMHO = "In My Humble Opinion." That was an opinion based on about 40% cultural & societal influence and about 60% personal preferance. It was not a dictation....And it "most certainly isn't Your place to dictate" that I shouldn't express my opinion.
Principessa
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I am so sick of this shaving trend! Unless you're in a sport where you need to shave your arms or legs to remain aerodynamic or whatever keep the darned razor away.
I do prefer to suck shaved balls as opposed to hairy ones; but I'm not going to let a little hair stop me from enjoying some cock and ball worship.
I don't mind a trimmed pubic region on a man but some guys look a little pre-pubescent which can be a bit off putting.
IMHO real men do not shave their legs or arms.:smile:
What NJ said - men are hairier than women that's part of their attraction. I don't want to be in bed with a man with less body hair than I have.
Aitch, I was watching a program on breasts the other night which said that 20% of women have problem nipple hair, but it's a very taboo subject that they won't talk about, the program also said that of the men they polled a lot of them were aware of this.
Aitch, I was watching a program on breasts the other night which said that 20% of women have problem nipple hair, but it's a very taboo subject that they won't talk about, the program also said that of the men they polled a lot of them were aware of this.
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