Hair! a manifesto.
So I stopped shaving less than a year ago. I stopped mid-way through summer last year because, ultimately, the answer to the question of why I shaved wasn't "for myself." I was doing it because I was afraid of what people would think of me if I didn't, and that is a shit-ass reason do do anything.
I never really questioned it before. My first time shaving my legs was in a fit of anxiety because I was going swimming later that day and I didn't want other people to judge me, or not like me. It took forever and I missed great patches so I ended up not swimming anyway.
I remember the first time I became consciously aware of my arm pit hair, it was earlier than my leg hair. I was in the locker room of my summer camp drying off and I liftee up my arm and there was this golden tuft, so I dried it off and probably went home later that day and stole my mom's razor blade to remove it.
And so, and on it went.. I would never hardly shave unless I was going to be exposing my legs, because society and mass media explicitly and implicitly say: girls seen should be girls hairless. It's an expensive habit, even as infrequently as I did it.
And I did it, until. Until I started spending time with a girl named Kayla an she was crazy and vegetarian and cut all her hair off and said fuck you world, I'm going to be happy. And she didn't shave. All the other bits were normal things in my world view. But hair? On a secure woman? Wasn't she ostracized for it? It was always my sort of implicit belief that if I allowed my hair to show that the world would shun me, and I felt like I had enough trouble making friends as it was.
So I asked myself. Self, why do you shave? And I couldn't come up with any real reasons. Smooth skin is nice for a couple hours after shaving, but stubble was the bane of my existence. I could get away without deodorant more if I shaved my armpits. Society said I should. So I stopped.
(I also thought too hard and got this uncomfortable tinge of society putting sexual value on the Infantalization of women and I don't want to help perpetuate that)
And it is pretty cool. I really like the halo of hair my legs have when I sun them now. My legs are soft and warm in the winter. The little tufts of hair that spill over my shirtsleeves sometimes make me feel adventurous and atypical.
The only, only people who comment on my body hair are other girls. I've gotten a lot of dirty hippie comments from everyone, but the only people who have told me "Gross, you should shave that", or something along those lines, are other women. The most telling thing I ever heard another woman say was after she stared dating something. We were talking about shaving and how I didn't, and she said "I can't get away with that now". There's this perception that men can only want the images we see on TV. And the thing is? I'm not that image. I'm a person, I have at least Three dimensions and more if you want to get all metaphorical on me.
And guys get that, from men men I've either gotten no comments (from the guy who only knew me after I stopped) or "your legs are softer now" (from the guy who I slept with before an after).
So I don't shave (I trim but that's just being polite ;)). And I think you should think about why you do or don't. And I think it's cool either way. Bare legs are hot. Hairy legs are hot. Being alive is Hot.
You are hot.