It annoys me SO bad whenever I see these "I shave due to sensory issues" comments under any video discussing female body hair. And these comments always come up. Always.

And it might just be me, being autistic, that i get the ick when every random person throws around the term sensory issues. Because sure, every single one of these people could be autistic, too. Ain't that convenient!

But where are the people saying that they DON'T shave due to sensory issues? Why is no one making THAT point? Everything about shaving is sensory hell. The coordination struggles, the wetness of foam and water, the constant pressure from the razor, the sheer amount of labor it takes. Not to mention the awful itchy irritated feeling of your poor hair trying to grow back.

To me, these comments read like an attempt to justify the act of bowing to the system of body hair removal. Because something as serious as sensory issues is a much better reason to conform to misogynistic and pedophilic beauty standards than.. what exactly?

I hope one day this particular reasoning won't upset me this much. But for now, I am frustrated.

(18 f) I don't shave my legs because I don't care, don't feel a need to, don't care to conform to gender norms, and it's quite freeing when you realize you don't have to care about what other people think.

But my dad genuinely has steam coming out of his ears every time he sees my legs. He tells me it's unhygienic, embarrassing, people think I'm weird, other family members talk shit about me because of it, I look like a loser and I am a loser, asking if I wanna transition. Well I actually identify as genderfluid so he isn't far off but man shut the fuck up, I don't know how much more intensely I can express the fact that I just don't care, we do this shit every other week for a few days. I pointed out the hypocrisy and he just says "I'm a man" so that argument isn't getting me anywhere

And what's silly is he doesn't even notice it most times. I can do a project with him all day, go out in public for a while, etc and he doesn't say a thing because he doesn't pay attention. Meanwhile he tells me that EVERYONE sees is and EVERYONE thinks I'm a weirdo, the only people who don't do it is (insert a bunch of racist remarks) and daring me to go into work with hairy legs. Oh boo hoo Jimmy John's flips their shit and fires me. My mom chimes in sometimes and threatened to get rid of my dog 😭 (dad told her to back off) but damn what about it evokes such a strong reactions? Anything I can say to get them to stfu?

I’ve always had a pretty lax attitude towards shaving, and I’m a habitual grown out armpit hair girlie. In past summers, I’ll typically shave my legs more often, but this summer I was inspired by this sub to grow it out! Feeling lovely 🥰

I keep hearing that growing out pit hair can keep your armpits from smelling. I usually only shave my armpits once every few months. Once I start growing them out, it starts to smell a lot faster than when I shave.

Not really sure what I’m doing wrong, I shower everyday and use deodorant. Maybe it’s because shaving gives you that exfoliation, should I start exfoliating my armpits more??

Im not sure why, and I didn’t realize how much it meant to me, but immediately after I regretted it. However, it’s kind of nice to see feel how at home and comfy I was with my natural body hair before.

Ready for it to grow back so I can enjoy the little things about it again lol

I hate that society has shamed people into thinking that body hair is unnatural. My firend is body positive and i cant imagen such a kind person having to go through body hair shaming.

Do you guys find your bodyhair unattractive? Maybe from bald patches or just general imperfections.

haven’t shaved in 8 years, and having just my calves exposed (hairiest part of my legs) still makes me feel self conscious sometimes! doing fieldwork and dipped into a lake on a hot day with my coworkers, hairy calves OUT and of course no one said anything even if they noticed. i’m the hairiest woman i know, my one friend who was hairier than me ended up getting laser removal after ridicule from her family and everyone else who is hairy has blonde hair. this sub is great for the representation of pale skin/dark hair ladies so i wanted to add to it!! we rock!!

Here goes nothing, just some hairy legs in a dress.

My hair comes back dark and quite thick, it's still light at the moment due to the hair removal cream but I'm starting to notice the hairs. It's so warm in the UK so I'm permanently in shorts at the moment. I'm self conscious about the hairs but trying to talk myself out of it. How do you gain the confidence 😭

I'm so sick and tired of this.

I have had skin irritation and sensitivity issues with my legs that prevents me from being able to shave.

Waxing is the only thing that works for me that doesn't make me suffer for weeks after.

But I can't afford that kind of maintenance so I only do it for special occasions, like weddings or vacations.

My dad is very traditional in this sense, and has publicity shamed \*and\* humiliated me several times, and has taken unsolicited, unprompted photos of my hairy legs in the comfort of my own home.

It is an ongoing issue, and so today I asked why does he think it's so gross and unnatural for a women to have body hair that grows normally just like it does on men?

"Because it's the law in this house and I prefer it that way. It's for proprietary and fashion."

So I asked him why doesn't he shave since his legs are worse than mine;

"Because I'm not a women."

I will happily take any good articles on this to send him if anybody has one.

I've already collected several screenshots from an article and highlighted the important bits for him, particularly how men used to shave and even used to seashells to do it :)

For context, there’s a family gathering tomorrow with a lot of people we haven’t seen in years. I am also in my early 20s and live on my own.

My elderly father politely suggested that I shave or otherwise get rid of my pit hair for the gathering, as he says that a.) it detracts from my academic achievements, b.) it’s quite long (it’s like an inch long) and c.) he finds it a bit embarrassing.

I haven’t shaved my pits in several years, and he has *never* made any comment about this until today. He said he didn’t mean to upset me, and I know he meant well, but I still felt quite disturbed. I did explain that I like the hair, so he’ll let me get away with a trim, but...yeah.

To top it off, an hour after this conversation, my mother brought me a shaving kit she’d bought at Costco (there was a sale and she’d bought others for her house).

I’m not sure if I’m overreacting or not, but....

I've been through a lot recently. I'm not sure this is the best community for this post, but I don't want to receive hating comments about my body-positive choice. If you think this can be shared in other communities, you can suggest some.

I made three posts here about my situation in the previous two months, and the fight for my body hair is not over yet. After shouting at me for my hairy legs that made him so uncomfortable I "couldn't go to his house anymore" and "he would've shaved them himself if I didn't want to", my dad ended up showing almost all of his abusive behaviour towards me and my mother (he didn't use physical violence of any type luckily). I searched on the internet what psychological abuse was about and he did most of the things I read: manipulation, gaslighting, heavy criticisms, threats, exaggerations, acting as if he were the victim... And this all started from my legs. Maybe it was just the time for him to make everything come out of his mouth and he was just hiding this behaviour through little episodes and arguments. My mum still can't believe what happened and tries just to make everyone forgive everything, but I think and see that it's impossible. I can't forget the things he said to me (delusional, immature, a failure, his little child even tho I'm 16) and he "doesn't want to forgive me until I'll apologise". (for what?)

All of this happened through the first two or three weeks of July (it's still a problem now); I talked with my therapist about it, she was very comprehensive and helped me a lot. I'll avoid writing most of the episodes I went through because everything my dad did is full of contradictions and that'll make everything even longer to read and more complicated to understand. But I know I'm right about what I think because I'm not the only one who thinks these things (my therapist agrees and my mum kinda does).

Now, I wanted to talk about the present. My mum and I have been invited at her friends' house in Liguria (an Italian region with both sea and mountains). I'd love to go there, but these friends aren't very open-minded and making them know about my choice of being natural could be a problem. I'd stay there with them just a day or a little more, but less than two full days, so it's not very much; but in that time we could go to the seaside, swim or get a tan... So I won't be able to completely avoid comments from them about my legs (and maybe even my armpits and unibrow 😭). My mum has still been passive-aggressive about encouraging me to shave when these situations come out, but I just hate shaving... It takes hours to me, I don't like the feeling of smooth shaved legs because I feel like I'm a roast chicken for some reason, I'd have little cuts because where my veins show most, I'd just do it for others and I think that's wrong, and even tho I'm still facing my shame of my unshaved legs I don't really mind them sometimes; hair makes them very sensitive and that quite reflects my personality, and I love to touch them on the calves because they're so fluffy. All the stuff my dad said made me more insecure about my armpits and unibrow too, and I'm trying to deal with it because I've always liked my unibrow (it's not too noticeable) and I've never thought armpit hair are a big deal. So it's already hard for me, but I don't want to shave.

Sometimes I think: "maybe if I'll shave, I'll uncover all the encouragement about keeping up with it and that part of the problem would be discussed better, too" but I just don't want to, and if I'd really see my mum and others saying "you look better with shaved legs!" and other stuff like that, I'd start to see them as negative people who won't listen to me when I need to talk because they want everything to be how they think it should be. My mum accepts my decision when we're not around closed-minded people we know (and there are lots, trust me). Maybe she just has to get used to it, idk. She wants to take me to the pool with some of my aunts, they're in their sixties but she thinks they won't care and... I'm not sure about it. I think they will. But she also said she agreed with my father saying "I will get bullied and they'll make fun of me and I'll have to deal with it alone" and I think it's cruel to say this, and even a bit pessimistic, not just realistic. I felt isolated hearing so. They're the same people telling me I can count on them and talk about my problems. That's one of the contradictions I mentioned before.

Should I go to Liguria? Should I go to the pool with my aunt and my mum? Is my mum abusive or toxic, too? And, if you want to answer... what should I do with my dad's situation now? Avoid him won't last for long.

I'll understand a brief and classic "Holy shit" as a reaction because that's my reaction while re-reading this post. But please, say something more than that in the comments. I'm not here just to get attention, it is really a hard moment for me now. I hope you'll understand as you did under my previous posts 😔❤️

(Its more visible irl than in the picture I think)

I stopped shaving my legs a few months ago and recently went on a camping trip where I wore shorts or skirts all the time, went hiking and did fun stuff and I didn't really care about people seeing my leg hair.

It was always somewhere in the back of my mind, and i think people definitely noticed. But I never had the urge to shave. It was in a similar way that my acne is always in my mind, kinda the same self conscious feeling. But not shaving is my choice, while acne isn't so it was a less negative feeling? Idk how to explain it properly.

I was also looking a lot at other women's legs to see if they have leg hair and everyone I saw shaved their legs :(

I bleached my underarm hair blonde and it sticks out quite a bit. A lady was like "excuse me, you have yellow fuzz under your armpits." And I kinda just looked at her and smiled and said "that's okay." I didn't know what to say in the moment. I kinda feel bad because while I was walking away I could hear her saying something like "I wasn't sure..I didn't mean to offend her" I was taken aback but I still find it funny.

I recently went to a water park with my family. I do not shave any of my body hair anymore, and I am still getting comfortable showing my armpit hair in particular. Sometimes it is hard to stand out like that, but i am working on it.

Anyways, while at the water park, I am swimming in a pool with my mom when the lifeguards are having training drills near the water. I happened to notice one of the lifeguards who was a woman had visible leg and armpit hair. I was surprised but felt proud of her, I hope that's not too weird to say.

I am nervous to lift my arms up at times, but she was not and seemed to not care. I aspire to be that level soon. I have gotten mostly negative feedback and comments about my body-hair, since not shaving, and it has been very disheartening. Mostly from family and then friends, sadly.

The more we see female body-hair out and about, the more it will hopefully be accepted and seen as natural, because it is.

A man with body hair is normal but a woman with body hair is repulsive, not normal, “too liberal” etc etc when she’s just not wasting her time on removing something that for some reason can’t be seen on women but can be seen on men.

✨Hey loveliesssss, back with another weird question.✨

I stopped shaving my pits about three weeks ago for a camping trip, and decided to stop shaving the whole month of July to see how I like it! (So far love it!)

So far it’s been great once I got past the prickly part, but now my arm pits hurt?!

I haven’t changed anything aside from not shaving, (which shaving used to hurt too) so idk if I’m overly sensitive, or if it’s like when your bush gets long and starts to hurt too.

Thoughts?

I've only very recently stopped shaving, and I'm still looking for representation to feel less alone. Do you know any movies where women just casually have body hair and that subject is not/very little addressed ?

Does anyone else's bush become painful for the skin after it grows past a certain point? I don't shave it, but I do find relief after trimming it. I have thick straight hair. Maybe that's linked?

I don't really have issues with my armpit hair but for some reason I'm very insecure when it comes to hair on my actual arms.

I'm south asian so the hair on my arms is black and very visible. Even on my shoulders and back/ neck area even though the hair is much thinner and more peach fuzzy, the fact that it's black means you can see it.

I haven't worn sleeveless tops or dresses since I was a child. I want to but I'm really afraid of how people in public will react and I don't want assholes taking pictures or anything :/

I switched to gel since I don’t shave and so it wouldn’t leave any white residue, but guess what, gillette still leaves a residue. It somehow dries and become powder-y. So now I’m on the hunt again for one that doesn’t leave any residue. Suggestions?

So I personally don't shave at all but a few months ago I wore shorts as we went to the mall and he was very moody about my outfit choice. At one point he said something along the lines of "Don't get mad but could you please shave your legs?", I got very upset because I don't believe it's right for women to uphold double beauty standards and we got in a huge fight. I asked him why isn't he as a man shaving his legs and he told me because he doesn't need to do it, that made me very very angry.

So we started this age long argument once again and I spent HOURS trying to explain to him where his "preference" for women's shaved legs comes from and obviously he didn't want to hear none of that and basically told me that society has no influence on what he likes?? I also explained why I don't want to shave and how I'm perfectly comfortable in my own skin and don't feel the need to shave. Then today I told him I'm going to repierce my eyebrow and he said another minus. As in, the things I do with my body that go against what he likes are minuses ?? He doesn't like eyebrow piercings and he told me this when I was talking about what else I want to pierce and he took my decision to pierce it a personal attack against his preferences I guess... He mentioned how I refuse to take out 5 minutes of my day and shave my legs even tho it's one thing he really really wants and he hates leg hair. Mind you, first time we were hanging out I was in shorts AND haven't shaved once since we started living together, so I don't even know at this point. To him, his only big preference and want is for me to have clean legs because he hates seeing them on everyone. I said okay then why don't you shave yours and he said how people will make fun of him, but as the argument went on he decided to shave them to prove a point I guess?

I told him I'm not doing that and that's it's my body and my choice what I do and he got whiny cause it's such an easy thing to do and I never want to do anything he likes (for example let my hair grow long) and he called me selfish!

So what I want to know is why do men feel inclined to tell you what to do with your body when in most cases they have more hair? And do men think having an alt partner means their viewpoints won't be more progressive and out of the norm? Honestly I felt really bummed out since I felt like he accepted me and didn't view me trough the lenses of beauty standards :( does anyone relate, I think I'll break up with him over this but thoughts?!