How common is it to not shave legs/underarms...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:....among teen girls today? Mine is 16 and just doesn't want or see the need to. I think this may partially contribute to not wanting to wear skirts or dresses anymore, too? If that's just because she doesn't like dresses and skirts, or even shorts, anymore, fine; but if it's because of embarrassment about hairy legs, I'd like to know why/how to help address it.

If she were embarrassed wouldn’t she shave or whatever? My oldest and only girl just graduated from college. She very rarely shaves legs or underarms and was never into it. She’s very into fashion and sometimes wears elaborate makeup. Like me, she is fair and doesn’t have much hair, but she has said she wouldn’t change habits if she did. The only times she shaves or uses nair are if she’s going somewhere that she feels it would be upsetting to someone important to her. So for example, she will shave legs for a wedding, or if she’s doing something fancier with one set of grandparents. She generally DGAF what anyone thinks and does as she pleases.

I don’t think it’s about caring what other people think. I think it’s about basic grooming. I think it’s unattractive so I shave. I’m fair with no real hair on my legs but I shave under arms and it’s easy. You can dress fashionably with the best makeup but if you have hair coming out from under your arms it immediately downgrades the look. Same with grown men in tank tops. Nobody wants to see their underarms at a nice restaurant when you’re eating.

I was responding directly to a question as to whether OPs daughter doesn’t shave being related to embarrassment.

As to the rest, my daughter is living the supernova achievement existence that so many on DCUM want kids to pursue. She’s not missing out on anything academic/career, social, romantic. I’m not a social media fan, but given what a measure of attractiveness it’s considered to be, I’ll say she has a huge instagram following. It’s whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15yr old is blonde and only shaved her armpits and bikini area. Never the legs. She said today on the beach “you can really see my leg hair now that I am so tan” and then shrugged and went back to reading her book. She’s had a boyfriend for 7 months and it pretty girly girl.

It just doesn’t seem to be a thing she cares about and I love it

Curious - if she doesn't care about the leg hair, why does she care so much about the bikini line? That's the worst place to shave.

Thos is a creepy question.

It's not a creepy question. It's reasonable to ask why someone thinks some visible areas need to be shaved and others don't. I'm genuinely curious. and I'm not a creep.

It is a creepy question. No need to ask a 15 yo's ratioanle why she does or doesn't shave her bikini line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15yr old is blonde and only shaved her armpits and bikini area. Never the legs. She said today on the beach “you can really see my leg hair now that I am so tan” and then shrugged and went back to reading her book. She’s had a boyfriend for 7 months and it pretty girly girl.

It just doesn’t seem to be a thing she cares about and I love it

Curious - if she doesn't care about the leg hair, why does she care so much about the bikini line? That's the worst place to shave.

Thos is a creepy question.

It's not a creepy question. It's reasonable to ask why someone thinks some visible areas need to be shaved and others don't. I'm genuinely curious. and I'm not a creep.

It is a creepy question. No need to ask a 15 yo's ratioanle why she does or doesn't shave her bikini line.

You're the one with the weird obsession on one body area. Talking about shaving trends and the commenter brought bikini line up, not me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15yr old is blonde and only shaved her armpits and bikini area. Never the legs. She said today on the beach “you can really see my leg hair now that I am so tan” and then shrugged and went back to reading her book. She’s had a boyfriend for 7 months and it pretty girly girl.

It just doesn’t seem to be a thing she cares about and I love it

Curious - if she doesn't care about the leg hair, why does she care so much about the bikini line? That's the worst place to shave.

Thos is a creepy question.

It's not a creepy question. It's reasonable to ask why someone thinks some visible areas need to be shaved and others don't. I'm genuinely curious. and I'm not a creep.

It is a creepy question. No need to ask a 15 yo's ratioanle why she does or doesn't shave her bikini line.

You're the one with the weird obsession on one body area. Talking about shaving trends and the commenter brought bikini line up, not me.

So you're not the poster who's curious why a girl shaves her bikini area (no mention of her armpits) but doesn't shave her legs? I'm done. You're gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter shave pits and bikini area but not legs too. The hair on her legs gets blond in the summer but pits and bikini is darker. I am trying to convince her to do laser hair removal.

Gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 18yo daughter doesn't shave her legs. I'm sure it goes hand in hand with her declaration that she is non-binary. She shaves her underarms, but who knows, maybe that will stop, too.

Maybe she'll eventually realize that a woman's body is actually feminine, and decide that she can tolerate being binar, and not thinking that a natural, healthy woman's body isn't a valid woman's body. Or she might realize that but stay non-binary. Eithet way is nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:....among teen girls today? Mine is 16 and just doesn't want or see the need to. I think this may partially contribute to not wanting to wear skirts or dresses anymore, too? If that's just because she doesn't like dresses and skirts, or even shorts, anymore, fine; but if it's because of embarrassment about hairy legs, I'd like to know why/how to help address it.

If she were embarrassed wouldn’t she shave or whatever? My oldest and only girl just graduated from college. She very rarely shaves legs or underarms and was never into it. She’s very into fashion and sometimes wears elaborate makeup. Like me, she is fair and doesn’t have much hair, but she has said she wouldn’t change habits if she did. The only times she shaves or uses nair are if she’s going somewhere that she feels it would be upsetting to someone important to her. So for example, she will shave legs for a wedding, or if she’s doing something fancier with one set of grandparents. She generally DGAF what anyone thinks and does as she pleases.

I don’t think it’s about caring what other people think. I think it’s about basic grooming. I think it’s unattractive so I shave. I’m fair with no real hair on my legs but I shave under arms and it’s easy. You can dress fashionably with the best makeup but if you have hair coming out from under your arms it immediately downgrades the look. Same with grown men in tank tops. Nobody wants to see their underarms at a nice restaurant when you’re eating.

How can you fail to hold a thought in our head for a mere 10 seconds without losing it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Legs are ok. Underarms can smell really bad.

WTF? Has nothing to do with the hair.

From Google:

Hair can trap sweat and bacteria, providing an environment for odour to develop. Removing or trimming body hair could help reduce bacterial growth and improve the effectiveness of deodorant or antiperspirant.

I believe it. It’s so gross to see a grown man in a tank top and he raises his arm to show globs of deodorant and sweat. Just nasty. It can happen to girls too if they are really hairy. I saw one young woman with the most beautiful white dress and her hair was made up flawlessly. Then she moved her arm and had long hairy armpits. It just killed the look.

Not sure what you think she wants tou looking at her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 18yo daughter doesn't shave her legs. I'm sure it goes hand in hand with her declaration that she is non-binary. She shaves her underarms, but who knows, maybe that will stop, too.

I truly hope you respect your child’s identity and pronouns to their face….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 18yo daughter doesn't shave her legs. I'm sure it goes hand in hand with her declaration that she is non-binary. She shaves her underarms, but who knows, maybe that will stop, too.

I truly hope you respect your child’s identity and pronouns to their face….

You can be non-binary and use she/her pronouns

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:....among teen girls today? Mine is 16 and just doesn't want or see the need to. I think this may partially contribute to not wanting to wear skirts or dresses anymore, too? If that's just because she doesn't like dresses and skirts, or even shorts, anymore, fine; but if it's because of embarrassment about hairy legs, I'd like to know why/how to help address it.

If she were embarrassed wouldn’t she shave or whatever? My oldest and only girl just graduated from college. She very rarely shaves legs or underarms and was never into it. She’s very into fashion and sometimes wears elaborate makeup. Like me, she is fair and doesn’t have much hair, but she has said she wouldn’t change habits if she did. The only times she shaves or uses nair are if she’s going somewhere that she feels it would be upsetting to someone important to her. So for example, she will shave legs for a wedding, or if she’s doing something fancier with one set of grandparents. She generally DGAF what anyone thinks and does as she pleases.

I don’t think it’s about caring what other people think. I think it’s about basic grooming. I think it’s unattractive so I shave. I’m fair with no real hair on my legs but I shave under arms and it’s easy. You can dress fashionably with the best makeup but if you have hair coming out from under your arms it immediately downgrades the look. Same with grown men in tank tops. Nobody wants to see their underarms at a nice restaurant when you’re eating.

I was responding directly to a question as to whether OPs daughter doesn’t shave being related to embarrassment.

As to the rest, my daughter is living the supernova achievement existence that so many on DCUM want kids to pursue. She’s not missing out on anything academic/career, social, romantic. I’m not a social media fan, but given what a measure of attractiveness it’s considered to be, I’ll say she has a huge instagram following. It’s whatever.

Damn, supernova! I hope she doesn’t explode too soon!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Legs are ok. Underarms can smell really bad.

WTF? Has nothing to do with the hair.

From Google:

Hair can trap sweat and bacteria, providing an environment for odour to develop. Removing or trimming body hair could help reduce bacterial growth and improve the effectiveness of deodorant or antiperspirant.

I believe it. It’s so gross to see a grown man in a tank top and he raises his arm to show globs of deodorant and sweat. Just nasty. It can happen to girls too if they are really hairy. I saw one young woman with the most beautiful white dress and her hair was made up flawlessly. Then she moved her arm and had long hairy armpits. It just killed the look.

Not sure what you think she wants tou looking at her.

You don’t look at people around you? I noticed her dress because it was stunning and a second later she raised her arm and had 3” of hair under her arm. Kind of like wearing black crocs with a beautiful white dress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It common. Shave when you feel like it, or not. It's not a "must-do" part of a shower routine like in the old days

Speak for yourself. It’s a choice but I don’t see too many teens in tank tops with hairy armpits. My niece identifies as non-binary and she doesn’t shave but I don’t think it’s common. It’s so simple to shave underarms in the shower. Legs can be annoying.

Are you bad at math and statistics? Teens who choose to wear tanks are also the ones who choose to shave. Often teens who do not shave do not wear tanks. Though some do. I'm going to take a shave break and let my pits free as an act of resistance.

Why wouldn’t teens who don’t shave not wear tanks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:....among teen girls today? Mine is 16 and just doesn't want or see the need to. I think this may partially contribute to not wanting to wear skirts or dresses anymore, too? If that's just because she doesn't like dresses and skirts, or even shorts, anymore, fine; but if it's because of embarrassment about hairy legs, I'd like to know why/how to help address it.

If she were embarrassed wouldn’t she shave or whatever? My oldest and only girl just graduated from college. She very rarely shaves legs or underarms and was never into it. She’s very into fashion and sometimes wears elaborate makeup. Like me, she is fair and doesn’t have much hair, but she has said she wouldn’t change habits if she did. The only times she shaves or uses nair are if she’s going somewhere that she feels it would be upsetting to someone important to her. So for example, she will shave legs for a wedding, or if she’s doing something fancier with one set of grandparents. She generally DGAF what anyone thinks and does as she pleases.

I don’t think it’s about caring what other people think. I think it’s about basic grooming. I think it’s unattractive so I shave. I’m fair with no real hair on my legs but I shave under arms and it’s easy. You can dress fashionably with the best makeup but if you have hair coming out from under your arms it immediately downgrades the look. Same with grown men in tank tops. Nobody wants to see their underarms at a nice restaurant when you’re eating.

The board room is already mostly a thing of the past. My youngest DD shaves, my oldest college-aged DD can't be bothered, although I told her I thought she should shave for her summer job outdoors in customer service (her hair is very dark), so she shaves once a week. I know I probably shouldn't have told her my thoughts, but lots of the general public, and possibly even her supervisors, could look at hairy legs on a girl as not a clean look (same thing as beards on the boys, which she told me they did have some guidelines for beards for the boys). Of course, it's her choice, but I do think as her mom I should prepare her for what people might think, and what type of dress or grooming might be appropriate for different settings. She's a pretty naive young adult who thinks most people are as progressive as her friends are, and that anyone who's not is in the minority or is "wrong". As she transitions into the adult world and leaves her bubble, I am nervous she is in for a rude awakening.

[Anonymous]

The board room is already mostly a thing of the past. My youngest DD shaves, my oldest college-aged DD can't be bothered, although I told her I thought she should shave for her summer job outdoors in customer service (her hair is very dark), so she shaves once a week. I know I probably shouldn't have told her my thoughts, but lots of the general public, and possibly even her supervisors, could look at hairy legs on a girl as not a clean look (same thing as beards on the boys, which she told me they did have some guidelines for beards for the boys). Of course, it's her choice, but I do think as her mom I should prepare her for what people might think, and what type of dress or grooming might be appropriate for different settings. She's a pretty naive young adult who thinks most people are as progressive as her friends are, and that anyone who's not is in the minority or is "wrong". As she transitions into the adult world and leaves her bubble, I am nervous she is in for a rude awakening.