Make my decisions for me!

[sasha_feather]

I am going to be in a wedding on September 3rd for my lovely friends antarcticlust and jackshoegazer. I'll be wearing a tea-length bridesmaid dress, which means it ends at the knees, and open-toed black sandals. I haven't shaved my legs in YEARS, yes I mean years, and am trying to decide whether to do so.


I think my issues with shaving are not moral: they have to do with feeling like I suck at it, I was never taught how, and that it's a waste of time and I hate being made to feel like I am expected to do it. I am not actually opposed to having smooth legs however.

Poll #7930 Make my decisions for me!

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 29

View Respondents

To shave or not to shave that is the question

View Answers

Shave your legs
5 (17.2%)

Wear skin-tone hose
1 (3.4%)

Wear colored tights
4 (13.8%)

Just go hairy legged
9 (31.0%)

Something else I'll say in comments
5 (17.2%)

I like ticking boxes
5 (17.2%)

Comments

[megwrites]

I wouldn't shave unless you know it's going to be really important to other people there. There's a stubborn part of me (the part that HATES wedding culture in general here in the U.S.) that would want to shave even less if somebody made an issue of it. Because, dammit, there's nothing wrong with body hair. It isn't gross or wrong, and leg hair is perfectly reasonable and okay and not something that needs to be shaved out of existence!

I say this as a leg shaver myself, but that changes by season. I shave more in the winter because long pants + leg hair = itchiness. In the summer, I kinda let it go because I wear shorts most of the time. I don't really give too much of a fuck who thinks my legs need shaving or not. I don't owe anyone prettiness just for going out of my house. I can be as ugly as I please.

And I don't recommend waxing at all, especially if you're terrified and haven't had it done before. My mom and grandmother used to sort of semi-coersively make me get my eyebrows waxed when I was a preteen/teenager and I hated it and it was horribly painful and left my face feeling like it was burning for hours. It might be different for legs, but I share your fear of waxing completely and have vowed as an adult that no force in the 'verse will ever make me get anything waxed EVER AGAIN.

If you do choose to shave for whatever reason, my suggestion would be to be patient with yourself and set aside a really good, long amount of time to do it so you can go slow. It takes a looooooong time to get good at shaving and work out a routine that suits you. I started shaving at 13ish and it wasn't until the end of high school that I was actually comfortable doing it.

Again, only if someone makes a big deal. If no one cares, then flash them beautiful hairy legs and get 'em going on the dance floor after the ceremony.

[jumpuphigh]

Eyebrows are way, way, way worse than legs. I get 4 areas waxed and eyebrows are worse than both underarms and my bikini area. Legs are pretty low-key. I get totally blissed out when my legs are being waxed - like with a good massage.

[megwrites]

I'm glad that your waxing experiences are good, but pain thresholds vary as do sensitivities. Plus, most anything is way worse if you're dreading the heck out of it, and if I were any where near hot wax? I'd be freaking out and crying within five minutes.

I'm sure if I hadn't been basically forced into a chair in a salon where burning hot wax was spread on my face and then ripped off in strips until my eyebrows were acceptable I might be more amenable to the suggestion. But undergoing the process unwillingly and while staring at a lady who herself has had to pencil her eyebrows on because she has nearly none left? Pretty much has set me against waxing.

Suffice to say, there's more than a little emotional trauma and memories of how painful beauty rituals were for me as a child (and how they made me feel hideous and self destructive) where waxing is involved. So, it's a no go for me.

But I'm glad to know it isn't that way for everyone.