Why Women Feel the Need to Shave Their Legs

I am one of those women who loathes shaving their legs. Or shaving anything. For me, it's an often painful experience if I try to shave both legs all at once. Our apartment's hot water heater can't last that long, apparently, so the end result is painful razorburn and hairy patches where I missed a spot in my rush to get out before the water turned freezing. I've recently learned to shave in halves, so one day I'll shave upper legs, and the next (or later in the day, if I'm feeling ambitious) I'll shave lower legs.


But honestly... who really wants to spend as much time shaving as they do showering? It's so obnoxious! Especially if your leg hair is like mine- thick, dark, and difficult to remove in any other way except a razor. Those DIY wax strips? Didn't do a thing except tear the oil off my skin. (Boy, that was gross.) Nair? Yeah right. I sit in a bathroom smelling like bananas or something for twenty minutes and nothing comes off. There was one hair removal creme I used to use to thin out the hair on my legs so shaving went a little easier, but it wasn't a huge difference. Professional wax? If it worked, who knows how long it would last- plus it costs a bajilliondy dollars or something.

So here's the bigger question- WHY DO WE DO IT??


I'll tell you what caused it: peer pressure. But not just any peer pressure-- peer pressure from men and clothing lines in 1915.


You heard me. Before World War I, the only unsightly hair that women worried about was a little facial hair here and there, and how the hair on their head looked. Then someone from Harper's Bazaar magazine printed this image:

I know, right? Who does that? Next thing women knew, dresses had sheer sleeves or no sleeves at all, and razor companies began putting out razors for women as well as men. It became a huge social thing- if you were popular, if you were in with the times, you shaved your pits so you could dance and swing your arms around and feel free with no armpit hair to weigh you down.


Seriously?


Removing leg hair was a little more difficult to catch on to, partially because they didn't want to give men bad thoughts by drawing attention to their legs, and partially because skirt hems only rose a little in the 20's and then went back to long in the 30's, and as I always thought as an early teenager, 'Why shave when your skirt covers it?' (Plus when I was a teen I had a problem with slicing myself open with the razor. Take a look at the side of your leg where there's a rather large tendon running over the rounded side of your ankle. Take note: that is not a fun place to cut yourself. We're talking at least 3 inch-long cuts.)


However, women succumbed again, ironically to a photo of a gal by the name of Betty Grable, a World War II pinup girl who shamelessly flaunted her flawless legs. Suddenly the idea of not giving men bad thoughts flipped 180 degrees and short shorts and sheer stockings became the next big thing. And if you've ever worn shorts or stockings without shaving your legs, not only is it uncomfortable (with stockings anyways), but it looks rather silly.


So there you have it. Why women shave their legs now. It started out as pressure to shave the pits and turned into the idea that women are supposed to be hairless or something. Don't get me wrong, I like shaved legs. They feel really nice against a good pair of jeans. Still, I can't help but think that a lot of women could save themselves a lot of time if they never knew the difference. Ignorance is bliss sometimes. (And can save you a lot of pain, not to mention the money invested in band-aids and neosporin.) I guess if you ever did want to stop shaving your legs, you could always move to Europe, where the fad of women shaving apparently hasn't caught on yet.

If you want to read the article I found this on, you can go HERE. I found it rather intriquing, and I'm pretty sure it's a legit site. Comment if you know more about the tragedy of women having to shave or if you find a better source if you just feel like posting something.