Spring is here, and with it comes bare legs. For men, more likely than not, this isn’t a big deal. It’s warm outside? Put shorts on. For women, however, there’s still the ever present leg-shaving culture.
Do women really shave their legs like the commercials would like us to believe, and what are women’s motivations for doing this? I decided to ask five women on OCU’s campus, Maddie Stevens, early childhood education freshman; Madison Eggemeyer, entertainment business freshman; Kyla Bruegel, film production freshman; Teresa Franks, musical theater/vocal performance freshman, and Andrea Amaro, acting sophomore, about their shaving habits.
“I’m single,” Stevens said. “And that means I’m married to my leg hair.”
This suggested to me that women’s shaving habits were tied to their relationships, but I didn’t know if this were true.
Of the five women, Amaro, Eggemeyer, and Franks said they shaved their legs every two to four days. Bruegel said she shaved every two to three weeks, and Stevens said she would shave only when it was “soft and long and I can pet it. I shave it [when] it starts to get caught on things, which hurts.”
“The main reason I don’t shave that often is a combination of laziness and wanting to save money on shaving cream,” Bruegel said.
Interestingly, only Amaro and Eggemeyer were die-hard leg shavers all year round. The rest of the women said that they didn’t put in as much effort during the winter months.
Stevens mentioned that when she shaved, it was because she didn’t want anyone to see her “shameful legs.” I asked her why she thought hairy legs were shameful.
“Society I guess,” she said. “No one wants to see hairy legs even though it’s a natural thing.”
Franks expressed similar thoughts, saying “I shave because I don’t want people to see me with hairy legs.”
I asked Stevens if she would change people’s opinions about hairy legs if she could.
“Oh hell yes. I think everyone should flaunt their leg hair if they want to,” she said.
All three women who shaved their legs most frequently said they shaved for themselves instead of others.
Franks expressed reasons of hygiene and aesthetic, saying, “I feel cleaner and I think women’s legs look pretty when they’re shaved.”
Similarly, Amaro said, “I love the feeling of soft, freshly shaved legs.”
Eggemeyer said she shaved her legs for herself, but said she didn’t “have anything against other women not shaving their own.”
Even though I only interviewed five women, I was surprised there was a range of answers. Leg shaving didn’t seem to have one motive. What I found most interesting was that all five women still had a reason to do it.
I asked Alexander Knight, film production senior, for a male perspective. He said competitive running gave both sexes a reason to shave their legs for speed or tape, but didn’t think that women had practical reasons for shaving if they didn’t do it for sports. Knight said women not shaving, however, could be seen as making some kind of statement.
What do you think? If you’re a women, do you shave your legs because you feel you have to, or because you like to? Or maybe you don’t shave your legs at all. Leave a comment below and share your reasons for shaving!
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