Another personal hygene question...
By fruitcakeliz
@fruitcakeliz (2638)
United States
July 20, 2009 9:32pm CST
To all the ladies out there (and men if you want to add anything..i don't want to exclude you)
How old were you when you started shaving your legs? And do you find it a hassle? Did your mother give you any tips or tricks and how you how to do it correctly? or Did you just have to figure it out on your own?
I was probably about 13 or 14 when i started shaving mine. I started because a lot of my friends were starting to do it. It wasn't until i knicked the heck outta my legs one time that my mother even knew i had started shaving them, so th next time we went shopping she helped me pick out a razor and got me my own shaving cream for them.
It astonishes me now now young some girls are when they start shaving their legs. I work in the health and beauty section of a store, and have many times seen girls who coudln't be much more than 7 or 8 in the aisle with their mothers begging them for a razor of thir own so they can start chaving thier legs too. I sometimes wonder if this is just because they want to do something that makes them feel grown up, or because our society has changed so much over the years that, like me when i first started, all their friends are already doing it so they feel the need to as well. I personally think this is way to young of an age for a girl to start shaving. I just want to tell them to go out, be a kid for goodness sakes! Play out doors, climb trees, get dirty..there is plenty of time for doing all the girly chores like that when you are older!
3 people like this
11 responses
@happyperidot83 (51)
• United States
21 Jul 09
I was 9 when I started shaving mine. and I had to cause my legs were getting thick hair on them. nowadays I use an electric shaver to do it. I used to use razors but it kept nicking myself too much in sensitive areas. But I developed early too
1 person likes this
@fruitcakeliz (2638)
• United States
21 Jul 09
I have tried electric razors, but i have never been happy with the closeness of the shave. When i shave my legs i so very much enjoy that first night whenere my legs are soooo silky smooth, and i just have never been able to obtain that with an electric razor. Though i will admit that they come in handy when you wake up in the morning and want to wear a skirt or capris and you haven't shaved.
@cody30103 (27)
• United States
21 Jul 09
I know exactly what you are talking about with the first day. Nothing feels better than to slide between clean sheets with freshly shaved legs. But it won't work with electric razors. I use both but you just can't get that baby butt smoothness with electric.
I started shaving around 1974 at age 13. It was way past time, my leg hair is very thick and dark. Although I am very fair skinned. To this day my leg hair is more like a man's beard.
I had a Daisy (???) shaver where you turned the blade to the next one when that one got dull. All my mother said was don't start too soon. Once you do you can never stop. Apparently she was right. I'm almost 48 and it's thicker, darker and grows faster than ever.
My own daughter developed early. All this started for her a week before her 10th birthday. I read an article in Time magazine that said girls were developing way earlier than they used to because of all the vitamins and nutritious foods avaliable today as opposed to when we were kids. It makes sense to me as she is now 16 and has the figure of a 21 year old. She's looked this way since she was 12. It's caused lots of problems.
1 person likes this
@yanka45 (16)
• United States
21 Jul 09
well I haven't really shaved much in my life so far lol(I'm 19) I rarely shave, but I do, when I go out (special occasion) my legs don't have thick noticeable hairs so it doesn't look bad if I don't shave
I think you shouldn't shave often if your hairs are fine and grow very slowly
because if you barely have enough hair to call yourself hairy then, you shouldn't shave often, I think SHAVING a little too often can cause the hairs to grow back faster, and thicker.
I use PALMER'S NO BLADE LOTION,{I don't like to use blades because I'm afraid of getting razor bumps or nicks under my arms}
it is a COCOA BUTTER HAIR REMOVER, WITH VITAMIN E{its supposed to make your legs softer and smoother} I know its kind of rare because I barely see them in stores ( matter of fact I only saw it in 1 store, and that was the store I saw and bought it from at one time)
now a days there are so many different methods of shaving
you can
~ use regular blade
~ electric trimmer
~ USE NAIR AND WAX IT OFF
~ SPRAY AND WIPE IT OFF
~USE A LOTION OR CREAM
~ USE A BUFFER (smooth away)
~zap it off
~or plastic blade less tool
@anotherxidentity (1434)
• United States
21 Jul 09
I started shaving my legs once I hit middle school so therefore I was 10. For me it was the fact that my legs started to really reach that point where the hair was a big deal especially during gym class where we were required to wear shorts and some of the other girls started getting picked on about it. My parents were fine with it, but at first they started the rule only below the knee because above the knee my hair might as well as been blond and barely noticeable. I think after a year though I started just shaving it all and they just never said anything and then once I started high school I started shaving my arm hair because it was dark and I absolutely hated it and thought it made my tan look horrible.
But yes I think middle school age is fine, but girls need to be little girls while they're still in elementary school.
1 person likes this
@anotherxidentity (1434)
• United States
21 Jul 09
For me arms it takes like a minute or two tops actually. For me whenever I'm in the shower I go ahead and go a quick shave and I end up not ending shaving cream whatsoever and they're completely fine. I don't know why there is a difference but at least for me there is and with my arm hair it still comes in fine after so if I forget once or twice it doesn't kill me and it still looks fine.
I hate shaving my legs though - that is the time killer for me but I've been able to get it around 15 minutes to do so. But in the winter - I'm rarely shaving my legs unless I'm going to the gym or dressing up and having to show off the legs.
2 people like this
@cody30103 (27)
• United States
21 Jul 09
Ditto for me. I rarely shave my legs in the winter. Only exceptions are putting on a dress or going out of town with my husband. We have been married so long that we kind of save the "romantic" moments for hotels while on vacations.
I do have a recurring nightmare though about being 'caught' out in a public place wearing shorts or a dress and my legs are not shaved. It's humiliating!
1 person likes this
@cody30103 (27)
• United States
21 Jul 09
Wow anotherxidentity, you are a dedicated shaver. I hate shaving and could never shave my arms. I'm lucky the hair is softer and paler than my leg hair. Just shaving my legs, properly with shaving creme and razor, and my pits takes 30 minutes. I can't imagine having to do my arms too.
@emskoneko (805)
• United States
22 Jul 09
The first time I ever shaved was when I was 12. I liked how my legs felt afterwards but then I started to notice how the hair became thicker so I stopped. Now I only shave when I'm wearing anything that will expose my legs bare. I really want to wax instead. I don't want them to become any thicker. I used to pluck each individual hair but it was too frustrating.
I wish I had never shaved my legs because the hair was thin before. I could have lived with it but now I'm turning to waxing.
1 person likes this
@fruitcakeliz (2638)
• United States
22 Jul 09
I have never tried waxing, it just always sounded like it would hurt too much....wait..that isn't true...i have tried those pre-waxed strips once before, as they came as a free sample with some dipiliatory cream i had purchased, but when i tried them, apperently i didn't do the 'rip off' part fast enough...and it hurt like crazy!....and then took forever to clean the excess off!
@sid556 (30959)
• United States
21 Jul 09
I was about 11 when I began shaving my legs. My mother when she found out was very against it so no she did not help me at all. She felt I should wait until I was 16. Now my youngest daughter started shaving her legs at 8....I did not know but found out after the fact. I don't think she needed to but once it's been done it is impossible to turn it back.
1 person likes this
@fruitcakeliz (2638)
• United States
21 Jul 09
Once it's done it is impossible to turn back is right! I am very fair skinned and fair haired, and if i remember correctly, the hairs were hardly noticable when i was younger....but once you start shaving they just keep coming back, coarser and darker than before
@vingyan06 (2486)
• Malaysia
21 Jul 09
i have not started doing this at all. In my family, I never see any of us shaving the legs. Or I should say I hardly find anyone I know practice to do so. Maybe different culture will have different living style. Is it a must to shave their legs in your culture? Anywhere I just lucky to say I don't have that much of hair on my legs and they are very thin and fine hair.
@fruitcakeliz (2638)
• United States
21 Jul 09
It is not a MUST...but i would go as far as saying it IS the societal norm. Thanks for sharing, it is quite interesting to learn about other contries and their grooming habits.
@LovingLife139 (1504)
• United States
21 Jul 09
I started shaving my legs when I was about eleven, which was really late, to be honest. In gym class one of my friends noticed I hadn't started shaving yet (it was middle school), and she taught me how. She had started when she was nine, which was the normal time when I grew up to start shaving your legs.
I was really late when I started consistently wearing a bra, though. I didn't wear a bra consistently until I was almost sixteen, because I didn't have to. I still don't have to if I don't want to because I was blessed with such a small chest. But that's a different story! :)
1 person likes this
@LovingLife139 (1504)
• United States
21 Jul 09
I think it depends on the society and the generation. I noticed you are only a bit older than me but you don't live in the United States. Here it seems as if everything young girls and boys do around the time of puberty is being done earlier and earlier. Maybe I'm onto something, maybe not, but that's what I've observed here. :)
1 person likes this
@fruitcakeliz (2638)
• United States
21 Jul 09
I don't live int he united staes? *looking around* i was abolutley certain i did....and have all my life Lol.....granted sometimes people think Maine might as well be a part of canada, ...ohh..you know what..i bet you saw the name of the TOWN i live in which is Norway....but but trust me...it is in maine..which is in the US *l*
@fruitcakeliz (2638)
• United States
21 Jul 09
Wow, maybe i was just a late bloomer when it came to starting to shave.
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
21 Jul 09
I was 8 or 9 when I started shaving my legs. I had dark hair on my pale little legs and it was embarrassing. Unfortunately no one told me the first time I shaved them that it would start coming back in so dark and coarse. I would have maybe waited a while longer had I known that.
I had a friend in school who was about 13 or 14 when she started shaving because she was afraid to shave her legs. Finally her mother told her she HAD to start shaving them.
1 person likes this
@fruitcakeliz (2638)
• United States
21 Jul 09
i guess i was lucky, because bieng a blone their hair on my legs was really light in color and hardly noticable. Maybe that is why i was able to hold off so long before starting as well.
I dont know if i agree with the fact that your friend's mother insisted that she HAD to start shaving her legs. As with my other discussion about shaving your armpits, it should be more of a personal choice i think.
@ronacruz2007 (650)
• Philippines
21 Jul 09
I just learned how to shave maybe when i am about 20's . Good me, dont have a lot of hairs in my body . so it is not really an issue for me.
@daliaj (5674)
• India
21 Jul 09
I started shaving my legs at the age of 26. I started doing it because my husband likes it to be shaved. In my country, many people, I mean women, wont' shave their legs, not only legs, any part of the body,including under arms, especially in villages. In cities only I have seen women shaving may parts of the body. I don't think it is necessary to shave legs and unshaved legs have soemthing to do with personal hygene.
@fruitcakeliz (2638)
• United States
21 Jul 09
Thanks for your repsponce....it it very interesting to me to learn about other cultures and their day to day habits!
@desteny114 (886)
• United States
21 Jul 09
I was either 10 or 11 and my mom got really upset with me. She told me I was stupid that now the hair were going to grow thiker and ungly. Is just that before I shaved my hairs were really thin and light and how they are a little thiker and darker but not that bad. I don't have men hair on my legs but I do dhave them when I have a chance maybe one a week or every other week since they don't grow that fast.
@fruitcakeliz (2638)
• United States
21 Jul 09
consider yourself among the lucky that your leg hair doesn't grow very fast!...i can shave int he shower at night, and by morning i already have stubble...not stubble you can see, but i can feel it...
