It was the Spring of 2017, I was getting ready for my senior class trip to Disney World. Since I knew I would be sporting shorts and tank tops the whole trip, I grabbed my razor to begin the process of shaving my body. While I was spreading the shaving cream around and turning the shower on, I realized that every time it came to shave my legs, I felt a great sense of dread. Why was I putting myself through this annoying, tedious process? To look good? At the time I had a boyfriend, but I knew that the amount of hair on my legs did not bother him in the slightest. I am also very fair skinned and have very blonde hair, so even when I forgot to shave for a few weeks, it was barely noticeable. This was when I faced the most important question: was I shaving my legs for myself or for society?
Once I realized that the reason I put myself through razor burns and cuts and a constant cycle of shaving, only for the hair to grow back in the next few days, was to fit in with what society expected of me, I decided that this time was the last time. Why did it matter if I grew hair on my legs? I didn’t have people coming up to me and touching my legs on a daily basis, and my hair was so light that quite frankly nobody really noticed either way. It would save me time and energy (and shaving cream) to just ditch the whole process, so that is exactly what I did.
When I told my friends that I was done shaving my legs, most of them laughed and thought I meant it in a temporary way, and that in a few weeks I would go right back to my shaving ways. Others thought it was a little strange, or they couldn’t exactly understand why I stopped. My closest friends said that they commended me and wished they themselves would stop as well. No matter what opinions I got, I stuck with what I wanted. I kept shaving my armpits and lady areas, but when it came to my legs, I was done-zo.
Over a year and a half later, I can proudly say I never went back on my word. My new boyfriend cares just as little about it as I do, and all of my friends are honestly jealous that I can easily get away with not shaving my legs. Shaving is no longer as deeply hated by me as it once was, and in the summer, I wear shorts and bathing suits proudly. If you are anything like me, shaving your legs solely to fit society’s warped views on body hair on women, I hope you consider stopping. Why force yourself to do something every week or every other week that you hate doing, just to please a society that will never fully accept you the way that you are? Do what makes you happy, what makes you feel beautiful, and what makes you confident in your body!