This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at WPUNJ chapter.
We’ve all heard that phrase “Men are from Mars; women are from Venus.” While we’re all equals, there’s no denying that guys may as well be living in a different world than we do, collegiettes. Phrases like ‘eyelash-curler’ or ‘bikini wax’ are ones that make our male counterparts drop their jaws and scratch their heads. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The opposite sex cringes at the mention of periods, but a list of six problems only girls have that guys simply will never understand.
6. Wearing high heels
The person who originated the saying that beauty is pain is probably the same person who invented the high heel. Every collegiette knows the magical feeling of putting on those killer wedges and transforming their entire outfit. Too bad heels aren’t as comfortable as they are cute because then they wouldn’t be one of the pains of being a girl. There are few things worse than the pain of rolling your ankle in a pair of heels (that’s why they call them “ankle-breakers”), or the leg soreness you get after dancing in six inch shoes all night. A guy doesn’t know the pains of the woman who wears high heels every day.
5. Falling asleep in makeup
We’ve all done it at least once. Some of us have do it more than others. Some of us do it every night. Waking up to a face of day-old makeup is not a pretty sight. It makes us squirm just thinking about how it feels to open your eyes in the morning with your eyelashes stuck together and a pillow smudged with concealer. That’s not even mentioning how bad sleeping in makeup is for your skin in general. The mention of makeup can make a guy’s eyes glaze over; what they fail to realize is that makeup (and sleeping in it) is one of the many struggles of being a girl.
4. Wearing bras
Every person, male or female, knows that a great bra is a powerful thing. But only females know the annoyance that comes with that power. The best part of the day for a girl is getting to her room, putting her pajamas on, and taking her bra off. It feels like freedom to take that sucker off — especially if its one of those ratty, old bras we keep (for some reason) that has underwire poking out and stabbing us all day. Robin said it best in the How I Met Your Mother episode, Single Stamina: “Bras suck. They’re so confining and unnatural.” Nailed it, Scherbatsky!
3. Boob Sweat
Hot weather plus a bra equals major boob sweat. The perspiration and bra combination is not a good one. It’s like the sweat gets absorbed by any part of the bra clinging to your body (aka every part), and you can’t escape that gross, sweaty feeling or the urge to get an extra-absorbent paper towel and subtly dry your cleavage. In this day and age it’s surprising someone hasn’t invented deodorant for exactly that problem yet.
2. Shaving our legs
Shaving our legs is something every collegiette has been doing for years. It’s something we’ve accepted as part of our normal grooming rituals, and if we saw a girl walking around in a skirt with a forest full of leg hair, we’d probably raise our eyebrows at her. But shaving your legs is probably one of the most annoying things we do as girls. There’s a reason we let it grow out more in the winter. For some reason cutting your leg while shaving always seems like a bigger injury than it actually is when the bleeding stops. How does that tiny cut bleed so much? If we could get the amount of time we’ve spent shaving in our lives, it might be equal to the amount of blood we’ve lost, too.
1. Periods
The cream of the crop — the ultimate girl problem: periods. Let’s dive right into this one because there are so many small problems that come with this monthly care package from our ovaries.
A. Cramps
Period cramps make us just want to lie in bed and take Midol all day long, and some girls get such bad cramps they don’t even have a choice.
B. Leaking
Period leakage is one of the most frustrating things in the world. Not only do we have to ride the crimson wave for 3-7 days, but sometimes we leak, too. We all secretly fear we leaked onto our pants at school or work or while we’re out and have probably asked one of our friends to check for us. We all have a couple pairs of underwear that have been ruined by our periods, and ‘period panties’ is a phrase that will never come out of a guys mouth.
C. Getting your period unexpectedly
Surprise! It’s Aunt Flo, and she came from her monthly visit. Oh, you’re wearing a white skirt, and you’re on a date right now? Sorry to hear that, but she has her own schedule. Every girl knows the pain of getting your period when you didn’t expect it. It’s the worst combination of humiliation, panic, and dread any girl could ask for. Having Mother Nature bestow us with monthly menstruation is the ultimate girl problem, and guys will just never understand.