Hair to Stay: Why I Choose to Observe No Shave November All Year Round

Shaving your legs is a waste of time.

There, I said it. 

Many people will challenge me on the basis of hygiene, personal care or aesthetic reasons. But, that still doesn’t make it any less of a waste of time. 

Sure, maybe it feels cleaner or you think it looks better, but you’re wasting time you could be using to do other things. 

I haven’t shaved my legs in over two years and since then, I’ve only purchased one razor. I’ve saved so much money and time that I can’t even begin to count. 

Not only have I saved time, money and energy, but I’ve become so much more secure with at least one part of my body. I’m a pretty insecure person, so being secure with the fact that hair grows on my legs and I let it stay there is one less thing for me to dwell on. 

The minimal backlash I’ve received has only come from middle-aged women; however, they’ve never been able to tell me why me not shaving is such a travesty. I’ve heard “It’s not ladylike,” “Doesn’t your boyfriend care?”, “It’s gross” and “It’s just what you’re supposed to do.” 

It wasn’t always this way, though. Razor companies wanted to make more money than they were making off men’s facial hair razors, but they needed a way to market to women since they didn’t have facial hair to shave. Why not just tell them that their legs need to be shaved? Think about how nice it will feel to jump into bed, freshly shaved, with clean sheets! Women love clean sheets! 

I haven’t once missed that feeling after a shower because my showers last 10 minutes tops! After I shower, I have plenty of time for nighttime activities that don’t only include jumping into bed. 

I often wonder if everyone had this attitude whether anyone would shave at all! Sure, there would be the few who just prefer the feeling of shaved legs, but men who like to shave exist too; however, the majority of men are still generalized as “hairy.” 

What you choose to shave is all up to you! I still shave my armpits most of the time, as that’s something I’m not as comfortable with yet, but I hope to get there one day!

Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not normal, because if it wasn’t, why does it grow? 

Being secure in my leg hair has been the best choice I’ve ever made. It was a decision I made just for me. Not my boyfriend, not my parents, not my friends, not society, just me. And it’s made me realize how many choices I make for others. 

And although I still often worry how people perceive me and my hair and my thighs and my stomach and my arms and my clothes and almost everything else, I know that I’m proud to have a little extra hair on my legs and that I don’t care what anyone has to say or think about them. 

And that’s what’s empowering about it. 

So in this month of No-Shave November, I challenge you to take a few days, a few weeks or even the whole month to get comfortable with the hair that is meant to grow on your legs! And don’t just cheat by wearing long pants every day. Take a day to let that hair get some air and flaunt your body’s natural form. 

Cover photo originally created by Amanda

GIFs provided by Giphy.com 

• leg hair
• No-Shave November
• november
• Winona