7/21/11
Confession: Top 10 Reasons I Don’t Own a Razor

Our contributor Abby Spector, who is majoring in Feminine/Gender/Sexuality Studies at Wesleyan University, confesses her love for body hair:

I am not going to judge silky-smooth-shaved ladies. But here are ten reasons I do NOT own a razor And yes, this means legs, pubic, and — gasp — armpit hair. I let myself run wild and free the way nature intended (deal with it!).

  1. Why should I? I don’t like razor burn or the spiky feeling of leg hairs emerging from dry skin.
  2. Sharp objects always seem to cut me no matter how hard I try to prevent them. If I shaved I would be burning through) first aid supplies and buying replacements in bulk from places like seton.co.uk. You’d think I was running a clinic!
  3. In many ways, I look like the “typical” girl. I am an average size, have blonde hair, blue eyes, and a smile when I’m nervous. There are few ways I can subtly show my rebellious side. I have discovered that a flash of armpit hair does the trick.
  4. I’ll pass on disrupting the natural course of my body, thank you very much.
  5. My sister and mom, two of the most beautiful people I know, do not shave. Actually, I didn’t know it was a custom until I got to middle school and my friend insisted that we (she) shave my peach fuzz legs.
  6. I’m LAZY! And shaving is hella boring!
  7. The first guy I dated told me I had to shave or else he wouldn’t go down on me. I hate him. How would he feel if a girl told him to wax all his parts to a smoothness only achieved by a Ken doll? My bushy nature is my way of laughing in his face.
  8. Besides, my current boyfriend doesn’t mind. Why should he? He isn’t exactly bare either. First guy should take notes.
  9. I am bisexual. The armpit hair works like a calling card to the lesbian community.
  10. Everyone loves Northern Europeans. Historically, this hot community doesn’t shave. I want to be as Swedish as possible.

Abby Spector



25 Comments

  1. Disrupting the natural course of your body? So I take it you’ve never cut the hair on your head then?

  2. There is nothing sexy about a bare but insecure person. If you’re comfortable with yourself, you’re automatically attractive, sexually or otherwise. Male or female, if you like your own boosh others will too. I think a lot of women (and men) shave because they think they ‘have to’. I agree with the above, as long as you groom according to your own ‘standards’, you’re alright. Once you try to be some bare cunt you’re not, you’ve lost.

  3. ^ and vice-versa, of course. Most guys are comfortable trimming themselves and most women are comfortable with that too.

  4. ^ Insistence from one side + refusal from the other = controversy.

    I suspect that as with most controversies, though, the majority of people are actually pretty moderate. It’s just that extremists make the most noise. You mostly hear from the “SHAVE IT!” camp, and the, “I’ll never shave a single hair – TAKE THAT, PATRIARCHY!” camp.

    But in reality most women are comfortable at least trimming, and most guys are content with that. Thank god for moderates.

  5. I could add, that just tonight my girlfriend refused to let me see her naked because she wasn’t shaved down their, despite having responded with a similar indignant comment as I made above

  6. There’s one aspect of this I’ve never understood.
    Why the controversy. It’s just hair, Wear it how you like. I’ve never required a lover to keep their hair in any fashion other than how they feel comfortable. Even if only for the reason that if she is comfortable she will enjoy the sex more. This goes for pubic hair, leg hair, armpit hair, and the hair on your head.
    Grow it
    cut it,
    shave it,
    dye it
    heck, even braid it. I don’t care, as long as she is comfortable with her body enough to let me pleasure her

  7. All aesthetics aside, I just never got the
    ideological attachment to pubic hair.

    It’s like Andrea said – the male face is the most-shaved area in Western society. I’ve literally never heard a man say, “women who want me to shave are pedophilic sickos who like little boys!” or “my beard just fills me with with such manly confidence, I’d never get rid of it!” or, “how dare my employer expect me to shave? That hair was put on my face by MOTHER NATURE HERSELF!”

    And therein lies a key to the male mind, at least where this is concerned: many of us acknowledge no correlation between hair and ideology. It’s about look, and it’s about feel. On us and on women. Believe me, it’s not about oppressing anyone.

  8. I shave my underarms and legs, by choice. But I only trim my pubic hair. My boyfriend prefers completely shaved, but we talked and I explained that I don’t like that. He’s ok with it, actually I think he’s starting to like it. I trim it to keep it tidy and because I don’t like it creeping out the sides of my underwear.
    I respect those of you who don’t. It’s your body, do with it as you please.

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