anti-hair feelings go back a long time

Start here! Share your feelings
#1

Hi all,

I don’t know if this post will help anyone, but maybe you will find that you are not alone with your feelings about unwanted hair.

I’m an adult male and first began to get the feelings of “I never asked for this stuff to show up, and I wish it never did and that there was ane easy way to get rid of it” when body hair first begin to show up on me in my mid teens. (Yes, I was a bit of a late bloomer, so maybe my anti-hair feelings came from living a few more years hairless than my fellow teens). Early on, I actually shaved the offending hair, but as it began to increase in abundance, I let it go until I was into adulthood.

For the last 20+ years or so I’ve been shaving the areas I most wanted smooth, and only after discovering this wonderful forum have I started to get some professional removal treatments. Andrea has advised me that the method I found, transdermal, is very likely to not work at all, but just the fact that I got the courage to seek some professional help is a big step for me. Now, if I decide to switch to a different removal method I will be much less hesitant to discuss it with someone.

I don’t know the mental origins of why I dislike hair that is growing naturally on certain areas of my body. All I know is that I don’t want it there, and I’m happy now, at long last, to be doing something about it…thanks in large measure to a boost of courage I got from reading fellow members’ postings and Andrea’s kind, informative, understanding, and non-judgmental responses.

#2

What a great post! :smile:

I find the subject of unwanted hair interesting-- why do some people have no problem with lots of hair, while others with much less feel disfigured? I suspect it’s a mild form of body image issue, somewhat similar to someone who is skinny but thinks they are fat, or someone who is concerned with their nose shape, even when no one else notices anything.

In my own case, I am different depending on where the hair is. I am terrible about shaving or epilating my legs, but I am absolutely obsessed about facial hair. Some people I know are the opposite. It’s something that hasn’t received much attention.

Obviously many people on our boards are very upset about unwanted hair. The good thing is that our concern is something that is solvable given enough time and money.

The thing to watch out for is if you feel like, “Oh, as soon as I get rid of this hair, everything in my life will change.” While successful hair removal can often increase self-esteem and make us happier, it’s not a cure-all. It’s also important to keep it in perspective. If you are fixated on hair removal too much, you may be spending money that would be better spent on other things. When you have something that bothers you about yourself, it’s important to step back and try to keep things in perspective. That’s easier said than done, because excessive concern about hair removal can drift into irrational fear.

I fought a battle with unwanted hair for many years, and I finally have the upper hand. I haven’t had treatment on my face in a year now, and I am thrilled. It has certainly made a big difference in how I feel about myself. Once I got that out of the way, I was free to move on to bigger and better things, and you will, too!

I am so lucky to have the resources to give help and hope to others with unwanted hair. Together, we can all make a difference! :grin:

#3

come on man, grow some bells.

i can remove an entire hairyier than your arm arm from my body in a day. of course, i have years of experience. crank the dial to 10 and stick it in for 10secs before moving on, i also just end up pullin hairs that are blocking my view from other ones… but i can do a entire clearing in a day. then just 1 more day of a touch up.

this is in a perfect world… so it is possible. but it’s more like 5 day’s for me cause i’m lazy:)

#4

Hi

This is also an interesting post from my perspective. I didn’t think about hair much as a young boy and in my early teens because it was light and fine as kids appear. With my blond hair I never expected to grow so much hair on my legs and chest. I actually thought I might turn out looking quite smooth skinned as a man.

Well afetr about 15 the leg hairs started and chest follwed at about 17. Wow! That was a shock! at 16 my leg hairs were about an inch long quite dark and very dense. It was then that I started to dislike the hair (particularly legs) and I got laughed at as a result.

The big problem was that shaving my legs then would have been a bad move as I would immediatly have been labelled gay or strange, and 16 is a difficult age for self confidence. Despite that I still experimented and shaved once or twice, but in winter where one did not wear shorts so people wouldn’t see.

The look was good but not acceptable socially then. It was only 2 years ago that I really got involved in cycling and found a big community of guys who shaved their legs. I tried it again, liked it, and now it’s here for the rest of my life. But in short my dislike of hair began in my mid teens and sadly took nearly 17 years before I could really do something and feel perfectly confident about it.

Stuart

#5

I’m not especially over-hairy guy or anything, but I had hair on my arms at a very early age. When I was about five or six I took my Mom’s razor and actually shaved my arms! I walked into the kitchen and showed my Mom all happy about what I did. She just grabbed both my hands, flipping my arms over and back, and was shocked. …The dinner table was pretty quiet that night.

#6

Hi Mantaray

I know the feeling. I did much the same as a youngster, but I can say that most boys do this at one time or another. There is nothing else to shave at that age but being able to shave something feels good, like being a grown up. Little do we know how many hours we are going to spend doing this when we are older…

Stuart

#7

Hi Again

I sometimes wonder if the compulsion boys feel to shave is also an evolutionary effect. So many kids do this (shave their arms) that it could be involentarily subconcious. I have another friend who is a private school teacher in the UK, and he tells me this happens all the time. Boys in particular like to shave their arms at an early age. I also could not resist the urge to do it at about 10.

My teacher friend says he sees it at least once a week amoung his class. Always boys for some reason. Ages 6 to 10 seem common. Maybe nature is telling men at an early age to start getting rid of hair ASAP. Ironically as an adult I don’t care much about smooth arms, but smooth legs are my main concern.

As our main summer heat hit here a few days ago I started my summer shaving routine, where I trim back all my body hair and fully shave my chest and belly (last night). I slept very peacefully, despite the aircon, you just get hot here with a lot of body hair. Possibly altitude is to blame, but a good shave made all the difference.

Regards
Stuart

#8

An excellent thread which has been inactive for awhile! Let me re-activate this thread and add my story.

I didn’t have much hair throughout high school and could get a really close shave through my late 20s that would leave me feeling “baby-faced”. I’ve never had much hair on my belly or chest–it’s kinda funny looking because it never really grew out into full blown chest hair. I didn’t have that much hair on my arms or hands until about 30 (I’m 35 now). Anyway, the facial hair grew worse and now I have a bit of a “shadow” after shaving which I really hate.

Over the last few years, it seems that I got more and more dark hairs on my legs which IMHO look awful on fair skin. I was becoming more and more disgusted with them. Fortuntately, the chest hairs didn’t get worse or thicker. Anyway, last year I got a very bad skin rash after being sick which basically covered my whole body and left me itching terribly. I had to get a special ointment to stop the burning and itching but the chest and leg hairs made it difficult to apply. After reading an article about more men shaving their legs, I decided to just get rid of all those hairs so that I could apply the lotion easily. That was a defining moment. It really felt great to get rid of all that fur on my legs and clear out the patch on my chest.

Being smooth lets you feel so much more while taking a shower and makes it a lot easier to apply oils and lotions to keep your skin from drying out–dry itchy skin has been a big problem for me for a long time and being smooth makes it so much easier to apply and stop the peeling. It also keeps you cool in the summer heat and eliminates a lot of sweating and the subsequent body odor. I also feel “younger” since shaving and more athletic–I think that this smooth and athletic look suits me and think that it will become more popular with men in the future.