I have shaved my legs, but it really itches my skin. I decided to use epilator and Hair Growth Inhibitor (http://www.cafay.com/ebook/hir/) combination.
Hi Smoothlover
There are rural areas here where people are less accepting of leg hair removal, but it is not threatening to go there as they are all used to us people from larger cities doing things they regard as unusual. It simply means some guys are less willing to talk to you sometimes or be seen with you. I think they all understand smooth legs donât mean gay, but are nervous about being seen in such company.
Regards
Stuart
There is a city east of where I live that is a bit more open to guys shaving their legs. I went there last fall, and I saw quite a few men with smooth legs, and they were with their wives or girlfriends. It seems to me, the larger cities are very open to guys who have shaved their legs. The smaller towns are the ones so closed minded, that they think guys who shave their legs are gay. In my town, if I walked into the local bar with shorts on , and shaved legs, Iâd most likely end up with a bloody nose. Iâve lived in this town all my life, and you just donât see guys with hairless legs. The hairier your legs are, the more masculine youâre supposed to be. Since Iâve trimmed my leg hair, no one has even noticed. This is as much as I can do in the area Iâm living in. Guys donât notice, cause I have some hair on my legs, itâs just not a thick as it was before I trimmed it. I know I shouldânt let other opinions bother me, but I canât help it. My legs look great, there isânt nearly the amount of hair on my legs, so they look nearly as smooth as I can get them, without drawing attention. I see so many guys with hair covering their legs, and they just think it normal, and I think itâs gross. There will come a time, hopefully in the near future, when guys will be expected to shave their legs, to look clean.
Hi Josh
I think you have reached a good compromise between what you would like and what you can realistically do. JHB SA is a great place to shave it all off and wonder around comfortably - maybe check it out one day. Like you say you donât need bar aggression or other animosity directed at you because of appearence. Trimming is also good, and if it helps keep the peace then so be it. I do believe most of us will live to see the day of shaved legs on men as normal. Lets face it, it canât just start here and in some other spots. There must be a trend showing this to be the way for guys. Maybe some men will eventually grow up.
I love the sports look and feel as well as all the benefits of injury and (well in Africa at least)bites, malaria etc. I would like to see a hairy legged man fall of a bike at plus 30 km/hour onto tarmac and clean his wounds effectivly. Tarmac is essentially a hydrocarbon and you canât just wipe it off - this is one of many reasons cyclists shave without being gay men.
Regards
Stuart
Hi Stuart and Josh,
Iâve been offline for awhile but finally got caught on everyoneâs latest posts. Stuart, youâre truly lucky that people in South Africa seem so tolerant of men with shaved legsâyou once mentioned that some men are curious about your shaved legs and ask for advice on how to do it. Thatâs truly great that people react so positively in SA!
Josh, your experience has unfortunately been more negative and Iâd like to comment on a recent experience of mine. I was coming back on the bus last Saturday at about 11 pmâthere must have been a football match or some kind of event because there were a lot of rowdy drunk young men on that bus as well on the streets. There was a group of about 10 really obnoxious guys on the bus who would fit the local description of âhooligansâ. I sat at the front of the bus and stared ahead and was glad that they were at the back of the bus. Large groups of this kind are known for causing trouble here and almost ANYTHING is enough to set them offâwearing the wrong teamâs colors or cap/scarf, being a foreigner/visible minority and most likely men with shaved legs. These idiots always travel in âmobsâ and therefore, feel strong and cocky and generally are looking for trouble. Fortunately, itâs the middle of winter and off course, I was wearing long pants.
After getting home without any kind of incident, I reflected on the bus ride. Unfortunately, there are a lot of idiots out there, that have nothing better to do than put others down or are looking for a fight. They donât accept others who are âdifferentâ and you canât reason with such peopleâyou can consider yourself lucky if you donât get bashed by them! Thatâs an ugly fact of lifeâitâs not a perfect world and such people tend to be groups which only makes them more troublesome and dangerous. This really bothers me that we have worry about such things or some jerkâs commentsâitâs important to live your life the way you want and look the way you want but sadly, not everyone else respects these fundamental values and rights.
RJC mentioned that the Philips bodygroomer will hit the stores in Aprilâthatâs great and if Philips markets this right in the US, it could do a lot to make having smooth legs more commonplace and accepted throughout the US. If Philips runs some ads on TV and sports magazines, it seems like this would do a lot to promote body shaving. It really seems like a âno brainerâ for Philips to use the sports angle or maybe, just have women commenting on a TV commercial how much they like men with smooth legs and bodies! Maybe then, those âapesâ would start to feel that they should do something about their own appearance and start respecting others more! What do the rest of you think???
Regards,
smoothlover
Hi Smoothlover
It is good in SA that most men are mild mannered about personal choice. Generally SA people are polite and mostly publically quite. I will say though that we have our share of Hooligans as well, and after a sports event they get very drunk and also look for trouble. Luckily in JHB men with shaved legs are seen as sportsmen and athletes and even unruly mobs seem to repect that. Without prejudice to anybody I suppose some effeminate appearing men may pick up trouble in these circumstances with shaved legs.
Having said that lets look at Lance Arstrong, one of the worlds heros with supurb courage and determination. He is a cyclist and not a giant of a man, except in heart of course. Nobody picks on him though.
We will always find mobs of drunken hooligans (and I also get drunk sometimes, but donât look for trouble then) and we must understand I suppose that men are going to blow steam after sports. This is no right to pick on somebody though and even when I am drunk I defend peoples right to privicy and choice. There is no excuse to abuse or ridicule anybody for their appearance.
On more than one occasiuon I have stopped a drunken brawl about something insignificant. I can do this because of my physical size and condition, but I maintain the right to mutual respect in appearance. There are bigger and much stronger men in the rural areas and farmlands who could hurt me badly, but generally they are nice people who just donât fully understand âthe city waysâ. We all need tolerance - that is most important.
Regards
Stuart
RJC mentioned that the Philips bodygroomer will hit the stores in Aprilâthatâs great and if Philips markets this right in the US, it could do a lot to make having smooth legs more commonplace and accepted throughout the US. If Philips runs some ads on TV and sports magazines, it seems like this would do a lot to promote body shaving. It really seems like a âno brainerâ for Philips to use the sports angle or maybe, just have women commenting on a TV commercial how much they like men with smooth legs and bodies! Maybe then, those âapesâ would start to feel that they should do something about their own appearance and start respecting others more! What do the rest of you think???
Too bad that will be a lie, right? From what Iâve read on this site and such, most women donât really like men with smooth bodies, right?
Hi Akram,
You mentioned some good points but I really think that it could just be a matter of time for people to get used to men with smooth legs and bodies. Until recently, men werenât supposed to care or do anything about their appearance but now thereâs a quite a market for menâs products and body shaving could just be the next step in this processâI really think that the right marketing could pave the way for this to become the norm or at least, to be more accepted. Athletes having been body shaving for quite awhile and Iâd like to add some of my own recent observations. I think that there are a lot of men out there who would like to shave their legs but are afraid to do so because of what others might think. TV and marketing have a huge impact on people and I think that it would really make menâs body shaving seem more mainstream and give guys the courage to try it.
I recently went to an indoor swimming pool and was in the stands where I had a good view of the main pool and I couldnât help but notice how many men had smooth legs, chests and arms. It wasnât very crowded and I saw about 8 guys who were completely smooth. There were also a few male lifeguards and other pool helpers who also had smooth legs and arms. The swimmers were between 20-40 and definitely not pros! Some of them were really overweight, while others were skinny and they were just doing recreational laps. In contrast to the smooth swimmers, there were also some really hairy guys (chests, legs, and back) and IMHO, it all that body hair looks terrible when wet. I remember having long leg hairs before body shaving and was kinda repulsed by that âSwamp Thingâ look after taking a shower. The smooth or trimmed look, just looks so much cleaner and athleticâthis is entirely POV but I think that it improves oneâs appearance if someone is a bit heavy.
Iâd like to finish up by asking the rest of you, how many smooth men youâve seen at your local swimming pool? Were the smooth guys all competitive swimmers or just leisure ones?
Regards,
smoothlover
Hi Smoothlover
I have noticed that swimmers are even more pro shaving than cyclists. I think there may be a hygien thing involved, possibly in the shower. I woulnât like hair all over my body if I had to shower after a swimming session.
Regards
Stuart
Iâve actually browsed here a bit and all, but I was just kind of curious if anyone has had a situation like this happen:
Walk outside in shorts (with shaved legs) across the street of a workout place for high school athletes, and have them make âgayâ comments; BUT, the people walking alongside them are hairless!
They know that I can outrun and jog them, I do it every year at the park with no real effort when theyâre in training; so they know I exercise and would be prone to injury (had ankle and stuff wrapped before they theyâve seen).
Of course as a twisted thing my leg hair is multicolored. Some is black, some brown, about half is blondish â and about 1/4 of my legs donât even grow hair anymore, or so slow that it might as well not. So even if the rest of the hair wasnât shaved, Iâd have jigsaw shaped forms on them. Thereâs even a few men in town that donât shave, but have light colored hair, or just no real hair (genetic thing apparently) â and they make the same âgayâ comments to them too!
Itâs all just confusing if you think about it⌠if you know the guy that has shaved legs, heâs a masculine heterosexual; if you see the smooth wrestler on TV, heâs heterosexual; if you see the smooth guy in a magazine/TV, heâs heterosexual; but if you donât know him and see him on the street youâve got to stare to check out his leg hair, if little or none, heâs gay.
As an interesting thing, back in the 1940âs my grandfather had shaved legs, along with a number of his friends (due to football). He always said that the tape went on and off a lot easier without hair there. Itâs recommended by some people at high school that the men shave their legs to help take care of injuries easier even.
Yeah, Iâve run into that problem, and the guys who were calling me gay didânt have any leg hair, or hardly any. I think theyâve got to attack you first, so they donât seem so embarrassed about their own hairless legs. Itâs so stupid, if theyâre shaving their legs for sports, why not just do it all the time? Iâm really thinking about going ahead and shaving my legs again. Iâm going to be working inside this summer, so I wonât be exposed to all the park guests. I will have contact with some of them, because theyâll be looking for souvenirs in the gift shops. Also in a gym I ran into a few dudes who thought cause I shaved my legs, I have to be gay. It didânt matter that I had a wedding ring on, they just knew I was gay. And I wasânt the only guy with hairless legs in that gym! Donât ask me why they had to zero in on me, cause I saw about 5 other guys that had shaved their legs. I went to a different gym, and I had trimmed my leg hair, so no one ever made a comment. If I shave my legs again, then weâll see if anyone says anything. In summer, there are more and more guys walking around in shorts, with totally hairless legs. Itâs NOT feminizing guys at all, itâs guys tired of looking like apes, and wanting to look clean. When I went to the beach, and the sand got all over my legs, it was hard to get it out of my hairy legs without going in the water again. With my legs nearly hairless, that isânt such a problem anymore. There is one question I need to ask, is having tanned legs so much better than having white legs? I burn pretty easy in direct sunshine, unless I put on an SPF 30 sunscreen. My skin is fair, so I donât want to burn it, that causes premature aging. Iâm pretty pale, but not so pale that I look like a ghost. Everyone seems so tan in summer, and Iâm gonna stick out with my white arms and legs. Just wondered if theres any guys who stay white in summer?
Hi:
This has to be the longest string of messages on one subject in history.
Basically someone calling you gay amounts to schoolyard mentality. They have yet to grow up and want to amuse and impress their friends with their rudeness and ignorance.
Even if you really were gay, that really should not be that big a deal in this day and age. But unfortunately they shout an insult at you and you end up being afraid to be yourself and shave your legs even though that makes you comfortable.
I had some of the same fears myself about being called names. What would the hockey boys say about my shaved legs?
Nobody said anything however.
My reasons for shaving my legs were different that some of yours. I was transitioning to become a woman. I had spent my whole life in fear of discovery, fear of being called gay, etc.. So I had to overcome all that and go way beyond shaving my legs and being thought gay for it. That was just so I could be myself.
If you are happy shaving your legs, then you should not let schoolyard bullying stop you. This is a free world if you have a free will. Donât live your life for others or you will be a slave. Be an individual.
Alicia
The people like that make comments just end up annoying me more than anything, Iâve never been one to really care what others think. I do what I want, the others can deal with it.
Of course with me, not having the hair shaved looks worse than doing it, and itâs a lot quicker and easier to dry, not to mention they donât seem to be affected by the wind as much (I can feel the wind on my arms as it blows, but not my legs â really weird in a way!) I havenât had hair on them for I think four or five years now.
Hi Jlr
Luckily I have not had a similar situation. Most guys stay away from me because I am quite big and I suppose this intimidates them to an extent. Even while in the US some guys looked me up and down, but no comments were made. Nobody has tried to call me gay yet. I suppose I might loose the plot a bit if they did and somebody would have a sore bloody nose - not that I wish anybody hurt or anything. I believe is uncouth and hurtfull to others that shave to call them gay. Why do so if a man is athletic and shaves his legs - big deal and so what?
Regards
Stuart
Hi JLr
Itâs not unusual to not feel wind on your legs, but your arms are different. Our lower legs in particular are much less sensitive to wind and grass attack as well as beach sand. This is normal and developed through natural processes as we evolved. Man needed to have less sensation to run and hunt and so mens lower legs donât feel so much pain.
Regards
Stuart
Hi Alicia
Well said - the gay screamers are still kids anyway and hope to prove themselves - to who I donât know though!!
Regards
Stuart
Hi Stuart:
I think they are trying to impress their peer group that they are one of the boys, not gay, even if deep down one of them might be.The one who shouts the loudest is probably the closet gay one trying to cover up. It is pretty macho to comment on how gay that stranger over there looks. But, in your case when they look at you they are probably too scared to say something.
I used to be pretty muscular from years of working out, and probably could intimidate people at one time, just with my appearance or a stern look.
In the end though we have to rise above such childish behaviour as displayed by these ignorant people, and just ignore them. If they donât get any reaction they are not having the kind of fun they hoped for. The game loses itâs fun factor for them.
Alicia
Hi Alicia
You are right we need to rise above this childish level. For the schoolboy hooligans the game does indeed loose the fun factor they seek. Josh if you are reading this I actually think the same may apply to your situation, like those guys on the bus you described.
They get drunk, shout and scream, but I also believe a lot of these men are closet gays. Gay people also have the same rights as the rest of us and I wish them no harm, but a lot of drunken men carry on about âgay bashingâ. That is wrong! Let us all live our lives without animosity and the world will be better for it. I agree with Alicia that the loudest âgay screamersâ are probably the closest to gay men.
I think I have been blessed with physical size so most guys like this leave me alone. This does not make me stupid or dim witted however and I often get the impression some guys think I am. I hold 2 degrees and am a qualified paramedic. I also hold distinction in the SAIMM (South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy). I helped save 2 lives 3 days ago so I canât be too stupid. I belive many people make wrong assuptions, whether you shave or donât, but peacefull living is the key.
Regards
Stuart
Hi Stuart and Alicia,
You mentioned some good points about those goons that lash out at others because they might be insecure about their own sexuality and are trying to âlook toughâ in front of their peers. I agree thatâs possible or they might have some other issues and like the schoolyard bully, they try to intimidate others to feel better about themselves. One thing that I think should be remembered about these thugs is that they feel stronger in a group and the worst âmob mentalityâ comes outâthey try to impress their friends by appearing agressive or tough. Their targets are often people who are of a different color, look intellectual or are simply just âdifferentâ than what their clique considers normal. These guys are really cowards when you think about itâthey blindly follow their so-called leader, have no opinions of their own and get off by attacking others verbally or even worse, physically. Unfortunately, there are some individuals like this who just donât respect other peopleâs rights.
Jlr, your experience with those little jerks from high school really defies any logical explanation. They see pictures of smooth athletic men in magazines and on TV but make such idiotic comments about you. Maybe, theyâre just going through a âphaseâ and are trying to impress their friends by saying such dumb things but try not to let it get under your skin. Having said that, it also brings to mind that some women might lust over some movie stars or Chippendale models but then they think itâs âweirdâ if their partner wants to body shaveâthat really defies all logic!!! Itâs okay for them to obsess over these stars that theyâll never be with, but then they canât understand that an âordinaryâ guy wants to look good too and might prefer to be smooth! I really donât know where these assinine ideas come from but maybe, theyâll start to change over time.
Josh, you wrote that a lot of wrestlers shave their legs and nobody would ever hassle them or a body builder who is smooth. I donât think you have to be a body builder or wrestler to shave your legs or chest but those a-holes would never say anything to those guys because they know they would get their sorry butts kicked! BTW, did you notice any other guys with smooth chests or arms in that first gym where you ran into those idiots or was everyone there a hairy ape? Whatâs interesting and also disturbing, is that Stuart mentioned that in SA, men are often inquisitive in a positive way about men with smooth legs and often want advice, whereas in parts of the US and elsewhere, they are sometimes subjected to verbal abuse or threats. Why is that??? Are men in SA just really laid back and friendly compared to other parts of the world or is it the culture and upbringing which teaches others to respect differences more?
In conclusion, I think itâs important to live oneâs life the way you want and have the look you wantâas Mantaray once said, âthis is your life and itâs not a dress rehearsal.â We shouldnât let a few idiots that mean nothing to us decide how we live our lives!
Take care everyone!
smoothlover
I think that for the most part, US society is more geared twards guys having hairy legs, chests, arms, etc. However there seems to be a trend twards a more smooth look in the larger cities. Iâve been to some cities in my state of Ohio, and I saw more guys with hairless legs than in the country. I would guess that the country people are more traditional, thinking males should have hairy legs, and females should be the only ones who shave their legs. Itâs true in the area of Ohio I live in that, guys are to have hair on their legs, and women are not. Iâve just done something that seems to be acceptable, trimmed my leg hair. In both gyms that I went to, Iâd say most guys had hair on their legs. The only ones that seemed to have less hair, were guys that had blond hair. Itâs logical that if your hair is blond, your leg hair will be too, and it will give the appearence that your legs are practicly hairless. If your hair is darker, then youâll have dark leg hairs, which gives a more hairy look to your legs. My hair is medium brown, and my leg hair is the same. when I trim it, it doesânt look that bad at all. Since I live in area thatâs not yet ready to accept guys with smooth legs, Iâll continue to trim my leg hair. Weâve just got to get rid of the old thinking that men must be hairy to be masculine. I think the body looks much more masculine without alot of body hair. Your muscles look much bigger when thereâs no hair to cover them up. The wrestlers look alot more muscular when theyâve shaved their legs, and chest. Plus the skin is more slippery without hair, and harder to keep ahold of, for a take down. After wrestling season is over, they let the hair grow back. They just need to keep shaving, and keep that smooth look all the time. I asked my friend why he lets his legs get hairy again after the season is over, and he said itâs only gay men that shave for no reason.