Men shaving legs?

Hair Removal Methods Shaving/Trimming
#401

Hi WhiteX

Some good points you have made. I like the one about men not shaving their facial hair 100 years ago. This fits nicely in my perception that it was a lot harder then to do so. We certainly didn’t have saftey razors or Mach3’s then, never mind electrics or the power to distribute this to everbody.

Now we have very modern razors and much more social freedom than before. Some will still prefer the conservative bearded face, but clean bare skin and a good body are my preference.

Regards
Stuart

#402

Have you all tried the new Gillette 5-bladed Fusion? It’s a much better razor than the Mach 3. I’ve used Mach 3s ever since they came out and even started using the women’s Venus shaving heads on my old Mach 3 Power handles just because the lubra-strips are bigger and last longer when one constantly shaves the entire body.

Anyway, I couldn’t justify upgrading to the Fusion as the bladed are running about $3 more for 4 blades than Venus blades. But I got a free Fusion handle and 1 blade through the mail somehow…must have been a marketing promotion or something. Anyway, the 5-blades do make a huge difference. Especially when shaving the face. Much smoother shave, especially around the indentations of the cheek and hard to get neck area.

But when it comes to shaving the body, I’m not sure. As I don’t use it on the body. I’ve switched to an epilator and have pretty good results. What I do however, is that after I get pretty smooth with the epilator (after getting several cycles of hair growth) I shave to basically exfoliate the skin. The act of shaving scrapes off all that dead skin around the follicles that cause ingrowns and other problems. So by just using the Fusion for my face, it lasts longer, and I’ll gladly upgrade to it. I’m still on my first free blade and I’ve gotten at least 10 shaves from it. I tend to shave 2-3 times a week.

#403

Hi Lincoln6Echo

I haven’t had the oppertunity to try these new blades yet. You are right in exfoliating the skin by shaving. I shave almost every day on my face and legs. I think it looks great. It also makes you look a lot younger as well! I would reccomend more guys try this. Exfolliation is very good for skin tone and adds vitallity to regrowth.

Regards
Stuart

#404

Hi Lincoln6Echo

I haven’t had the oppertunity to try these new blades yet. You are right in exfoliating the skin by shaving. I shave almost every day on my face and legs. I think it looks great. It also makes you look a lot younger as well! I would reccomend more guys try this. Exfolliation is very good for skin tone and adds vitallity to regrowth.

Regards
Stuart

Stuart:

I just don’t think shaving the legs is practical. It takes quite a bit of time. When I’ve gone for waxing, the esthetician usually recommends just doing the upper body back, chest, and arms (of course depending on what you need done). I’ve asked about the legs and they say to just leave it.

#405

I just don’t think shaving the legs is practical. It takes quite a bit of time.

Once you get a bit of practice, it really isn’t a problem. I can shave both legs in 10 minutes (I’m male, with an “average” amount of hair on my legs).

True - if you let the hair grow for more than a week, it will take some more time. But if you keep it shaved it won’t take long.

Henrik

#406

Hi hairfreeicali

I have shaved my legs since joining the forum some time ago almost every day. I have also corrsponded and spoken with other people for example RJC, who is an extensive contributer on leg shaving, like myself. Often leg shaving technics are discussed and evauated. I have never found leg shaving to be uncomfortable or bad looking. It also takes less time than most people think if done regularly.

Regards
Stuart

#407

I can actually do the legs in under 5 minutes – quicker than shaving my face. I end up having to shave something every day to every 3 days max, for the past 4 or 5 years - and I’ve only gone through 22 razor blades so far, or an average of one every 2 months.

#408

I guess my issue is about a consistent look.

I started by removing chest hair - and then was told that the having a smooth chest with arm hair didn’t look good.

I’m sure there’s no right or wrong answer - but I think that you’d want hair removal to be as least noticeable as possible.

It seems like the legs, regardless of how long, may be too much.

#409

Guess it’s up to the person – I actually notice a person without arm hair more than anything; probably since men and women both have arm hair (normally); well at least around me.

#410

It’s been such a long time since I’ve shaved my legs. Now they’re completely covered in hair.

I quit shaving them because it took way too much time (like 20+ minutes to shave both legs). Any tips on shaving? I’ve been thinking about getting into shaving again.

#411

Hi Akram:

I think if you shaved them every day you might not need as long, but I personally don't shave my legs every day.

I find if you don’t then 15-20 minutes seems like a reasonable time if you are doing a thorough job.

Probably the best thing to use would be a womens razor such as Venus Divine or Quatro for women simply because they are designed for women to shave their legs and will minimize cuts.

I also find it helpful to use a good gel such as Gillette Satin Care, and to shave while soaking in the bathtub. Wash the skin to be shaved first to soften the hair, then lather and shave.

With practice you can probably reduce the time it takes to shave.

Alicia

#412

If you can afford waxing, it’s the best way, because they grow back slower.

If that’s not an option, you may want to try something like Nair for Men.

#413

It’s been such a long time since I’ve shaved my legs. Now they’re completely covered in hair.

I quit shaving them because it took way too much time (like 20+ minutes to shave both legs). Any tips on shaving? I’ve been thinking about getting into shaving again.

Have you considered just using a trimmer and trim the hair?

#414

Well to be honest with y’all…I’ve graduated to using an epilator. Why? Spending way too much time and money shaving and buying razors.

But to get to why I started shaving to begin with. Well, I’m an 8-year spinal injury patient, and if you don’t know anything about spinal injuries, there’s one thing that is a bitch. You don’t sweat below the level of your injury. Therefore you skin below that area is very dry and for some reason breaks out easily with achne. Must be something to do with the skin not being able to wash away the lingering dirt and grime with normal prespiration.

Anyway, my spinal injury is C6-C7. That’s right above the shoulder. By comparison, Christopher Reeve’s injury was like C2-C3. That’s high up, right below the brain stem. But mine, being lower, I was fortunate to only get what they call an ‘incomplete’ break. Meaning that the cord isn’t severed…just traumatized and bruised quite a bit. So once the swelling went down, I started regaining usage below that. But there was enough damage that I didn’t recover fully. Yeah, even now, my life’s pretty much fucked up.

Well, to get back to the shaving thing, I was breaking out in whiteheads constantly and of course I’d pop them and then the resulting wound would fester and widen as it’d try to scab over and such. With a full body of hair, I couldn’t do anything about these things. No matter how much ointment, achne cream, I’d put on them, nothing worked. Ironically, I cut the shit out of my left elbow in my accident and it wouldn’t heal up for the same reason. So one day, I decided to shave the hair off of my elbow, and wouldn’t you know, my elbow healed up within about a weel. So I thought…Hmmm…maybe if I shave the hair of all these zits, they may heal up too. So that’s about when I started basically shaving my entire body. Why my entire body? Well, as has been discussed here, is if you shave one body part, but still have your normal hair growth on another, it doesn’t look right. So I just shaved my entire body…including arms, legs, stomach, chest, ass, and pubic area (just for fun, if you know what I mean).

Well, after about a year and a half of shaving, buying dozens of Mach 3 varients, I decided I had had enough and started looking for alternatives. I found that the new generation of epilators seem to do the job and well. So I bought one back in early November and I’m real happy with it. My skin is pretty much hair free for weeks. I touch up nearly dairly as the sparse cyclic regrowth comes back, but for the most part, it beats the hell out of shaving every day.

#415

… if you don’t know anything about spinal injuries, there’s one thing that is a bitch. …

oh lordy do i know. i had cauda equina a while back, which got this whole hair removal process going for me. bedsores on the legs almost killed me (staph infections which went systemic). keeping the groin clean and dry and odor free with neurogenic bladder/bowels has been a challenge to say the least (especially when you’ve lost sensation in the area).

so i got rid of all this hair, at first with laser under a doctor’s care, and then electrolysis (no shaving for me). i’m basically done.

much better to deal with hygiene and infection issues!

#416

[quote] … if you don’t know anything about spinal injuries, there’s one thing that is a bitch. …

oh lordy do i know. i had cauda equina a while back, which got this whole hair removal process going for me. bedsores on the legs almost killed me (staph infections which went systemic). keeping the groin clean and dry and odor free with neurogenic bladder/bowels has been a challenge to say the least (especially when you’ve lost sensation in the area).

so i got rid of all this hair, at first with laser under a doctor’s care, and then electrolysis (no shaving for me). i’m basically done.

much better to deal with hygiene and infection issues! [/quote]

Oh so you’re a spinal injury patient as well?

Interesting…

Actually, I started shaving my groin area a few years before my injury. Found it to be quite sexy to some extent, but my skin would become chaffed due to frequent repeated shavings. After my injury and enough recovery, I decided to start shaving again to alleviate the obstruction that the hair would create when trying to cathe myself.

And then because of my afore-mentioned problem with achne getting out of control, I decided to start shaving the entire body in early 2005. And then in early November of 2006, I bought me an epilator and am very happy with it. I do just about every body part with it.

#417

well, i wish i could tell you i got the groin area worked on for aesthetic and other reasons, but … <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

#418

Hi Lincoln6Echo

I finally made it to full medical doctor 5 weeks before Christmas. It took 10.5 years of study and practice to get here, but it’s done now. I deal on 24 hour call with 4 hospitals in my area. I understand spinal injury well. What you describe is normal in such cases. Removal of hair can only help you. The skin must exfolite and if circulation is inhibited or stopped in certain areas the hair will cause problems.

Regards
Dr. Stuart Turner
MbChb

#419

Hi Akram

Removal of leg and body hair both hygienic and convienient. It saves time in the shower or bath that more than make up for the shaving time. Try starting with a simple Mach3 blade and then mayby upgrage to an electric. Fill your bath to 3 inches of luke warm water and then use shaving cream first on 1 leg then the other. Use the rasor gentily at first. Try to get some sun on your legs after shaving to boost your Vitiman D levels and add a good cosmetic look. Tanned shaved legs look much better than hairy white legs.

Best Regards

#420

I think tanned shaved legs stick out less than white shaved ones. Almost like the eye expects to see some darkness on legs from the hair, but if it’s tanned, they draw less attention. Not sure though, never run any studies on it or anything! Might be the opposite. But I think generally having a slight tan looks better anyway.