Men shaving legs?

Hair Removal Methods Shaving/Trimming
#121

Hello Josh

It will likely look a bit lighter because it is being bleached by the sun as it grows out. It won’t be any finer (or coarser) however, because shaving can’t achieve this. If you prefer finer hair you may want to consider laser which helps in this regard.

Shaving different parts of the body for the first time is tricky, because irratation is a problem. The skin is not easily forgiving and a lot of time is sometimes necessary to get used to shaving. The itch you described does eventually go away as well as the red bumps.

I had the same thing for nearly 2 months when I first shaved for cycling. Today I shave every morning (face and legs) as a routine. My skin is so used to shaving that if I forget or am in a rush and skip a day or two my legs get itchy with red bumps coming out - exactly the opposite, which shows how skin adapts.

When I started shaving my legs permanently, I did it in summer when I had some leave from work. This was so I could wear shorts almost every day to let my skin get used and I think this helped. Long trousers (particularly jeans I found) cause rubbing and aggrevate itching and razor bumps at first.

For shaving legs all I can say is that you must stick with it to see the benefit and shave regularly and often.

Regards
Stuart

#122

Hi, I wish it was that simple, but for me it’s not. I really hated the way my legs felt, and I did think it would go away, but it did’nt and I just could’nt stand it anymore. You’re right about the hair being finer, it’s the same as it was before, however I never did have thick leg hair. So anyway, that’s about all I can say. Since it’s not warm all year long like in Florida, here in Ohio, I’d just rather not have to deal with shaving my legs. You know I work in an amusement park here in northern Ohio, and I’d say about 90% of guys have hairy legs. I have seen a few guys with shaved legs, and they look great, but my legs look so strange with no hair. I know this is not true, but the guys around here think if a guy shaves his legs, he’s got to be gay. I’ll continue to post here, even though I’ve gone back to having hair on my legs. Bye for now!

#123

Hi Josh

I understand what you are saying in terms of what guys might think. Strangly even in Florida, when I was there, most guys don’t shave their legs (they do shave their chests though). I suppose that your work must have a high public profile and in that context it must be hard to adopt a new trend amoung men, like leg shaving.

I am lucky in that South Africa, and in particular Johannesburg, has adopded this as mostly normal for guys. Sport is a major factor in this, but a lot of guys prefer the look here. It is strange that this location seems to be the most prolific spot I have found for this trend.

Having lived here for most of my life and seen it change so drastically is very interseting. JHB has bitterly cold winters as well and lies almost 6000 ft above sea level so one would think leg shaving for guys would not catch on.

Men cycle in shorts even in winter here. I don’t because I hate the cold, but I still keep up my shaving routine. My skin will not adapt quickly to a change so that’s what I do.

Follow your choice in terms of what you think guys might say about being gay - nobody in Florida made a remark about my legs, but different things may apply where you stay. I have reached a stage in my life now where I don’t care what others think about my appearence, so I do what I want, but if people become very difficult and your job is very public, as you say, then you will probably be more comfortable not shaving your legs.

Regards
Stuart

#124

Hey all you guys! Glad to hear you don’t think I’m some kind of chicken, not to keep my legs smooth. I did get the looks while I was out on the midway at the amusement park I work for. I have to work in plain view of the public all day long, and it was really getting to me. I even heard one guy whistle at me, and say, hey dude, you really look hot with those pretty legs. My co workers also were a little stand offish with me. I fianlly said I shaved cause I rode bikes, and they said ok, now we understand. I said since I’m working and not riding anymore, I’m letting the hair grow back. That was all it took, now they’re being really cool twards me. One guy said, it’s ok if it’s for sports, but you should have leg hair, cause it’s not normal for guys to shave for no reason. So you see, here it’s really not accepted as well as other places. I’m ok with having hairy legs, since almost all guys I see have hairier legs than I do. My legs are also pretty tan, and the hair does’nt show up as much, to when I’ve got no tan. It seems that having hair on one’s legs is pretty much a preference, and if you don’t care what others think of you, then you should be free to do what you want. I like the way shaved legs look, the detail of the muscles is awesome. Although I don’t think I’m going to shave my legs again, you all must continue to do what makes you feel good. My legs do look better having hair on them, and I feel better. No more strange feelings when I rub up against clothing. It really made me crazy to feel clothing against my skin. Well guys, thats about it for now. Goodbye

#125

The middle part of America is pretty conservative, and terribly homophobic, and since many people meeting that description think only gay men shave their legs, that may put you in a bad position if you do. Personally, I wouldn’t care, but you need to be comfortable, and also, I don’t live in such a narrow minded, conservative location. I think your concerns are realistic, and while you may like your legs shaved, it isn’t worth it if it makes you feel badly. The whole point of shaving them is to feel good about how you look, not self conscious. I think you would have gotten past the physical discomfort, but not the social part. My legs are smooth, with no bumps, and feel wonderful against my clothing, since it slides over them more easily. Especially with finer fabrics, which I wear only rarely, my smooth legs feel delicious. I wear shorts, and women love my legs; but I live in a more sophisticated location, and wouldn’t want to be in your shoes up in rural Ohio.

#126

Well Veinlover, as you say, conservative areas of the world exist and we are both lucky that we don’t suffer the same prejudices that Josh has to endure where he lives. Obviously I live in a country that also has areas like this, and it is better in some towns not to advertise shaved legs. I hope things will change in these spots, but modern trends tend to large cities so that’s where we will find the most acceptance of mens hair removal in my opinion.

Regards
Stuart

#127

The middle part of America is pretty conservative, and terribly homophobic, and since many people meeting that description think only gay men shave their legs, that may put you in a bad position if you do. Personally, I wouldn’t care, but you need to be comfortable, and also, I don’t live in such a narrow minded, conservative location. I think your concerns are realistic, and while you may like your legs shaved, it isn’t worth it if it makes you feel badly. The whole point of shaving them is to feel good about how you look, not self conscious. I think you would have gotten past the physical discomfort, but not the social part. My legs are smooth, with no bumps, and feel wonderful against my clothing, since it slides over them more easily. Especially with finer fabrics, which I wear only rarely, my smooth legs feel delicious. I wear shorts, and women love my legs; but I live in a more sophisticated location, and wouldn’t want to be in your shoes up in rural Ohio.

Excuse me? I take deep resentment to your statement, living in a “conservative” area and apparently someplace less sophisticated. I know plenty of people in these backwoods of Texas who shave areas not common to men and it would probably take me about one or two fingers to count those who object - both privately and aloud - to this personal practice. Unless hard scientific evidence can be produced to show some of the claims about conservative areas and terrible cases of homophobia, I would hate to imply that people could be put to death for committing the heresy of removing body hair.

But what do I know, I chose to live in a narrow minded region of the world opposed to the more sophisticated and “open-minded” regions.

#128

I’m terribly sorry you took offense, and of course all generalisations are flawed one way or the other. However, in practice, we were explicitly TOLD that our guy in Northern Ohio was made to feel uncomfortable about having shaved legs, and that he had to put a good bit of effort into explaining WHY he shaved them, due to sport, so no one thought he was gay–he said this explicitly. While of course not Everyone in Northern Ohio, or anywhere else, feels like that, there will be a greater preponderance of more conservative individuals, who will clearly not welcome men with shaved legs. And, if he had shaved something less visible, then no one would be the wiser, be he didn’t. If the great middle of this country were not more conservative than the large urban areas, why do thy vote for more conservative candidates, like George W? I didn’t make that one up, unfortunately, as he is in office, and There are readily available voting maps showing which states voted him in. Ohio would be ones of those.

#129

The point was that yes, while politically conservative, it would be quite hard to say that is somehow in relation to narrow-mindedness or an indication of one’s sophistication; all of which have little or nothing to do with social likings to male hair removal.

#130

Ohio is not that conservative politically. Bush barely won there BTW, and that may be more due to the weakness of the other candidate. I live in a far more conservative area and have never had a problem. I think that Josh’s concerns/problems are due specifically to the idiots that he works with. They sound like ignorant rednecks and he must deal with that in whatever way he thinks best. And BTW rednecks are not necessarily conservative. Rudeness knows no political boundaries.

Part of the reason he quit shaving was that he didn’t like being hairless, and that is reason enough for him.

RJC2001

#131

I’ve been shaving my legs\chest\back for about a year now and most people I know have come to accept it or had to deal with it.
My concern is this: I’ll soon be going to college and I worry how shaving will be accepted in a dorm or fraternity house situation. The more open showering facilities I expect will bring more harsh remarks and behavior. Anybody with experience or advice would be greatly apreciated.

#132

I’m a college student RazorSmooth and nobody has ever said anything about my shaving. I have lived in community bath-style housing for two years and in a suite dorm for one year. I think people might have wondered why I spent almost 30 minutes in the shower but whenever I left, it always felt good being clean shaven. Besides, my experience has always been that the showers were much more advanced and private than gym facilities in high school so nobody would know unless you told them.

You will soon discover that college is a very open forum with people from all walks of life being forced to undergo the same changes all at once. People will have much more to worry about than what you do with your body conditions. That is of course, unless you shower with the shower curtain open and show everyone your practice of shaving.

#133

I would hope that you have some sort of shower stall with curtain in your showers, and then you will be fine. If you have to shave in the open, as I’ve seen in some health clubs, you might be more uncomfortable, I would. That said, I’ve seen guys shaving their bodies in those open gym showers, and no one seems to care. But, these guys looked like pretty serious bodybuilders, and everyone knows they shave.

However, I would say that of all the things people have to deal with in college, your shaving practices are probably the least of them, as others have said. Just be friendly and natural, and I doubt anyone will care. I’ve seen enough articles about college guys shaving their chests and such before going to the beach or whatever for the weekend that I think its pretty well accepted now. I don’t know where you are going to college, but college is meant to be a time where you deal with folks from different walks of life, and get past your homogeneous upbringing.

Good luck. It’s your body, just remember that.

OH YES–How do you shave your back?

#134

Ohio is not that conservative politically. Bush barely won there BTW, and that may be more due to the weakness of the other candidate. I live in a far more conservative area and have never had a problem. I think that Josh’s concerns/problems are due specifically to the idiots that he works with. They sound like ignorant rednecks and he must deal with that in whatever way he thinks best. And BTW rednecks are not necessarily conservative. Rudeness knows no political boundaries.

Part of the reason he quit shaving was that he didn’t like being hairless, and that is reason enough for him.

RJC2001

OK, I’m sorry I ever started this. I give. OK. Given where Josh works, he probably isn’t dealing with the cream of the crop, but it’s a summer job, and I think the whole thing was making him uncomfortable, and I don’t think he was in love with shaving anyhow, so the combination led him to conclude his legs are better off in their natural state, and that is fine with me. I think unless you really prefer your legs smooth, there is no pressure to shave, quite the opposite in fact, so far, for men. If you like your legs shaved I would hope that most people would leave you alone, but there are going to be sub-populations, “red neck” or otherwise, who will give you a hard time. If you care, its worth the fight. If you don’t, just going with the hairy legged majority is far easier. All that said, the odds of someone objecting are FAR lower in, say, Los Angeles, than in Canton, OHIO. If you remember back to the 1960’s, and all the dad’s that got so upset about their son’s “long hair”. They were not tolerant of change, or of differences, and that same group are not going to be tolerant of men shaving their legs, it’s just that simple. The percentage of people with that sort of outlook are greater in more rural, more “blue collar” midwest and southern locations; but they exist in blue collar communities in New Jersey as well, so I’m not picking on geographical locations per se. I hope we can let poor Josh’s problems go now.

#135

Hi All

Once again I have to agree with RJC on one thing here which is that Josh was put under pressure by the people he works with (and maybe some members of the public). I am not sure if he did not want to shave or really didn’t like it. It’s very possible that he did like smooth legs but got such a hard time about it that it was easier for him not to shave. As I have said before I would love to turn the clock back and have my outlook now when I was younger. Then society here would definitly have made fun of me shaving my legs, but if that were the case I wouln’t care less.

Josh (sorry to talk about you as if you can’t see this) struck me as a young person. I believe he will try shaving again based on my personal experiance once peer pressure becomes less important.

Regards
Stuart

#136

I have pretty hairy legs too, and I got tired of them. This past February I took some trimmers and trimmed all the long hair off. WOW, what a difference it made. My legs a nearly hairless. I left mainly the lighter colored hair on them. The light hair was too fine for the trimmer to get to, but the longer darker hairs, it took them right off. Now my legs look like they did when I was 12. I’m totally happy now, and I don’t care what other guys might say. Why are straight guys, staring at other guy’s legs? I’m very str8, and married with kids. I just could’nt stand having hairy legs. I don’t know if I’ll shave them or not. What do you guys think? Should I go all the way, or just keep em like they are now?

Just to qualify my last statement please remember that Josh was Tuvock and changed his online name.

Regards
Stuart

#137

[color:“red”]
hi

I am a 17 year old guy and I have a MAT of hair on my legs. Really, it’s abnormal, and I get made fun of it alot. It looks really ugly, too. So, I figure that it’d probably be better to run the risk of getting made fun of for shaving my legs, and have it look better and more appealing to girls.

Can anyone offer me any suggestions? I tried shaving my legs once, but it took hours. I want to try waxing. What is a good wax to use and where do I get it? Does it hurt bad? What are all the products I need in accompaniment?

Also, when my chest hair comes in, I’ll probably want to get rid of that as well.

THis is a little embarrassing to ask, but I dont know any of you people so I’m going to ask. =P

I dont want to shave my pubes entirely, but I do want to mitigate them. How do I approach grooming my pubes?

Thanks

Thanks [/color]

#138

Hi RazorSmooth

I don’t think you need to worry about college at all. If you have handled the sociel issues of shaving at high school then you won’t have a problem there. If you join a frat house then you will most likely be “initiated” and the guys will pull apart just about every aspect of you, but it is fun and nobody will give you a hard time after that.

Regards
Stuart

#139

Hello shi

Sorry for abreviating your name, but I am rushing here. Try shaving before waxing. Waxing will give you smoother results, but it does hurt for guys and will be effective for only 3 to 5 days on legs. I can’t comment on the pubic area as my experiance here is limited. There are other good sections on the forum dealing with this.

Regards
Stuart

#140

Hi All

One last statement from me is that I am not being political in what I say. I am no expert on America (with the exception of 9/11). It’s true here (in SA) that many areas are rural and conservative and a guy with shaved legs will get into social problems quickly. I can’t honestly say that a guy who lives in a conservitive area of America will not encounter difficulties by shaving his legs. I only think he needs to be strong mentally.

Josh has had a hard time and he needs our support now. It’s not easy supporting a new appearance which you want but others mock. All I will state is that it gets easier with time if you persist. It doesn’t take long before smooth legs become your normal look.

Regards
Stuart