I don’t shave my armpits for the same reason, they BLEED if I try to shave them. Also they don’t even look good when shaved because 1) bleeding 2) I have black hair and pale skin.
I have DARK and reasonably long hair though and I have to deal with a lot of comments online (and sometimes in person) when I wear shirts/dresses where you can see my armpits and I hate it. It’s why I try not to have them exposed often. But a lot of women’s professional dresses don’t have sleeves!
But I also want to fight the patriarchy and don’t think there should be any requirement to shave my pits just because of my gender.
It’s been 10 years (almost to the day) since last time I shaved my armpits and I am still frustrated by the struggle.
This is also true of Meditteranean women. Hence the continual Greek struggle with unibrows and mustaches. When I lived in India, I used to get everything threaded for like $3 USD and it was dreamy.
I feel you. My skin is olive toned and Im OMG SO HAIRY. like i know some especially fair and fine haired folk who it barely makes a difference for and I’m like… y’all don’t know how bad it can get.
so i will do laser eventually. Saves me money and time.
Oh also - fwiw i did notice you didn’t shave your underarms but you were still just as pretty and put together in my eyes! In a not creepy way. Lol
i just wish this relatively recent gender norm of shaven armpits/legs wasn’t enforced with societal shaming Or, that it was easier to get professional dresses with sleeves!
Even butches at sweaty gay clubs in Paris have shamed me… ugh. Also affected scores in the judged, sexist sport of figure skating…but it’s surprisingly hard to get sleeved dresses.
Ugh, I bet. I used to get allll the comments in person for just my arm and leg hair, not even underarm hair! Once a guy at a bodega grabbed my arm and started stroking my arm hair with this insanely creepy look in his eye and was like “verrrry niceee” and it creeped/grossed me out so much.
I basically remove all the hair at this point and I’m so used to it I don’t really think about it. I started shaving in like 4th grade or something, lol. Mediterranean + Middle Eastern + a hormone thing I have so yeah. I probably wouldn’t shave my legs or remove my arm hair if it were socially acceptable not to. That said, even if I were on a deserted island I’d shave my armpits. I just can’t stand the feeling of hair there (and I’ve grown it out long before).
interesting. I love the feeling of shaved legs, but I only do it for about ~2 months of the year because…why would I make things harder for myself when I wear thick tights most of the time? Also I’m happy to put up with the societal nonsense of unshaven legs, but I like the smooth feeling better. And my tattoos look better with the shaved legs. But shaved armpits are awful for me. It burns when I sweat if they’re shaved, and I sweat all the time because I ride my bike.
I’ve never figured out how to get it to work, I had a friend (male) who is a performer and has to have shaven pits all the time, who tried to help me figure it out, but nope… did not lol. I can’t get waxing at all because medication thins my skin.
It does take me about 3-4 (quad) razor blades to shave my legs the first shaving of the summer.
Incidentally, the reason I follow so many modest fashion influencers is because I am always looking for clothes that cover my upper back (tattoos) and chest and armpits. They have the 411 on it.
Bahahahaha! Dude, when I first shaved after going au natural everywhere but my face…it was like a god damned production. It looked like a wooly mammoth had been murdered and skinned in my tub! I actually special order my razors and make my own shave oil. FWIW the razors are called MicroTouch Tough Blades and I totally recommend them for anyone who is legit a fur monster. There’s an old man on the package, so you know it’s good, lmao.
Alternative suggestion for everyone…. Safety razor and huge pack of blades. They last so much better and yet the box of blades is like a lifetime supply.
Also anyone who thinks they will save money with laser… 5 years out from my laser and the treated areas are not distinguishable from the untreated areas. Back to getting ingrowns but not as cystic as before laser.
Anywhere you can survive epilation (for me the calves) is my longest lasting smoothness. Legs are straight up mixed levels of furry rn and there is no time to fix it
@Elle I’ve tried safety razors. One blade ain’t enough for this lady, haha. I just clog it immediately and it takes foreverrrrrr and doesn’t give me a close enough shave and takes a million strokes over the same spot to get it smooth. Epilation is also a no go since my hair grows in multiple directions and is so f-ing thick, lol, but yeah I’ve for sure tried that as well good to know re: laser. I was also told it is not permanent by my endo.
@anomalily Totally! I’m absurdly proud of my shave oil. It’s basically a knock of of Shave Secret which was so so so awesome when it was available everywhere but it’s not anymore and a lot of the stuff on amazon is fake. Anyway…haha, I use Castor Oil, Apricot Kernel Oil, and Menthol. The castor to apricot is probably 3:1 (I eyeball it) and the menthol is just a tiny bit, but don’t skip it! It makes allllll the difference. I massage a few drops into my skin and then go at it, you can re-wet your skin after you put it on too, and it should still be good to go, like it won’t just slide off.
Bodies are so weird! I clog a double razor in one or two swipes and a triple or quad in less than a swipe. I think because my hair can escape the safety razor but gets caught in the others?
Definitely going to save the shave oil recipe. I love castor oil!
I don’t like the feeling of fully grown out armpit hair for me, but I do really like keeping it at that “first blades of grass after the snow melts” length, like half an inch or so.
Also I’m going to knock off that shave oil recipe for my legs this summer.
Oooh hello fellow chest and back tattoo hider - who are your favorite modest fashion influencers? (non-Mormon preferably, because I probably see all the Mormon ones or their sisters at the grocery store, haha).
My cousin is going to help do my makeup for my wedding next weekend (!) since I wear makeup on average about once a year. Not going for a particular look or anything super fancy obvs but I feel lost thinking about what I should have for her to use (I mean, I can also get her opinion). I currently only own lipstick, mascara, eyeshadow and foundation all of which are pretty old and whatever was cheapest at the time of purchase so I should probably buy some new and different products? What are the basics to get without investing too much in stuff I probably won’t use much after this?
If it makes a difference, my skin is decently clear but with uneven skin tone thanks to too much time in the sun, and tends to be more oily than dry. It is also supposed to be in the low nineties that day and I’m a sweaty person
Are you having high-quality photography done? I would definitely recommend going to an Ulta or similar and talking to them there because there are foundations that have more minerals in them that are likely to create a flashback on the camera and wash you out really badly. Other foundation formulas don’t have this, so you show up a lot better in especially in flash photography. That’s my understanding from my wedding photographer sister-in-law anyway.
Definitely get yourself a new mascara! Anything that goes near your eyes should be regularly replaced for hygiene reasons. But I say don’t try to go too intense on makeup if you don’t wear it often. Do you have time to practice a look or two beforehand?
I agree with this. That’s advice I got, and followed, and I have absolutely no regrets that I went for a much lighter make up look. I am glad I did a good amount of foundation though. But for “visible” makeup I did a lighter look, no over the top Smokey eye for me, and I’m happy about that.
Or, that it was easier to get professional dresses with sleeves!
It looked like a wooly mammoth had been murdered and skinned in my tub! I actually special order my razors and make my own shave oil. FWIW the razors are called MicroTouch Tough Blades and I totally recommend them for anyone who is legit a fur monster. There’s an old man on the package, so you know it’s good, lmao.
good to know re: laser. I was also told it is not permanent by my endo.