No-Shave November

I really want to be one of those people who doesn't shave. I want the freedom of leaving my body alone - to just look the way it looks. I want the confidence to own it. Yeah, I have hairy legs, wanna make something of it?

But it is hard. I have pale skin on my legs- mostly from lack of sun exposure. I have dark hair. When I let it grow, it is not subtle. And I really don't like the way it looks. I feel like I am seeing boy legs, like the aren't even mine! And this is usually the reason I go back to shaving. Not, I tell myself, because society is judging me, but because it is what I prefer.

But do I really? I mean shaving is supposed to make my legs look better, right? But it dries out my skin, causes irritation, and leaves me with nicks and ingrown hairs. I will guarantee you, there has never been a time since puberty when I have had legs that were both hairless and blemishless.

I am eternally grateful that I never got into keeping my pubic hair shorn for aesthetic reasons. I was too clueless to know that people do that when it first started growing in. And to the credit of anyone who has had the privilege of seeing it, I've never had any complaints.

Yeah, I shave the bikini region (ouch!) during bathing suit season and might do some trimming to keep renegade hairs from sneaking around the edge of the bathing suit and cut down on summer heat. And I've shaved it all off a time or two for practical reasons - like knowing I wouldn't be able to do any womanscaping for a while. I can trim every few weeks during the summer or shave it once and get by for a month or more. This is handy when going on vacation. And also when I was pregnant and the belly started to obscure my view of my lady parts.

Right now though, cool weather and no bathing suits. I'm all natural and see no reason not to be.

So back to the legs. (I haven't mentioned the arm pits because, even though I do shave them as often as I shave my legs, during past experiments with not shaving, I haven't been as bothered by arm pit hair - don't know why.) What better time to launch yet another hiatus from shaving than no-shave November! It's not just for beards anymore!

The cold weather should help me get by longer without making it totally obvious. And maybe once it is all really and truly grown in, no more chopped off stubble, I'll like the way it looks. (I keep hoping this. It hasn't worked before, but I kind of think my hair has never made it to full length.)

The last time I tried to stop shaving, I kept thinking of other people I've known who didn't shave, and still wore skirts, and it was totally obvious they didn't shave. I mostly remember them with kind of a hippy look. And I can rock the hippy look. But sometimes I want the elegant look. And I feel like hairy legs with a fancy dress will look incongruous. Am I just not hippy enough?

I guess we'll find out.