Shaved arms/legs and who noticed

[Bree Wagner]

I'm just wrapping up a week and a half on vacation spent with lots of old high school friends and much of my family. It's the first time I've really spent any extended time with them since I started shaving my arms and legs (and chest) fairly often and certainly the first time in shorts/T-shirt weather. It was just interesting to see how many people commented on it and what their questions were. As a side note, these are some of the same friends who jokingly referred to me as a Yeti or the "Hairy Slob Beast" many years ago so it's not as if it would be difficult to notice.

I can't comment on how many people noticed and didn't say anything since they obviously didn't say anything! :heehee: However, only two people did say something. One friend asked about it since his wife noticed and asked him. The only other person to ask about it was my brother who wanted to know how I, all of a sudden, became as hairless as our father. I had to tell him it was a razor, not a genetic change.

I don't have any desire to tell them about crossdressing so other simple and true answers easily sufficed. The best: I tried it and I liked it. Other answers to more questions were "It's a lot easier to do first aid on all the scrapes and bruises I get while climbing", "It's nicer when I run", and "It's nice not to be so hairy!".

So, for everyone wondering if people notice the answer is yeah, most of them probably do if the change is obvious. Do many of them care enough to say something? Nope, not many. Does it automatically label you as a CD/TG? By no means. There are tons of other good reasons to do it and may of them will surely fit you.

All the best,
Bree

[Wildaboutheels]

I work with over 150 other [mostly] men and women on a regular basis. Three other guys besides myself have shaved arms. Don't know about their legs as we all are required to wear long pants. The chances of any of them being CDers are probably a zillion to one given their "external" appearances... but of course ya never know. Not one person where I work has "asked" me in over 10 years

I may as well throw in, that we have a few people who are naturally hairless because of Nationality. They may have hair, but what they do have is very fine and almost invisible.

If it matters any, Humanity is slowly but surely evolving so we are losing our body hair simply because we no longer need it.

[TeriAnn]

I have shaved my entire body for many years and only one person ever said anything and that was yours legs look better than mine. She even proceeded to ask what and how often I shaved. On the other hand if any one else noticed as you said didn't really care enough to say anything. Its my body and if I want to keep it clean from hair(except my head) I will. lol

[Roni Lynn 68]

Thats great, I would love to be able to do the same. It is hard to get my wife on board in the summer time. She gets very nervous come March of every year. Any suggestions to get her to understand?

[Cynthia Anne]

It's much cooler in the summer time without all that hair! Works for me!

[Cheryl T]

I've only had one person ask me about it in the 7 years I've been smooth all over. It was a lady at work who I kid around with all the time and I just said, "it's easier to get the latex suit on without the hair"....
She just laughed and gave me one of her sly looks.

[Annie D]

I have shaved arms and legs for several years and as a high school teacher and coach (yes, I wear shorts almost all the time) I occasionally get a question or two from the ever observant girls but quite honestly, I haven't gotten a single question to the best of my recollection for the past two years. With a new freshmen class coming in every year and no questions maybe either nobody cares or shaved legs and arms are becoming more accepted. Once you start shaving your arms and someone accidently rubs their hand or arm against yours, the stubble is quite apparent. Legs very rarely rub up against anyone else unless it is under the sheets. So I guess, once you start shaving any part of your body, you need to continue shaving or go thru experiencing that awful feeling of stubble which I can't stand.

By the way, I am a true baseball fan and follow the Rangers every game that I can. If you tune into your local baseball team on tv, try to observe the forearms of all the players. I think that all the players pretty much remove all the hair from their arms below the elbow. Of course, it may be because their arms are shaved before they apply the tattoo.

[AngieStone]

I ride a bicycle about 100 to 150 miles a week so I figured that because I ride it would give me a good reason to tell my wife that I needed to shave my legs, with the spandex and all, well she informed me that only one of us in this household was going to be shaving there legs. she left it up to me to decide which one of us was going to shave. I picked her.

[JLynn17]

i just simply reply," now what would my legs look like in a short skirt if i had hair all over them"

[krisinpink]

I've been shaving my legs & underarms for almost two years now, and this Spring added shaving my chest to that. I've just finished building a pool at my house, so this means lots of skin being shown all the time. My adult daughters & their boyfriends make no mention of it, and last week a couple car buddies of mine were asking (out loud across the pool) "Who does your waxing?" I responded saying "The same cute little Asian girl that paints my toe nails" (my toenails are painted 365 days a year). Truth is, I shave, and don't wax, but this has been the only time anyone has tried to 'call me out' on it. It's really not been an issue, and it's just nicer to be hairless!

[Bree Wagner]

I think that if you've been doing it for years you're even less likely to get questioned about it. It's simply the you that people know. For me it was really about the first time people who always saw me as a significantly hairy person saw me with nearly none (except on my head!).


Thats great, I would love to be able to do the same. It is hard to get my wife on board in the summer time. She gets very nervous come March of every year. Any suggestions to get her to understand?

Roni, what are her specific objections? Is it that you'd get read as a CD or something else?

-Bree

[Roni Lynn 68]

She has not had specific objections. I help coach a travel softball team of 15 year old girls and the coaches wear shorts. I think she does not want them thinking it is "creepy". If the girls start talking then they may get the parents excited then who knows. I think no matter how much I want to shave all the time she does not want me to lose the ability to coach the girls. Plus my daughter plays on the team and how would that effect her. This is one of the times it is for the betterment of my family.

[Ashley D.]

i just simply reply," now what would my legs look like in a short skirt if i had hair all over them"
I love reply! I have said the same thing but made it sound like a joke.

[Jodi]

I am also a high school coach-both boys and girls. My arms and legs have been shaved smooth for years. I wear shorts and short sleeves around them in the fall and in the spring. Never a word has been said.

I believe that any problems are all in your mind.

Jodi

[Eryn]

Once you start shaving your arms and someone accidently rubs their hand or arm against yours, the stubble is quite apparent.

Which is why I epilate! Even when the hair grows in a bit it is so fine that it isn't scratchy.

If one is concerned about people knowing you shave your arms and legs, it really isn't the lack of hair that gives you away, it's that uniform shaving stubble!

[Roni Lynn 68]

Jodi, not in my mind my SO. I would do it in a heart beat. I do not out of respect for her. If there was a way to convince her that nothing would be said I would would be hair free. I will not do anything to hurt my relationship with my SO. To find someone who is accepting is awesome, but to do the opposite of what she requested would not be right.

[AngieStone]

Roni I have to agree with you. I would love to shave it all off, but my SO really would prefer that I did not do that. She has been by my side for over 30 years and I would never do anything to make her uncomfortable. She is the only one that would put up with all my crap, do not know why she does. I sure do owe her that much.

[Sarah Doepner]

The only person in my family to ever comment on my shaved legs was one of my granddaughters. It was summer and she sat next to me as we watched television and she put her hand on my knee. I thanked her for saying how smooth my leg was and we returned to the regularly scheduled program.

[Jo-Ellen]

I've been shaving my legs for 12 years and the rest of my body for about 9 months and have never had a comment

[stacycoral]

It's much cooler in the summer time without all that hair! Works for me!

Boy it that a understatment!!!, I love to be without the hair on the legs, Roni,my SO was nerves about that too,

[Starr]

I made a comment on this on another thread, but will do another one here. I had shaved my legs for several years, while i always wanted my legs shaved it came about as something necessary. As i aged the air on my legs got grey, and thick which caused it to work it's way into the weave of the cloth on my Black pants. I first noticed it when someone ask where i got all the lint on my pants legs, after checking i found what looked like lint was the grey hair sliding though my pant legs. Had the same problem on my chest with pull over black shirts i wear.. so it was either shave, dye the hair, or stop wearing black clothes.. dye was to much trouble.. and no way would i stop wearing black. While i never wore shorts very much i have started this year wearing them to work, as of yet no comments. Also on the line of shaved legs, take a good look at the number of older men who have no hair on their legs.. there are a lot of men in shorts with little or no leg hair.
As for the arms, i just started shaving the arms, no one has said anything so either they havn't noticed, or don't care.

[sterling12]

It's also good to remember that a majority (and a high majority I might add) of our population over age, say....thirty five, are far-sighted. In other words they see things well that are far away, but not proximal things, they need reading glasses. Without those glasses, everything close up is pretty much a blur. Over age Fifty, most folks need bifocals; they can't see diddly with out them, near or far away.

So, that means that most folks can't even see enough detail to ever determine whether or not your arms have hair on them. One cannot speculate on what one cannot see....unless told about it by someone else. Since Bree only got two comments, I'll imagine they weren't speculating, probably because vanity forbades glasses at a Reunion, (at least for The Women) and probably because they couldn't see an oncoming locomotive, let alone the hair on someone's arm.

Peace and Love, Joanie

[Barbara Ella]

At times we have to be very careful about what we do, even with our wife's permission. I posted this previously, but will reiterate. Wife agreed that I could shave (this was in her total acceptance phase - long gone) i did. Then one night she felt my underarm, and asked why I shaved. Gave her the reasons, but she got sad, and her concerns aver my dressing (still new to this) welled up, and we spent the night talking again. She got sad because when we were intimate, she would always run her fingers through the underarm hair (not pretty picture, but you have to be there to appreciate) and this was just another example of the man she married being slowly removed.

So give the wife a break and go slow, you never know.

Barbara

[BLUE ORCHID]

Which is why I epilate! Even when the hair grows in a bit it is so fine that it isn't scratchy.

If one is concerned about people knowing you shave your arms and legs, it really isn't the lack of hair that gives you away, it's that uniform shaving stubble!

Hi Eryn I couldn't have said it any better

[Rebecca Star]

I ride a bicycle about 100 to 150 miles a week so I figured that because I ride it would give me a good reason to tell my wife that I needed to shave my legs, with the spandex and all, well she informed me that only one of us in this household was going to be shaving there legs. she left it up to me to decide which one of us was going to shave. I picked her.


I also ride and I shave.
Why? Well if your riding that many miles a week I'm sure you've come off too. Not that's I'd wish this on anyone, but get a nice infection and hair stuck in a gash or a scab growing over hair etc...etc. Well, I'm sure glad I shave my legs :)

Maybe you could try pointing your wife out to the health issues, it might be worth a shot!

[Jenny Doolittle]

Thats great, I would love to be able to do the same. It is hard to get my wife on board in the summer time. She gets very nervous come March of every year. Any suggestions to get her to understand?

My wife was the same way Roni, really concerned about what others would think. But, it has been goign on three years now and all she ever says is a little teasing with family or friends kind of like she enjoys outing me....Not that that is a bad thing for me anymore.

I wish you the best and hope your wife and you get along well with your transition. Really it is NOT a big thing to others.

[cathie pantyhose]

[QUOTE=Rebecca Star;2909359]I also ride and I shave.
Why? Well if your riding that many miles a week I'm sure you've come off too. Not that's I'd wish this on anyone, but get a nice infection and hair stuck in a gash or a scab growing over hair etc...etc. Well, I'm sure glad I shave my legs :)

I road ride as well and have removed(epil'd) my hair from my legs for years. Just recently started removing my arm hair as well. Personally, it's more comfortable on the ride. I love how it looks and feels. I also love to mountain bike and have a tendancy to ride down very fast which usually results in a few crashes. No hair is so much nicer as the skin heals. I can't imagine hair anywhere any longer. It's so much more comfortable. I'm rarely asked why but that could be because I live in bike USA of Boulder, Co. Its assumed here that if you have hairless legs, you are a cyclist but when asked, I just say I dont have hair and leave it at that answer.