Hairy

Somehow, our society seems to be cruelly oppressing women by shaming their body hair.

OK, I suppose looking at this we have to examine the issue more closely. It seems to involve the pressure women feel to shave their legs, armpits, and other bits.

It can't be about the actual act of hair removal itself. Sometimes I need to remove hair off of my legs to facilitate bandage adhesion, and it is totally painless; no discomfort at all. In fact, it is the least painful body hair removal I've ever experienced.

However, I am a man, and clearly know nothing about shaving.

Let's ignore the fact that at my age, and after shaving almost every day since I was about 18, that I have shaved my face about 15,000 times. Male facial hair removal is not comfortable.

I have used many, many types of both blade and electric razors over the years. Cheeks are no problem, but the neck is quite a different issue. It is more like scraping off the hair. Electric feels the better of the two, but still requires grinding a rough instrument against the skin with considerable pressure.

Then, of course, there is the cutting and bleeding.

It is a very different sensation than leg shaving.

For fun one time my wife wanted to try shaving my face. As an experience leg shaver she was confident she knew what hair removal was about. She damn near hacked off my neck skin completely. It was like she was in a race, and determined to get every hair quickly to earn a gold medal. I stopped her immediately, my arms flailing in pain.

OK, so shaving is not physically pleasant for men, but at least we are not forced into it by societal pressure.

Facial hair fashions some and go. Currently, things are somewhat beard-friendly, but this hasn't been the norm throughout my 60 years of life. Although many people always say beards look fine, this is from a distance.

A strong majority of women clearly prefer men to be clean-shaven when dating. Most also prefer this to continue during long-term relationships. There have been many studies done that support this view; Google it yourself.

In a big study (100,000 men) on Tinder, it was found that clean-shaven men had a 37% better chance of finding a match than bearded guys did, and a 74% better “like” rate in general (right-swiped). A number of the bearded men then shaved, and posted new profile pictures, and their “like” rate went up instantly by 19%.

On a recent survey of University women, close to 90% stated they found clean-shaven men more attractive. This study was done in our current, pro-beard-fashion era.

So, although it is uncomfortable, and a daily chore (sometimes twice daily), single men seeking women would be crazy to choose having facial hair.

Why do I still shave, although long-married? I do it because my wife prefers me clean-shaven.

Societal pressure makes me shave, but could I not buck the trend, and go hairy anyhow?

I could, but after so very many years shaven, the face in the mirror is the one I identify as me. A bearded look would be different. This is somewhat paradoxical, as I do have facial hair, and a hairy-looking me would actually be closer to what I am actually supposed to look like.

I have altered the appearance of the part of my body which is most-closely linked to “the self” in order to succumb to outside influences.

Compare that to removing hair from a limb, or an armpit.

And how about the chore of it all. If I were a woman, of the same age, and had shaved once per week (which a casual Google search says is an average) it would have involved 2,184 shavings as opposed to 15,330.

But perhaps this isn't all about legs, and armpits. Maybe it's about the current mania for pubic hair grooming. Maybe somehow that is even more demeaning than scraping hair off of my neck.

My opinions on this might well be biased. Should I be a young, single fellow, and an encounter with a young lady should reach the stage of revealed pubic areas, it would not matter all that much if the woman involved were shaved, or partially groomed, or was natural, or even had her pubic hair done in little ringlets.

Conversely, if doing something to my own pubic zone would actually make that area appealing to women, I would do so in a flash. Blonde? You bet. Shaved? Be right back. Dreadlocks? That will take a little time.

My overall conclusions are totally my own. I do prefer hairless legs and armpits on women, but certainly don't think that my opinion should have any influence at all on anybody, not even my wife.

Any societal pressure felt by women on this subject are just as greatly felt by men. Like any such group-think, it is certainly fine to resist, but there might be consequences (such as hairy guys being considered less attractive), and that a resistor will have to weigh that.

And speaking of societal pressures about hair; why is male back hair so universally gag-worthy, or nostril-hair overflow, or bushy ears?