I still shave my legs though since I bare my legs in hot yoga, on the trainer in bike shorts, and in the hot tub at home. I confess though that I’m less fastidious about it all. I have dry skin that’s no big fan of the cold weather and so I certainly shave less often than I do in the summer months.
Serious cyclists, male and female, shave legs for a variety of reasons. See some debate and discussion here.
Now if wind tunnel tests prove to be right, we ought to be shaving our arms as well. Read Specialized say that hair-free arms will save you time on the bike
How much faster? On their test volunteer, the result suggested a time saving of 19secs over 40km (25 miles) in their test conditions.
Specialized have their own wind tunnel, called the Win Tunnel, at their HQ in Morgan Hill, California, and they have run several experiments lately to measure the aero impact of different factors such as clothing, disc brakes (compared with rim brakes), beards (no, really!), and hairy versus shaved legs.
Also in body hair news (that’s a category I’ve just made up) various media outlets have declared a new pubic hair fashion trend for women, the full bush Brazilian. Think the 70s in the front and the 90s underneath. It’s a more traditional look without giving up any of the costly and painful grooming practices to which we’ve grown accustomed.
I’ve been waiting for the return of the full bush and it’s here. See this article and check out these mannequins. Why did I think it was bound to come back? A preference in the media at least for the bodies of young women. Yes, as feminists have pointed out, girls have no pubic hair and maybe the hairless bodies in pornography resemble them. But they also resemble older bodies. Indeed, the very first real adult women I saw–outside of porn–with no public hair were elderly women changing at the gym. With age women lose hair there and often it too greys. If we all remove it, we all look alike. No markers of visible youth and in a youth oriented culture we can’t have that! So the full bush is back. If you’ve had it all permanently removed and you care about looking dated maybe it’s time for a merkin! (Here’s a NSFW gallery of famous merkins.) I confess I hadn’t heard of the term until this song. Worth watching just for lego merkin.
My favourite new body hair trend is one I definitely won’t be trying. It’s brightly dyed armpit hair. Even when I don’t shave I don’t think I have enough to colour. For a how to guide, see here.
And for the usual feminist line on body hair (we have it, stop making such a big deal about it) see here and here.
