Fall is my favorite season. The trees turn pretty colors, the bugs are all dying and I can begin to wear the other 75 percent of my wardrobe. As I transition into wearing jeans and sweaters all day every day, my shorts get shoved to the back of my drawer, my flip-flops get buried under a pile of boots and my razor lies completely forgotten underneath my sink.
With the beginning of fall comes the beginning of no-shave-season. Not that I shave that much to begin with; I have very sensitive skin and shaving usually just hurts. That being said, when I’m wearing dresses and shorts in the summer, I like the feeling of my smooth legs when they brush up against each other, so I’ll shave maybe once a week.
When the weather turns too cold for exposed legs, there is no way I’m shaving more than once every two weeks. I can often go a month (or more) without shaving my legs in the fall and winter. There’s simply no point.
When my legs brush against each other, there’s no skin on skin contact, so I don’t miss that smooth feeling, and as I said before, shaving causes me unnecessary pain. Plus, shaving takes time, time that I would much rather spend getting a few more minutes of sleep in the morning. As a bonus, the extra hair between my skin and the fabric covering my legs serves as an extra layer of warmth. All things considered, it makes more sense not to shave than it does to shave.
“But Katelyn!” you might exclaim, “How, as a sexually active human being, can you not shave?! Isn’t that uncomfortable for your partner?”
Well, to put it simply, no. My partner does not care about the state of the hair on my legs. First and foremost, my partner cares about what makes me comfortable. Also, my leg hair has essentially zero effect on the quality of the sex we have. It can be a nice surprise if my legs are silky smooth when my partner is caressing them, but it’s not as though they feel like cacti when I haven’t shaved.
Leg hair is really pretty soft, and honestly, the surface feeling of my legs is never the focus during sex. I spend plenty of time caressing my partner as well, and I could not tell you when the last time they shaved was. I have no idea because their leg hair is of such little consequence that I barely even notice it.
Unfortunately, somewhere along the line someone decided that, in addition to shaving your legs, shaving your pubic hair was also necessary in order to make your sexual partner comfortable.
I never shave my pubic hair. Ever. First of all, the skin there is even more sensitive than the skin on the legs. That’s true for everyone. For me personally, if I shave even the tiniest bit of my pubic hair, I break out almost instantly. Take it from me, breaking out in that area is extremely uncomfortable.
Not only is it uncomfortable, it is really not good for vaginal health. The hair down there helps to keep things clean and stop foreign bacteria from entering your vagina. Also, the act of shaving irritates the skin in that very sensitive area, usually leaving tiny open wounds that we cannot see. This increases risk of infection.
Here’s the thing though; like leg hair, pubic hair is also easily forgotten during sex. I am usually too focused on the pleasure of my partner to notice anything but how they are responding to what I’m doing. I can make my partner feel incredible whether or not their pubic hair is present. Besides, I would much rather my partner have a healthy vagina than shaved pubic hair.
Basically, what it all comes down to is: hair is natural, hair is good. At the end of the day, if shaving makes you feel good, then go for it. Otherwise, do what feels right for you and carry on with your awesome self.
Katelyn R. is a Behind Closed Doors columnist who likes to keep things warm and fuzzy in the winter.
