... where the buffalo roam...?

[eumelia]

I showered twice within three hours.

That's what I get for actually leaving the house in July between the hours on noon and two pm.

There is a long summer ahead, as ever. I wonder if the mind forgets these things in order to protect us from the trauma that is June to October in this stinking country.

Regardless, I went out to keep my mother company at the mall, an open mall, so there was no air conditioning except inside the shops, which were pleasant respites.

I am, as ever, always a bit aware of what it means to be hairy in public.

I've been wearing tank tops almost exclusively for the past month, it's either that or expiring, but I have hairy underarms, so the first time I went to work in a tank top (we're very casual in our dress at the office, people come in flip flops, I draw the line at that, also they hurt my toes. Sandals though, haven't worn shoes in a while as well) I was a little apprehensive.

I mean, it's not like I thought someone would say anything, that's a very big faux pas no matter how you look at it, but you start wondering what other people are thinking.

Until you don't.

It becomes easy to just head out in a loose tank top and just feel the breeze under your arms.

My mother though, well, I love her little suggestions.

"Don't you think you'd be cooler if you shaved your armpits and legs."

"I'll consider it, if you suggest the same to dad and my brother."

"They're not girls!"

*sigh*

The whole trying to "shame" me into shaving again is a really odd tactic. I've done my unpacking, at first it was an experiment to see if I had the nerve now it's just the way I am. Wearing shorts that show my hairy shins, so what?! No one is actually going to say anything and even if they did, it's their problem.

My bff bought me a dress a few months ago, but it was still too chilly to wear casually. Tomorrow we're going to the pool and I'll wear it over my bikini and it'll be so much fun to frolic in the water.

The decision to be hairy is not one I took lightly.

The fact that it was a decision at all kind of gives the game away.

Comments

[lilacsigil]

Hairy solidarity! Enjoy the pool!

[eumelia]

*Highfive!*

And yeah, it'll be great :D

[dorothean]

I haven't shaved anywhere for ... three years now? And I've just got up the courage to wear actual shorts in public. I still haven't gone swimming at a pool. (Lakes and oceans, yes, though!)

I visited a friend at a commune a few months ago, where it seems that NONE of the women shave their legs. I was surprised by how good it felt not to be self-conscious about it at all. I borrowed a skirt from my friend and let the breeze blow on my legs all weekend.

[eumelia]

I've been to the pool and other bodies of water in the last summer, I had no choice, as I was babysitting my niece and we went to the neighbourhood pool quite a lot. No choice, due to heat!

Skirts! Excellent choice. And yeah, it's fun to be with other hairy women :)

[schemingreader]

I don't shave, but I'm not especially hairy and so it doesn't bug my mom. (When I was younger I used to covet luxuriant armpit hair, which I imagined was sexy and sophisticated. Now I realize that those are adjectives that should be applied best to hors d'ouvres instead of people.)

On the other hand, I've been a vegetarian or pesca-vegetarian for 25 years and my mom still periodically bugs me about not eating meat. So--I don't know. I think moms have a hard time letting go of the idea that they're supposed to continue to influence the most basic decisions about your physical autonomy, decades after you'd think they'd have been happy to cede that control to you. Other people, out in the world, have probably seen mammals before and will get over it.

[eumelia]

My armpit hair is fairly dark, but I'm not especially hairy, but it's noticable and long, so something to think about.

And yeah, it's an influence thing. Do you feel that way about Kid A?

[schemingreader]

Oh, that's an excellent question. Right now, Kid A is still pretty young and I do feel a responsibility to make sure he eats well and sleeps. Sometimes I even pester him to go pee, already, and stop dancing. (I would really like to put an end to that dynamic SOON.) Parents do have to do that for a lot of childhood.

But I do trust him to know what he wants to eat of what's offered and to stop eating when he's full and so on. I encourage him to pick out his own clothing and ask him when he wants a haircut and whatever.

But he's lucky because, um, sexism. I mean, moms bug daughters more than sons, there's probably some kind of name for that particular piece of sexism. Though I'd vowed in advance of having a baby that I would let a girl do for herself in the same way, I don't have a girl. It's easier to be the conscious, feminist mom of a boy.

Also I don't see myself enforcing gender roles on him to that extent. If he, as a teen started to, say, wear makeup, I don't think I would pester him non-stop, inventing studies that suggest such and such a bad outcome, yelling, leaving unsubtle bottles of nail polish remover--which is what my mom would have done.

[dharma_slut]

ABout a thousand years ago, a young male friend had slid his hand up my slacks and was storking my shin. He said; "I love it when a girl shaves so smooth, no prickles."
I said "I don't shave at all, that's why no prickles," and pulled up my slacks lag to show my hairy shin.
The mixed group of men and women all stroked my leg, and a fairly serious discussion developed about how maybe the guys would like girls legs to feel soft and downy...
I like to think that maybe some of those guys developed a preference for girls au naturel.

Also, while not shaving your armpits, you can trim armpit hair. I do, once in a while. :)

[eumelia]

I trim elsewhere ;) but yes, I know you can trim armpit hair, but I like long and soft!

And yeah, it's pretty cool how soft the hair and skin is when you just let things grow :D