PMS depilation

[ailbhe]

One of the things PMS does to me is makes me look in the mirror (which is unusual enough) and loathe what I see (very unusual indeed) and particularly loathe my lack of femininity (mm, quite, Ailbhe as masculine, yes indeed) and have a strong urge to depilate the feminine minimum - underarms and lower legs.

Normally, I quash this urge with a strong dose of militant feminism and a strict talking to about setting the example of being comfortable with my body image for my infant daughters. And it passes within twenty-four hours.

This month I succumbed and shaved. And remembered why it's such an awful idea. It felt better for less than two hours, and then it got really annoying, and as it grows back, it's getting worse and worse - the growing-back effect is annoying enough I may do something drastic just to avoid having to tolerate it, like, ew, shaving again.

The only upside is I feel slightly more confident in a skirt or dress which shows my lower legs, and really, that's part of why I DON'T shave normally. Me and my hairy ankles have a right to learn to feel comfortable in public.

Ho hum. Ailbhe, tool of the patriarchy, strikes again.

Comments

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

I've always felt like a bit of an alien on this one - I grew up somewhere where shaving and not shaving were both equally normal and not commented upon, and didn't become aware that it could even be an issue until I took part in a US exchange at the age of 17, at which point I was completely boggled that anyone could possibly care what a woman did with her leg and armpit hair. I've read enough and lived in the UK long enough now to understand it a bit better, but it's still odd. I have always shaved, and I go through periods of feeling that I should stop just because it is expected here, but in the end I've always decided to keep doing what I did when I lived somewhere where no-one cared, because that is what feels authentically me and because it's a quick and easy way of getting rid of dead skin cells, which make my legs itchy otherwise.