So, do you shave your pits?

[wytchywoman]

how blunt and forward is that question. I do have a reason for asking though.
Seven weeks ago I had a bad bout of almond shaped lumps under the skin of my left arm pit. Extremely painful, let me tell ya. One of them got infected and then it sort of started a chain reaction of other little infected spots until I came down with a raging case of cellulitis and a huge infected spot on the inside of my arm, about halfway between my pit and my elbow. I kind of thought maybe it was a freak thing and just took my antibiotics and a buttload of vitamin c crystal and didn't worry much about it.
Well, guess what. Five days ago the lumps in my armpits are back, both sides this time, and I have another spot that has gotten majorly infected again. It's not as bad as what it was last time, but definitely needs antibiotics again. So I went to the doc today and the first thing she tells me is " That's folliculitis, you need to stop shaving your armpits". The only thing I could think was,"hey, i bet there's other mamas on MDC that don't shave their pits either".
So pony up ladies, do you shave ( or wax, or nair) or not.
Poll coming to your shower soon.


OK so I lied, no poll unless someone can teach me how to do it. I went to the questions forum and found instructions on how to do it, but I do not have a "Yes create a poll" box under my message.???????

[FREEmom1120]

I do.

I hate armpits.

Why do humans have armpit hair? I can understand pubic hair because there are the entryways for infection.

But why the armpits?

[woodchick]

Originally Posted by FREEmom1120

I do.

I hate armpits.

Why do humans have armpit hair? I can understand pubic hair because there are the entryways for infection.

But why the armpits?

I'm no biologist, but I'm pretty sure we have hair there to reduce friction.

[*~Member~*]

I do not and haven't in about 2 years

[Ruthla]

I stopped shaving my armpits and legs about 4 years ago.

To create a poll on an existing thread, go to "thread tools" and click on "add a poll". There's a time limit on this feature, though I'm not sure how long- but you can add polls to relatively new threads but not to really old ones, and certainly only to your own threads.


The little box at the bottom of the post only shows up before the message is actually posted.

[SevenVeils]

Nope, I don't shave or wax anything. Once in a while I trim with scissors, but that is it.

[hollyvangogh]

I do, but only when I remember and only because I hate how sweaty they get otherwise. I don't shave my legs, like ever because I'm always wearing something that covers them. My armpits are usually covered too (unless I'm swimming).

Does the doc say it's okay to wax them? Waxing's not so bad. Hurts real quick but then you're smooth for a while.

[laralee16]

I do in the summer, cuz if I dont then bo sticks around and it gets nasty.

Winter.....eh not so much.

[miss_sonja]

I stopped shaving them a few months ago. When questioned, I say "I'm being European", with a sly smile. It's kiind of fun having armpit hair!

I do still shave my legs, I like the way it looks.

[brightonwoman]

I do shave, but i know several moms who don't.

[kama'aina mama]

Yes. Thank you for asking. Good luck with that stuff.

[marimara]

Originally Posted by woodchick

I'm no biologist, but I'm pretty sure we have hair there to reduce friction.

I seriously have been pondering this for a long time, (the whole why do we have hair in our ______) and friction has never occurred to me. So this is taking the thread off topic for a sec but if that is the case (I was an evolutionary bio major up until the very end then I switched), why don't children have hair there? It only appears after puberty. My thoughts have always been it must have something to do with pheromones and hormones and stuff. I don't know, it's weird.

But for the record, I do shave my pits. I tried waxing and that hurts something major. I wax my brows all the time and that doesn't hurt. But also for the record, I really wish that our culture and my husband didn't value smooth pits because I would stop in a heartbeat if my hubby thought hairy pits were sexy! I hate dealing with the whole body hair issue. And it's not as if my only goal in life is to be sexy for my man, far from it. It's just that the whole culture of hairless women has crept into my soul...and you know I follow the status quo...But I digress again....

[SAHDS]

Originally Posted by FREEmom1120

Why do humans have armpit hair? I can understand pubic hair because there are the entryways for infection.

But why the armpits?

The hair traps the pheromones that are released from your armpits.

And, yeah, I shave my armpits regularly, but my legs only in non-wintertime.

[marimara]

Originally Posted by SAHDS

The hair traps the pheromones that are released from your armpits.

And, yeah, I shave my armpits regularly, but my legs only in the warmer months.

Oh sweet! we posted at the same time with the same thoughts!

[MoonStarFalling]

Nope. Hairy pits are just much more comfortable to me. I trim it though. I don't like for my pit hair to be longer than DH's.

[delicious]

no. well, once a year or so i decide i need to, and then afterwards i'm really sorry i did it.

hope you're armpits are better soon, OP. :P

[sugarlumpkin]

I do shave my pits, but not every day. Maybe once or twice a week. I always make sure that the hairs are grown out before I shave them again (no in-grown ones, in other words). I have done nads on my pits and that was nice (no shaving) but traumatic at the time I did it. I could not do it myself andd so I got DH to pull it off for me. It was quite painful, so he was reluctant to do it properly (good strong, quick pull) and it did not work on all the hairs. The ones it did work on immediately bled, so I had an armpit full of teensy little droplets of blood coming from all the hair follicles! Yuck! It looked terrible, but did not bleed more and did not scab. Just to be clear.

I shave them because it just feels cleaner to me.

[tayndrewsmama]

Yep. It's just such a habit that I don't think I'd be able to remember not to if I wanted to stop.

[annethcz]

Yes I do. A few years ago I went several months without shaving, and I was pretty smelly during that time. I find I don't need to shower as often if I shave my pits.

[tinuviel_k]

No, I don't shave them and haven't for about 6 years. I hate shaving, despise ingrown hairs, and just plain got sick of doing it. I do trim a bit to keep from getting too bushy, but I can't imagine ever wanting to go back to shaving.