metal/music sideblog: @kathaariian

as a woman with sensory issues yeah, ive had phases where having long leg hair felt like bugs crawling on my skin, or its wack on my pants. but thats NOT why i started shaving and also not why i shave my legs?? i started shaving my legs because when i hung out with the blonde haired little girls and the girls whose mother already let them shave they would say “wow, why are your legs so hairy?” “you look like a man” or “youre as hairy as a monkey!” and “ew”. i also got bullied for having thick dark arm hair, a mustache on my top lip, and before i started tweezing it- a unibrow.

and as a little girl, when i finally was allowed to shave my legs, i was so relieved and grateful. i would shave my legs even though they would get strawberry legs, and rashes and hurt (before i knew about the miracle of exfoliation). when the hair grew back i would scratch so hard because it itched- but it only itched because i shaved in the first place. and yk what? i didnt have “leg sensory issues” with my hair until i started shaving. i remember experiencing the feeling during covid times when i got lazy. and yk what? at the same time as i had the experience on my legs, i never had it on my arms which for some reason despite the bullying i never shaved (actually i do know the reason- i was scared my hair on my arms would grow back THICKER, so for fear of becoming even hairier, i did not shave). and after being too lazy to shave consistently during covid…eventually the feeling went away 🤯 because, SHOCKER!!! when u arent used to something, you feel it, and then when do become used to something it becomes normal!!! omg wowwwwww

sometimes, when my legs are hairy i still feel that little tickle of sensory discomfort or whatever the fuck. but alot of the times i dont anymore because even though i do still shave my legs for certain dresses, i leave my hair plenty of the rest of the time too and have gotten more comfortable and accepting of it. i dont think about how hairy my legs are unless im going to the club in a bodycon dress and a sexy pair of heels. i dont think about it at work when i wear shorts around a bunch of 50+ year olds, or around my family or my friends or their family, or when i didnt have time to shave but still wear shorts anyways because i simply wanted too, even if it was an occasion i usually would have shaved for and dressed femme asl for.

like, look. i like having shiny, smooth legs and how they feel and how they look. but im not so defensive and stupid to not acknowledge that for much of my life i carried a distinct shame about being hairy that motivated me to shave in the first place. now, i still keep my hairy arms and my hairy armpits and my hair pussy. i don’t inconvenience myself to shave my legs, at the least. but i still do it to fit a certain image of femininity when i want too. which is also in and of itself obviously fucking influenced by the patriarchy. like oh my GOD just ADMIT IT!!!!!!

and don’t bean soup me by saying “well i actually shave ALL the hair on my body including my head because of sensory issues how dare you” or “men with sensory issues do it too!!!”

yeah i know. theres always gonna be that 5% or whatever. shut the fuck up genuinely genuinely i am not talking to you.