Chad991

gotta agree Kret, i would never shave if I didn't have to for work..I've seen guys do it. (Bicyclists and some body builders)But I say to them same thing I say here, unless you are a pro racer and there is a real need to save time, which I dont really think leg and arm hair would matter.maybe cause I'm not a hairy guy anyway....its kinda feminine...just my humble opinion, everyone one has them...I'm also the guy who wears mtb shorts on a road bike,lol....so what do I know.

masonv45

If you think shaving your legs makes you faster - then it does.

I first shaved mine few years ago and found an added benefit - shaved legs helped keep me cooler on my runs (triathlete).

A big benefit living in the south...
6:00 AM - 75° /100% humidity
3:00 PM - 94° /60% humidity

I use a new fresh disposable razor every summer.

cabledawg

Frankly, I was tired of always looking like I had the mange. My legs looked splotchy, random places on my arms, shoulders and back would get hair while others didn't. Then I recently started mountain biking and got a decent cut on my leg where I had to dig through the briar patch to get it cleaned out. Enough was enough. I bought a woman's epilator and along with my clippers, I've pretty eliminated body hair everywhere except my nether region (still trimmed though) and my face/head. Holy crap! First of all, in just the two weeks after doing all this, my skin has cleared up which may be due to the moisturizing lotion I have to use after epilating. And I thought about the "masculinity" of removing all the hair and in the end, I just didn't give a ****. So now I'm silky smooth and kinda wonder why I didn't do this earlier

Germany_chris

I use women's razors to shave my arms and legs every time I try a men's version I cut myself.

himespau 

How often do you need to do that? I've thought about that, but the pain scares me. Does it all come back at once and get stubbly or do different hairs come back at different rates?

cabledawg

I only just started myself but my ex-wife used to epilate her legs all the time. After about the first two times, it only needed a touch up once a month and it wasn't the thick regular hairs coming back, just small baby hairs. Epilating is literally ripping the hairs out, roots and all, so what does grow back is new hair growth. Yeah, it's a little painful. Warm bath beforehand helps. I like the punishment (no I just have high pain tolerance) so I just went at it. Did my arms one weekend, most of my torso the next (belly skin is sensitive so I'm still working on that), my lower legs one weekend and now I'm working on my upper legs and whatever I missed the first time. And as i mentioned before, put lotion (preferably with aloe) on afterwards to help calm the skin. You're going to get bumps over the epilated skin at first. Don't freak out, they go away after a day.

One other thing I noticed (and someone else mentioned it) is that my body feels cooler. I can really feel it on my legs riding in the morning to work. But overall, once I start to sweat I instantly cool down, likely because the evaporation process is unhindered by body hair.

indyfabz

I would think it's dependant on how hirsute you are and how fast your hair grows. For me, after the initial razor shave I can get away with once/week maintenance. I do it while showering. Adds maybe 5 min. max to the shower. A buddy who I used to ride with has legs like a gorilla. If he ever decided to shave (His wife forbids it) I would bet he'd have to do it more often.

krecik

Nah, I only shave before the interview, once I got the job, I let the forest grow.

Feminine is the word I was looking for, I didn't want to use it though because I didn't want anyone to feel insulted, especially since we seem to be outnumbered.

Kret.

cabledawg

I know I take no personal offense to being called feminine. Takes a lot more than that to offend me

Chad991

and I promise you it was never offered as an offense, I'm just old and set in my way like a cranky junk yard dog..my opinions are not popular these days and miles away from politically correct

krecik

Well, I never called you feminime or anyone else for that matter (to be precise). I just mean that I perceive the practice of shaving one's legs as a feminine behaviour, or at least that I'd feel less masculine if I did so but that's not meant to be taken as an insult and I certainly don't mean to undermine you or anyone in any way. My feelings in this matter concern me only and I'm just sharing them but thanks for responding positively, I was worried a **** storm would follow.

indyfabz

Why? Previously you wrote that you don't measure your mail identity my the amount of hair after you wrote that the act of shaving would be emasculating, which is the loss of male identity.

krecik

Because I don't, I think there are more important things like character and responsibility amongst others but I don't think that the way you present yourself is trivial. There are ways of presenting yourself that either emphasise your masculinity or femininity (whichever you belong to). Though you choose to shave, I'm sure there are things you wouldn't do in order to present yourself correctly as a man, for example perhaps you wouldn't wear high heels, or make-up or ear rings. Or maybe you wouldn't walk or sit down in a particular fashion, because you want to present yourself correctly inline with your identity.

All I'm saying is this is about drawing lines and perhaps I draw mine elsewhere than you do but that's your call.

I hope that clears it up.

Kret.

caloso

I just use the same one I use for my face. I will put in a fresh cartridge, of course.

krecik

Just because I wouldn't want to shave my body hair doesn't automatically mean I conflate my self worth or masculinity with the amount of hair I have, that's an extreme. It's not like I'm out here looking for steroids to accelerate hair growth, like the guys with penis size complexes.

If I made it sound like I'm insecure or as though shaving would topple my character in my first post, it was because I was loose with my wording and I didn't think anyone would come after me for it. I think I've clarified things now.

Kret

rosefarts

I can't imagine how frail your male identity must be that body hair is the only thing making you a man.

Pretty sure I've met drag queens with a better sense of their gender than y'all.

krecik

I don't know why you're trying to incite ****, I haven't said that at all.

Danhedonia

// hears 'drag queen,' perks up //

cabledawg

Come on folks, let's stay civil.

Yes there are men who shave more than just their face/head. The reasons can be professional (Olympic swimmers) or personal (I didn't like my mangy hair growth). But no matter the reason, the definition of masculinity is subject to the individual and no one is here to judge. The OP simply wanted to know a product that men can use for shaving the body. Maybe we should get back to that...…..

krecik

He's right, the discussion seems to have derailed and I suspect that it's my doing...

Ima head out.

Kret.

Kat12

So, really, epilators... do they work? They'd be worth the pain if they did, but I wouldn't want to buy one, torture myself, and find it was useless...

(Also, what do you do with it once you've damaged the follicles enough that the hairs are finer? No way I'm going to keep up with the torture once I have the effect I want... I just want it to be not as painfully-obvious if I've forgotten to shave or don't have time to do so.)

shelbyfv

Ha, had forgotten about this one. OP has moved on from obsessing about body hair, has 12 threads in Mechanics about his rear wheel. Yep.

Kat12

But does he shave it??

cabledawg

I bought a more expensive model and I love it. I'm down to about once a month (the hairs need to get long enough to grab) and even when they do grow out a little, it's such fine hair that it's barely noticeable. And now that all the big hairs are gone, there's literally no pain when I do epilate. Of course, you wont get every last hair every time, but I think it's still way better than shaving.

Kat12

How long (in length) do you figure? I kept reading about "you don't have to wait for the hair to get to a specific length" which doesn't make sense to me, but those are the claims... but if it's something where I have to wait so long I can't stand it and have to grab the shaver anyway, that's not going to do me any good!