The other day, I was walking around the house in shorts when I noticed one of my roommates watching me with a really strange expression on her face.
"What?" I asked.
"Why is only one of your legs shaved?" she asked, giving me this hysterically funny look of mixed confusion and revulsion.
"I'm performing a scientific experiment..." I began.
"Never mind. I don't want to know."
Teehee! That's the truth, though. I really am doing an experiment. Or rather, I was. Frankly, I hate shaving my legs. In fact, I see no point to it, since I almost never wear shorts. But one day, someone told me that shaving your legs makes them less dry. That didn't make a lot of sense, but I do tend to get dry skin, so I thought it would be worth trying. And the only way to make sure my experiment was accurate was to shave one leg and not the other and compare the two. (Other changes, such as diet changes or atmospheric changes, could, obviously, also affect the outcome, and I didn't want to risk having to repeat the experiment.)
I tried the experiment for about a month, but I officially closed the experiment a few days ago, when I started running out of Band-aids. The conclusion was that shaving makes no noticeable difference in skin dryness. I also concluded that I need to either practice shaving or never shave at all. After the first time shaving, I came out of the shower with no less than fourteen cuts, eight of which were bad enough to require Band-aids. (And that was only on one leg!) I've gotten to the point where I only get three or four cuts now, but still, I'd prefer to get my leg insulation from hairy legs rather than a layer of Band-aids. Besides, shaving requires the purchase of razors, shaving cream, and Band-aids, not to mention the extra time and hot water it wastes. NOT shaving is totally free. It's simple logic. And definitely not laziness. Really.
5 comments:
LOL! :) I like your reasoning...I may steal it... I just figure I never wear shorts anyways, so why waste the time?
Shaving removes the top layer of skin, so I guess it does get rid of some dry skin... I've always been under the impression that shaving tends to -cause- dry skin, rather than helping it, though. A lot of women use lotion as soon as they step out of the shower for that very reason. Depending on what kind of products you use, I suppose a good shaving cream or gel could help dry skin due to the moisturizers in them. (I personally have the best luck just using straight lotion in place of cream or gel.) And as for the nicks and cuts... a lot of times it's up to the razor itself. There are some razors I'll cut myself with repeatedly in one swipe and others I can't cut myself with even if I try. I know there are a lot of cases where you can save yourself a few bucks and pass over the better advertised brand names for a cheaper store brand version that works just as well... but with razors, I've found that you actually -do- tend to get exactly what you've paid for. I know you weren't looking for that advice, but feel free to take it as you like or not at all.
Make sure you've been in the shower for a little while before you shave, too. It makes your skin more pliant before you shave, and you cut yourself less. You could use shaving cream, but I always found it to be messy and made it harder to see. A gel might prevent you from cutting yourself, too.
Once you start shaving regularly, you get good at it. It's a skill that is perfected with practice. It's been years, no decades, since I cut myself while shaving. And definitely, positively, do it right after a steamy shower. I can't stand to shave unless I've been in the shower for a few minutes. The gel I use is also moisturizing. Shaving stimulates your skin, so once you get the hang of it and stop cutting yourself, the skin is healthier with periodic shaving. It might surprise you what all grows in old skin while it's still on you.
Shaving one's legs also tends to get the attention of us icky boy-type things. :) Of course, if it's cold out and the ick boy-type thing won't be seeing your legs, then the point is moot.
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