I took a comparative religion class on western monotheistic religions. It's a hadith, i.e. the one of the reports of the life of Muhammed that form the basis of sharia law. (I don't think it's specifically in the Quran, but I could be wrong.) Orthodox Jews have some similar laws. Actually, even some Christians, though generally less orthoprax, subscribe to the notion that women should wear hats in church, while men should keep their heads uncovered.

You can Google it.

Personally I hate pubic hair and shave it from time to time cause all the shedding is just, frustrating. Plus it just get so smelly, especially when it makes me smell like female.

It isn't only women who shave their armpits, I've known some guys who do as well...
For me, yeah, it's an accumulating stink thing. It's easier to go longer between showers if your underarm hair isn't trapping sweat!  But if it's winter I usually don't bother because not only do I not really sweat but I'll also be wearing at least t-shirt-length sleeves so I won't get random people pulling faces at me in the street.
Never shaved my legs though. Guess I'm immune to peer pressure. Got some nasty comments in the changing room at school, of course, but I survived unscathed. 
I think I read somewhere that the fashion for hairless bodies of women started in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. It was a magazine article and I'm not sure of the source... 

weird and wrong?

but hairless armpits are for little girls, and breasts are for women, the combination looks kind of unnatural...

Full body laser hair removal has reduced my body odor by a phenomenal amount. It's crazy. Not that I try to make a habit of it, but sometimes I'll end up going 3 days without a shower (ick, ick, ick, thank god for pulling hair back.) Happened a couple of times this summer. And I still had a friend and my partner tell me I smelled good.

Lasering the pits, especially, is cheap, easy, fast, and night and day difference.

Quote from: Autumn on September 02, 2009, 11:14:40 PM
Lasering the pits, underarms especially, is cheap, easy, fast, and night and day difference.

I've been thinking about this because my face only needs one or two more hits and they have offered me a fantastic price if I buy 6. Has your skin texture smoothed out like our faces have or does it stay the same?

I'm not done with the underarms yet. My best results were from my first treatment, it's about time for another for me - eeeep!

Instead of having obnoxious stubble and the dark hairs there under the skin, you end up with smooth, soft skin for the most part, barring any blond hairs of course. It's one of the absolute best areas to laser, I think, purely from comfort alone (no scratching/irritation/ingrown hairs/scent/look.)

Thank you Autumn, might just do that. I imagine it doesn't ouchie near as much as the face either does it?

Quote from: Autumn on September 03, 2009, 02:55:11 AM
Instead of having obnoxious stubble and the dark hairs there under the skin, you end up with smooth, soft skin for the most part, barring any blond hairs of course. It's one of the absolute best areas to laser, I think, purely from comfort alone (no scratching/irritation/ingrown hairs/scent/look.)

another way to avoid "obnoxious stubble" is to not shave the poor stuff

I do because it looks and feels more feminine. Maybe I should let it grow long and braid it. I'm sure there are guys who would find that a turn-on. I'm joking but it is probably true.

Quote from: metal angel on September 03, 2009, 04:20:05 AM
another way to avoid "obnoxious stubble" is to not shave the poor stuff

But if you wax it, you can't laser it. Silly celestial.

I've done face, genitals, abdomen, and underarm without topical anesthetic. I've actually done *everywhere* without it, but those are the most painful areas. Underarm does hurt a fair bit, but for me, the farther it is from the core of the body (stomach, genitals) the easier it is to deal with. Plus underarm takes like a minute on a slow laser, seconds on a faster design.

Also, I've experienced lasers called Yag, MeDioStar, and Candella. The latter was an upper lip touchup trial from a different spa. The Candella HURT LIKE HELLFIRE and persisted with an under the skin burning sensation for the rest of the day. The Yag is what I've done almost my entire body with, excepting one U/A and one leg with the MDS. The MDS didn't hurt at all, and also didn't seem to do anything at all either. The yag is what I've done all of my face with and the other treatments. It hurts, but not nearly as much as the candella did on my face.

The candella was like a shotgun. BLAST. BLAST. BLAST. The Yag goes Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. The mediostar goes beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep
beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep.

... and that's laser hair removal for kindergarteners. The Yag causes fallout after 2-4 weeks, the mediostar didn't have any immediate effect (they say you notice it more after a few treatments, but you don't get fallout... i don't understand that ->-bleeped-<-), and it felt like the candella incinerated the hairs off my face.

My point is depending on what laser the place uses, it may hurt more or less. Plus, different days are more sensitive, and one side of your body is usually more sensitive than the other.

If you like women with hairy armpits go to Berkeley California, or Amherst Massachusetts.  You'll be in hog heaven.

It's not radical it's a pretty widely accepted social norm.

For those in the unfortunate in between phase who are the owners of hairy breasts I don't think it's much of a question. Begone with it all through whatever means necessary and never look back.

Quote from: Autumn on September 03, 2009, 03:18:00 PM
But if you wax it, you can't laser it. Silly celestial.

i mean leave the poor stuff alone

Quote from: Becca on September 03, 2009, 07:54:31 PM
It's not radical it's a pretty widely accepted social norm.

For those in the unfortunate in between phase who are the owners of hairy breasts I don't think it's much of a question. Begone with it all through whatever means necessary and never look back.

ah... now hairy breasts is a different issue entirely... i like a bit of androgyny but, chest hair and breasts are not a good match...

It's the young-ness of hairless arm-pits combined with the adultness of breasts that looks wrong. Like those actors who have face-lift faces above turkey necks... just a weird clash...

the shaved look kinda seems peadophillic to me.

legs maybe, some women have almost no hair on their legs anyway, and other bits where it's normal for at least some adult women to have no visable hair, and bikini line if it's juts neatening the edges for clothes...

but all healthy adult women have pubic and underarm hair, usually nearly as much as males, pubic hair and underarm hair just seem like they are a mark of adulthood, when removed it looks kind of pre-pubescent... just seems weird...

i guess it's kind of an exageration of females having a lot less hair in other areas so it leads to a kind of hairless = feminine logic... but women have longer hair on their head (i guess that fits cos men have less head hair) but men have longer eyelashes and wear heaps of mascarra... man, culture is weird!

Maybe it is supposed to be a marker of youth rather than femininity? a 12-year-old girl has breasts growing but no underarm hair yet? and is sometimes fertile. Given humans go through the menapause maybe a woman at the very start of her fertility is what human males are programmed to be attracted to? Whereas in chimpanzees - which i don't think have a manapause - the more mature females are more saught-after by the males. It's no longer acceptable in our culture for men to go for 12-year-old girls, but we seem to have forgotted to adjust our grooming?

Actually that explains the gender difference too, it's more acceptable for mento have hairy armpits and they don't go through menapause, their fertility declines but alot more slowly. Generally youth is more crucial to the popular concepts of beauty in females than in males?

But maybe that's too complicated/precise and i've overdoing the evolutionary psych here? But i think early cultures would have gone for fertile brides, so even if it's cultural rather than evolutionary menapause/youth makes more sense than an adult sexual dimorphism. Because (from the few women who don't mess with it) there really is very little sex difference in underarm hair?

Speaking of beyond natural beauty, who on earth decided teeth should be white? no part of a human is supposed to be white except a 90-year-old's hair. Teeth should be ivory, because they are ivory. Well... in my case coffee colourred, but i think that's better than bleeched bright white.

I personally don't like hairy underarms on women, just my preference. For some reason mine doesn't even grow there anymore, not that I'm complaining, so not all women have bushes under their arms.

Quote from: metal angel on September 03, 2009, 09:09:35 PM
But maybe that's too complicated/precise and i've overdoing the evolutionary psych here?

I think you are.  You think hairy armpits look natural, many think it looks better without hair.  I hate licorice, other people love it.  Can we leave it at personal preference?

Quote from: FairyGirl on September 03, 2009, 09:35:00 PM
I personally don't like hairy underarms on women, just my preference. For some reason mine doesn't even grow there anymore, not that I'm complaining, so not all women have bushes under their arms.

hrmmm... i've never know of any biological women who don't have under-arm hair? are you on androgen blockers which might be driving testosterone below adult biofemale levels or something? Or maybe you're just unusual/lucky.

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Post Merge: September 04, 2009, 02:10:59 AM

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Quote from: Ketsy on September 03, 2009, 10:18:13 PM
I think you are.  You think hairy armpits look natural, many think it looks better without hair.  I hate licorice, other people love it.  Can we leave it at personal preference?

i'm just curious cos it seems like an odd thing to do.

maybe it's just that women generally have more patience for grooming?

I like to wax mine. Same with my legs. But then I never had much body hair to begin with. I never had a full beard either 

As much as I hate to say it, the pedo comment probably has some merit. I'm not saying it matters, hairless underarms on women is a social norm and it's generally considered improper to display most forms of body hair, period. However, for example, we do know that speaking in terms of evolution, by and large men find blonde hair more attractive because it denotes youth and therefore increased abilty to mate and better chances of sucessful procreation thus perpetuating the species.

For us trans persons, it's an indicator of gender because people generally assume others are going to comply with accepted norms. For those of us who barely pass if at all, it could very well be the tipping point, so why mess with it? Personally my goal is to blend into society and disappear, and making feminist statements by growing bushes under my arms isn't gonig to help that.

  I can just imagine , a girls night out , you have a beautiful body , perfect breasts ,  perfect makeup , an amazing white dress , you look stunning , oh and hairy armipits , i can just imagine what would be the centre of attention  NO THANKYOU . Shaved and feminine for me