No, most Amish girls do not shave their legs; it's generally discouraged as it goes against their emphasis on modesty, simplicity, and non-conformity to worldly beauty standards, with strict communities often forbidding it and viewing body hair as natural and modest. While some may question this norm, especially as they encounter outside cultures, the cultural and religious expectation within the Amish community is to let body hair grow naturally.
Amish women don't shave any of their body hair.
Using the calendar method, the Amish typically begins tracking her menstrual cycles for several months to establish the length of her average cycle. She then identifies the period of her menstrual cycle when she is most likely to ovulate based on the number of days before and after her average cycle length.
The Amish wedding night will usually be spent in the bride's parent's home, as the couple will need to assist in clean up the following day. They will then spend their first months of marriage – their honeymoon – visiting relatives. (This is when most gifts they receive will be given.)
The Amish in the community I came from are not allowed to use condoms. After I left AMISH, one of my sister-in-law's pulled me aside and she was so upset and felt so guilty. She told me that they were using condoms and sinning.
Amish girls typically get married in their early 20s, usually between ages 20 and 22, often shortly after being baptized into the church, which usually happens in their late teens or early twenties. While dating starts around 16 during the Rumspringa period, marriage follows baptism and joining the church, with females often marrying slightly younger than their male partners.
In many Amish homes, rags are a common toilet paper alternative. These rags are typically old clothes that have been worn out. After simple processing, they become practical cleaning tools. After use, they are washed clean and can be reused multiple times.
So to repeat, the Amish do not have more than one wife, or husband. Polygamy is not permitted according to Amish beliefs. And “Amish Polygamists” have never existed in their history. It has always been one man and one woman – that's the only acceptable form of marriage in the Amish church.
Rumspringa is a period that begins at age sixteen and ends with the promise of baptism, during this period young Amish are exposed to the outside world. Another problem the Amish community faces during the Rumspringa period is unexpected pregnancy.
Summary: The Amish typically have their teeth pulled out by unlicensed dentists instead of incurring the high cost of dentistry. They perceive dentures as more cost effective and easier to maintain oral health.
It depends on the community. We are currently working with a Mennonite community and all the boys that have been born were circumcised. There is an Amish community downstate that doesn't circumcise. So it really depends on the community as to what they practice.
Marriage is extremely important to the Amish community—it's the catalyst for becoming an adult. To be married within the Amish community you must be baptized in the church, and non-Amish are therefore not able to marry within this unique community.
Amish women give birth at home in a more natural way with the assistance of their family and midwives. Amish women don't use pain meds, don't focus on due dates, and don't make public pregnancy announcements. Mothers rest while others handle chores, making recovery and bonding with their Amish babies easier.
The Amish have just a 4% obesity rate—9x lower than most Americans. They're less anxious and live longer than most of us.
I don't know about all of them but 28 years ago before I left we did not use any store bought tampons or pads. Instead we used these ripped up towels and rags and they would be like this long and we would roll them four or five times and then we would use four safety pins and pin them to our homemade underwear.
I don't know about all of them but the community I came from, they are not allowed to use condoms. Now, I never really thought about this until a long time ago after I left Amish.
Back then, Amish men wore denim pants without any undergarments, which seems surprising since denim isn't typically the most comfortable fabric directly on skin. Fast forward to more recent visits when I helped with laundry at my siblings' homes, I discovered a change: the men now wear store-bought boxers!
Eating any food while on the toilet is forbidden. After defecating, the anus must be washed with water using the left hand, or an odd number of smooth stones or pebbles called jamrah or hijaarah (Sahih Al-Bukhari 161, Book 4, Hadith 27). Many jurists agree that toilet paper suffices in place of these stones.
Almost two-thirds of this Amish population reported brushing their teeth less than once a day, while only 1.3 percent brushed twice or more a day; 2.6 percent reported never having brushed their teeth.
Driving a buggy in bitter cold temperatures with a new baby wasn't something they would consider. As for other conveniences, using disposable diapers is considered a norm in most Amish families.
There is a high degree of inbreeding, resulting in a high frequency of recessive disorders, many of which are seen rarely or are unknown outside of this population. Extensive genealogical records are available, and the average family size is large.
Mean age at death (+/-SD) in this population was 70.7 +/- 15.6 years, and this did not change appreciably over time. Parental and offspring ages at death were significantly correlated, as were ages of death among siblings.
Courting and dating
"They will lay in bed, no sex allowed. They'll have conversations, but at one point the guy takes the lead and he'll wrap his arms around the girl ... and then they're supposed to kind of rock around for a bit," Lizzie says in the video.