TO some people, being hairy is unattractive, but it comes with its advantages. According to health experts, hair follicles contain stem cells which help heal our skin from wounds and bruises. Also, these follicles have a network of blood vessels, nerves and fat, speeding up the healing process.
Deciding to remove body hair is a personal choice. Getting rid of body hair doesn't make a person healthier, and you shouldn't feel pressured to do so if you don't want to. Some cultures view body hair as beautiful and natural, so do what feels right to you!
There are some benefits to not shaving like better sex, a reduced chance for skin infections, and a more regulated body temperature. Ultimately, you should go with whatever style makes you feel comfortable.
Shaving exfoliates by removing the dead cells every time the razor glides across the surface of the skin. Nazarian says that if you stop shaving, you will accumulate a layer of skin at the top of the epidermis, making it a little tougher for products like moisturizers to penetrate and be effective.
Leg hair and arm hair developed to help prevent chafing so we could move around without causing friction.
If you feel like you have a lot of body hair, it might be serious. Body hair is normal, and it exists for an evolutionary reason: To keep us warm. But too much of a good thing can be a sign that something else is going on in your body.
To be absolutely clear: There is no hygienic or medical reason you need to remove hair. In fact, the opposite is true. When hair is removed, no matter how it's done, the process may create microscopic traumas and expose you to infection.
Is leg hair attractive? A quarter (26%) find men's hairy legs attractive (21% of men and 30% of women said this). Among 16-24-year-old women, 57% – a rate significantly more than any other age/gender group – say hairy legs on women are neither attractive nor unattractive.
Not shaving reduces skin-on-skin contact friction, which means when you do activities that involve arm movement, like running or walking, your skin is much less likely to get irritated by the friction. This might lead to fewer skin issues like rashes and ingrown hairs.
As for what the correct age to start hair removal practices is, Dr Altaf believes that this is an individual choice, there are no guidelines. Dr Desale suggests: “The correct age to start hair removal for boys is 12 years and above and for girls 11 to 14 years (when puberty is achieved).”
Some teens don't do anything with their pubic hair, leaving it to grow naturally. Some girls remove hair when they'll be wearing a bathing suit, and some remove hair regularly as part of their beauty routine. No health benefits are linked to removing pubic hair, so choose what feels right for you.
Marc Glashofer, a dermatologist and fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology, claims that the texture of pubic hair tends to be thicker and more coarse than hair on the rest of our body because of its origins as a buffer. “It prevents friction during intercourse that can cause skin abrasion and rashes,” he says.
Leg, chest and back hair
About two-thirds of Britons (64%) - 66% of men and 62% of women - think it's unattractive for women to have hairy legs. Conversely, just 5% say it's unattractive for a man to have hairy legs. A quarter (26%) find men's hairy legs attractive (21% of men and 30% of women said this).
Body hair exacerbates the unpleasant aroma in a couple ways. First, it provides extra surface area for bacteria to cling to, creating more opportunities for a nasty stench to develop. Second, it absorbs the foul odor, allowing the smell to stick around long after it should have packed it in and gone home.
Nearly 30 percent of women like “a man who trims leg hair down,” and 22 percent “love a man with clean shaven legs.” That means more than half of the women responding like it when a guy does a little legscaping.
Another fascinating thing about pubic hair is its unusual texture and composition compared to the rest of the hair on our bodies and heads. You can't quite use it to floss with, but pubic hair is considerably thicker than either axillary* (underarm) hair or that on our legs, chests (for some, backs) and scalps.
Low testosterone can not only cause a man to lose hair on his head, but also on his arms, legs and other areas of his body including his facial hair.
Less body hair means that muscles are more defined and easier to spot. It also means reduced drag against water and air currents, so bikers and swimmers rejoice! Shaving your legs, or at least trimming the hair on them down, can make you feel cleaner and look less unkempt.
“[Body hair] keeps mammals warm. It protects their skin from a lot of external influences, from abrasion, from water, from chemical attack, all sorts of things,” she says. “Hair is really, really useful.” Most mammals, including our closest relatives, the bonobo and the chimpanzee, are covered in hair.
The main purpose of body hair is to help regulate our temperature in addition to keeping dirt out of our body (in areas such as our eyes and nostrils).
Many hair follicles stop producing new hairs. Men may start showing signs of baldness by the time they are 30 years old. Many men are nearly bald by age 60.
China. China isn't fully westernized, so Chinese notions of beauty differ greatly than American ones (which is refreshing). In China, underarm or leg hair is nothing to be worried about; body hair is considered completely natural and acceptable in their culture. As a result, hair removal just isn't very popular there.