Weather like this makes me insane, if only from a grooming perspective. One day I'm wearing a Canadian Goose parka and the next it's high-water jeans and flats. No socks and apparently no razor. Most years, I close up leg shaving shop around November 1 and don't reopen until mid-March. I don't care if my legs are unshaven and I find the longer I let it go, the less bristly and obnoxious it feels. TMI? Good.
Why do women even shave their legs? For men? To make your sweetheart think he's not sleeping with another man? Why don't they shave for us if a smooth leg feels so nice under the sheets? Is it your job to save your partner from questioning his own heterosexuality? Is there only one way to be a woman and shaved is it? I shave them automatically in the summer, but I can't tell you why. To keep other people from grossing out? Should I poll strangers on how they all want me to look or should I just do my own thing?
Have I gotten old and too lazy to care? Too lazy to shave? Add indignant to the mix, and I'll probably stop shaving my legs even when I'm wearing shorts. They do it in France and those women are as lovely as can be. I drink their coffee, I eat their pastries, I even use their hair products and perfume. Why shouldn't I adopt their grooming rituals as well?
Admittedly, in my mid-40s, my eyesight is not what it used to be. I no longer see every flaw that motivates me to get in the 10X mirror and squeeze my face into a blistered pizza crust. I have a hard time discerning grey hair, so I don't bother to yank the ones I see. Or maybe it's so many more than one, so I figure I'd be bald if I did pull them. We won't even talk about my lack of tolerance for discomfort and pain. I always wore heels up until my late 30s. Now I dread parties that require heels. I'm straddling that fine line between orthopedic shoes with a chiffon dress and looking like I'm going to a Radiohead concert in Chucks and a Ricks Owens dress.
I have a good friend who is young enough to be my daughter and she still has all that youthful energy of changing the world, making big decisions and shaving her arms. Yes, she shaves her arms. I think I did that once and decided even then that it was way too much work. Clearly you see where this has gotten me... I'm thinking of throwing into the bath towel on the leg bit too. And I leave you with the TV announcer's classic voice at the end of a '50s soap opera, asking, "Will she shave or will she go Sasquatch? Tune in to our next episode—to wax or not wax the upper lip?"
Madeline Meyerowitz is the owner of enokiworld.com, a website specializing in vintage designer clothing.
Commentary by Madeline Meyerowitz
