Up in Arms
11 years ago by
By the way, talking about epilation, what do you think of epilating your forearms?
I know, it was kind of a non-question for me, but I actually found out that a lot of girls do it…
I don’t think I’ll ever do it because I’ve never felt bad about my forearms and it’s not like I need to add any more maintenance time to my “beauty routine” – but some of my friends swear by the feeling of super perfect & clean arms.
What do you think about that?
xo G
When I was younger and much less ok with who I am, I was quite self conscious and tried a number of things to remove the hair. Bleach, Sun-In, lemon juice and one dark day, the EpiLady. Needless to say, it was so painful that I was only able to do one arm!
Just like you, I have ingrown hair, so I shave! I guess waxing the underarms is more of a Parisian thung, am I right or am I right?
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Xoxo Cory
i like the hairless arms look. but i don’t expect it of the others. chacun a son gout :)
http://littleaesthete.com
nope.
that is, why would you “feel bad” about your forearm hair? It’s there for a reason: to protect you from contact with materials that cause irritation.
unless you have genuinely hairy forearms, then skip the needless grooming. it does grow back worse, and then it becomes a hassle to maintain (my cousin tried this, massive regret on her part).
En France je ne l’aurai jamais fait mais maintenant que j’habite a Londres ou les filles font quand meme assez attention aux petits details beaute je le fais l’ete et c’est vrai que j’aime bien que ce soit vraiment impec. En plus les poils des avant-bras mettent super longtemps a repousser donc pas besoin de le faire tres souvent.
Je n’épile pas, parce que bonjour les repousses et puis un bras sans aucun poil, c’est un peu bizarre… Bonjour je suis une extraterrestre, tout va bien, youplaboum…
Mais j’ai trouvé la solution idéale (pour moi): je décolore. Une fois de temps en temps, je vais chez l’esthéticienne, pouf, 20 minutes plus tard je ressors avec des jolis poils blonds, beaucoup moins moches que les poils bruns. :) ça dure le temps que ça dure, puis petit à petit ça redevient brun, en douceur. Nickel!
* Les causettes de Célestine* ;)
ahh I just wanted to comment on that in your other post. To me, it just seems so strange not to have any hair on your forearms! But apparently loads of women do it. I’m like you though – the hair doesn’t bother me and I don’t want to spend even more time in the bathroom. But I’ve been getting the feeling that more or more people are removing their armhair – could it become the new norm? Let’s hope not.
I envy the girls back in the day, who had never heard of epilating or waxing or shaving. I hate it! And my skin does too.. I dream of a lasered body (just legs, bikiniline and armpits) but it’s expensive and moreover, it seems complicated. I once read there are various kinds of lasering and not all of them are all that good. And I’m afraid of permanently damaging my body. And scars! I heard some people get scars? Have you done any research about any of this before you got it done? If so, please share your knowledge! I’m superconfused about the whole thing. Oh and did it hurt much? Really Garance, you need to do a post about this ;) Would be great!
oh yes, I’m also interested in lasering, please tell us about the bikinline thing. okay, now it sounds super weird.
Je pense que ce n’est pas une très bonne idée, ça rajoute du “travail” et cela est inutile à mes yeux. Cela dit, je connais des filles qui sont complexées par leurs poils noirs et qui en ont beaucoup. Je peux comprendre leur complexe même si c’est fort dommage d’en avoir un comme cela..
Je pense que si on rentre là dedans, on ne s’en sort plus… Je peux comprendre que certaines femmes complexent à mort et qu’elles s’épilent les avant-bras. Mais quand on ne complexe pas, je ne vois pas l’intérêt ! C’est un coup à devenir fou cette guerre anti-poil… Et ça coûte cher, j’en parlais sur mon blog récemment : http://manonanchor.com/2013/04/combien-ca-coute-detre-une-femme/ Et ce n’est pas du “plaçage de lien” encore une fois ! Les réactions sont surprenantes mais grosso merdo on sent bien que les femmes sont esclaves de leurs poils…
J’aime avoir des poils sur les avant bras, juste pour les voir blondir l’été.
Je kiffe les choses simples ;)
Complétement d’accord! J’adore qu’après quelques heures passées au soleil les poils de mes bras blondissent et mes tâches de rousseur deviennent deux fois plus nombreuses. Un joli petit moment de satisfaction :-)
Je pense qu’il ne faut pas commencer à le faire parce qu’ensuite on ne peut plus s’en passer. Cette douceur….
J’ai commencé à le faire quand j’habitais aux US et je passais des heures à me toucher les bras, tellement c’était doux. Par contre, la repousse est pas très sympa (poils qui poussent à la verticale avant de reprendre leur courbure) Sinon, contrairement à ce qu’il se dit tout le temps, les miens n’ont jamais repoussé plus drus ou plus noirs.
avec des avant-bras qui piquent quand tu les caresse pas dans le sens du poil ? NNNOOOOOONNNNNNN c’est tout doux un bras, et j’aime bien voir ces poils là, ca en dit plus sur la personne (poilue ou pas, couleur réel des poil, c’est même assez intime je trouve).
good point! Same over here: although I’m very fair skinned and remember that trend back in the 90s, but it looks like it’s still going strong… I also know it from Girls & Women who do Sports, like Swimming etc .. but as my skin is overly sensitive; I won’t join in, I guess! ;)
xo Cam
http://some-kind-of-style.blogspot.de
Haha c’est marrant, justement je me demandais si j’allais le faire cet été ou pas. C’est vrai que les bras ont l’air bien plus définis et la peau est toute douce, c’est super sur de la peau bronzée. Par contre attention à la repousse car les bras auront tendance à piquer un peu pendant quelques jours.
Je m’épile les avants bras depuis que j’ai passé un an au Liban où les filles se font absolument tout épiler, partout, tout le temps et pour quelques dollars. J’ai craqué un jour où un garçon (!) m’a fait une énième remarque et… j’ai adoré. C’est doux, c’est beau, c’est propre et on a – c’est vrai – ce sentiment de perfectitude.
Aujourd’hui, je ne le fais pas systématiquement (y’a déjà trop d’endroits à épiler – puis c’est beaucoup plus cher en France qu’au Liban) mais une fois de temps en temps c’est bien agréable.
xx
Um, no. Not now. not ever. Only applies if your name is Chubaka.
oh non mais oui ma mère le fait, moi franchement ça ne m’a jamais stressée…et puis pffff mon dieu je n’ai pas besoin de me rajouter ce truc en plus.
mais par contre je suis en train de faire les 1/2 jambes au laser, ça marche hyper bien, dès la première séance déjà le resultat est bluffant. pas un poil pendant 1 mois, lisse et doooouuuuux = bonheur. et ça ne prends pas si longtemps que ça, 1h, je trouve que c’est raisonnable.
Je l’ai toujours fait! J’ai un épilateur électrique, alors quand je m’y met, d’abord je fais les jambes, puis les bras!
http://www.laurablogmode.com
Je pense que ça repousse comme sur les jambes : plus foncé, donc moi je m’abstiendrais… Je prefere les manches en fourrure de lapin qu’en fourrure de moi…
If you, as a woman, really have a problem with too much body hair (but: what is too much?) in the sense that it looks like you have men’s arms or a fur, then yes. Otherwise I think it’s just another disgusting trick of the beauty industry to make grown women physically look like children. We should not be talked into this bullsh*t, this is one thing that definitely goes too far for me.
Wow, I agree! Lately I have been getting sucked into thinking I need more product than I probably do. This just seems over the top.
I agree sooo much. F*ck removing hair on your arms! And this is coming from a lady who was made fun of as a teen for having hairy arms. I did think about shaving/waxing them at some points, but I never did it because I was afraid they would look worse with stubble. I’m proud I never gave in. It’s my body and I should be the only one who cares where there’s hair.
We need less things to be obsessed with not more.
Could not agree more with this comment!
I agree so much !! Thanks for this comment !
J’ai une copine qui le fait ! Je trouve ça inutile apart si on ressemble un yéti (ce qui n’est pas du tout son cas) :)
DO IT. After a while, the hairs seem to stop growing back. Also, it does not hurt as much as the legs. Epilator vibrates all over your arms and your arms feel awesome. But the thing is, you gotta keep doing it otherwise you are having dinner a week and a half later with your friends and they’re like umm, your arms…?
I’ve often asked myself why is it acceptable in society to have hairy arms but not hairy legs? If I guy found hairy legs under your dress he would freak, but hairy arms seem ok?!
Hairy legs gives my the heebie jeebies but hairy arms seem so natural, it seems fake to me to wax my arms!
In my opinion, don’t wax your arms! Why add another section of your body to the long list of groomed areas… eyebrows, legs, lip, underarm, thats more than enough to deal with! And since people don’t mind hair on the arms, why not leave it that way? I wouldn’t want it to become the norm to have hair free arms, I remove enough hair on my body already!
xxxx
Coucou garance.
Étant une vraie brune , mes pils avant bras se voient donc ( bizarre alors que ceux de,mes,jambes sont plus fins et clairsemés, bref) je les décolore légèrement.
C’est à dire que je laisse la crème décolorante la moitié du temps indiqué.
C’est plus discret je trouve.
Et je le fais une fois tous les deux mois en même temps que mon petit duvet sur la lèvre supérieure ( ouh! Comme c’est glamouuuuur!).
Voilà.
À bientôt.
Je pense comme toi, ce serait encore une corvée de la vie féminine, c’est pas comme ci y’en avait déjà pas assez ! Je n’ai et ne toucherai jamais mes avant-bras, je ne trouve pas ça utile et ce n’est pas comme ci j’en parlais sans en avoir. :)
Oh bah moi je le fais j’ai la peau blanche et les poils noirs se voient, je n’aime pas les décolorer donc je les épile question d’esthétique!
I totally do it! It’s great to have bare arms, and it feels really feminine and dainty when I’m wearing a t-shirt.
Je le fais depuis mes 14 / 15 ans. Je suis brune, peu poilue (ma meilleure amie (blonde) a bien plus de poils que moi), mais je DÉTESTE les poils des avants bras. Toujours en printemps, été, moins en automne et hiver à cause des manches longues. Je me sens particulièrement mal à l’aise avec mes poils d’avants bras, j’ai l’impression de ne pas avoir terminé la “touche finale” et ça me bloque pour être bras nus.
If you don’t feel the need to do that, please don’t do!
I’m Iranian and we have lots of hair. Everywhere on our body. So we have become somewhat masters of hair removal. At least I think that when I see the perfect skin of Iranian girls at Teherani upper class open air swimming pools (yeah, you really can bath open air there, of cours gender seperated)
Me, I struggle. Once at a visit years ago my cousin couldn’t stand the ‘fur’ on my arms and talked me into waxing them. Really if it hadn’t been so strong I would never have let her do that.
Sure in the beginning it was so nice and smooth but afterwards the same problem as with the legs. And now I can’t go back and just stop removing them. Once taken away the thin fuzz will never grow again. They will look thick and you have to shave, wax them all the time. And if you don’t find the time you will be ashamed of your arms.
Now I shave them and it is no problem anymore but only because it took me years to find a product I can use as shavingcream that won’t irritate my skin or cause the strawberry look, and mostly stop the ingrow of hairs (that hurts so much when it is cold and you get goose bumps haha).
I mentioned it in the previous comment. And I don’t want advertise Nivea too much, don’t like most of their stuff, but it is the Diamond Touch shower gel.
Hey, I’m from India and its common (and much preferable) to wax/epilate forearms. I mean, you can’t have hair on your forearms!
my forearms are not hairy so I cannot really say.
xo
http://pinksole.com
i dated a guy once who shaved his arms and couldn’t get over the prickliness of it. the only time i shave my arms is before i’m getting a tattoo done on them. my first tattooist asked me to do it and it made me really self conscious until he told me he makes everyone do it and i don’t actually have hairy arms. my second tattooist did not ask me to do it and i’m convinced the lines are not as fine because they went over hairs.
Tattooists should always do this for you! No matter what part of your body, because apart from the palm of your hand, bottom of your foot, etc, there will always be tiny hairs that get in the way of tattooing. When my ribs were tattooed, they still shaved the area even though you couldn’t see any hair.
But as far as arm hair goes, i like it – i think it adds character!
I dislike hair on my legs, underarms etc, but for some reason i positively like forearm hair! Am definitely not in any rush to get rid of it
De plus en plus de filles le font c’est vrai mais, un avant-bras sans poil ?! Weird…
xx.
Ha, les fameux poils sur les bras! La phrase qui résonne encore dans ma tête, au collège, en 5ème je crois…”mais tes poilus des bras”, depuis ce jour, l’angoisse de les montrer, c’est dingue comment ça m’a traumatisé. Pourtant en regardant les autres bras dse filles, je me suis rendue compte que ce n’était pas si catastrophique que ça. Aujourd’hui à 29 ans, j’ai commencé à épiler (pas assez foncé pour le laser) y’a pas très longtemps et j’avoue que je suis mitigée, sur le coup c’est bien mais niveau repousse j’aime pas du tout. Au final ils sont plus doux avec poils^^. Dés qu’il fait beau hop, un peu de soleil pour qu’ils blondissent, et c’est parfait j’ai essayé la décolo mais trop chimique et bras irrités. Mais j’avoue que j’envie énormément ces filles au bras si doux où il n’y pas un poil ! Comme dit mon homme tout ça c’est dans la tête. C’est la première fois que je poste un comm sur un blog, je me dis que c’est vraiment le sujet qui me turlupine^^
Never without epilation! I’m a typical mediterranean woman…. :S
sob.
http://lifeincurl.blogspot.com
How crazy is this to shave your forearms? Whats so bad with having some hair on your body despite for the head? Crazy world we live in!
au fait Garance tu n’es pas à Coachella cette année ?
Moi je les épile !!!
j’ai meme fait le laser sur les bras mais voila ça a pa aussi bien marché que sur les jambes ou le maillot mais voila je les épile à la cire tout les mois ! c’est tout doux comme la peau d’un bébé c’est un rêve !!
I’m 68 and have been shaving my arms for about 15 years. When I was younger, my arm hair was very dark and evident. I didn’t like how that looked. I also love the look and feel of smooth arms. I shave my arms in the shower and it takes less than a minute. Time consuming? Seriously? I’ve had laser hair removal on my underarms, bikini area and upper lip. When you get to a certain age, additional hair on the face is not uncommon. A mustache on a woman is NOT appealing. It’s all a matter of personal taste and budget. Laser hair removal isn’t inexpensive, but once the hair is gone, no more shaving. What’s not to like about that!
Trop drôle, on en parlait hier avec mes copines! Moi je ne le fais pas, la repousse sur cette partie du corps qui est assez exposée ,pas terrible et ça fait une corvée en plus pour un résultat un peu sur-naturel. J’ai déjà vu, sur des filles qui le faisaient, une démarcation avec le reste du bras: à la lumière, on passe du sur-lisse (avant-bras) au duvet (à peine plus haut), trop grillée!!!!
It;s a no for me! Maybe when I’ve had very dark haired arm but since I don’t have those…I do epilate the dark hairs though..xx
http://www.creativityandchocolate.com
J’ai essayé ado et franchement ça ne sert à rien, de toute façon je m’épile de moins en moins, trop douloureux, le cout et si je ne montre pas mon corps on s’en fout :)
Donc les avant bras non en plus les poils blondissent l’été au soleil…
Bonjour Garance!
Pour répondre à ta question, moi j’ai commencé à me raser les avant-bras sur un coup de tête car c’était une grosse gêne depuis très longtemps… Après avoir fait l’épilation laser sur les jambes et les aisselles, j’envisage de le faire également sur les bras pour être libérée ! Un peu fastidieux de devoir y faire attention tous les jours… Mais je ne regrette pas, je me sens mieux sans !
Nooon, les avant bras c’est trop je trouve, surtout si la pilosité n’est pas marquée
I once had to shave my forearms for medical tape and they have never really grown hair back! why is it like this with my arms but not the legs which I care about …. Grumble grumble
Je suis asiatique et je n’ai aucun poil sous le bras, ni dessus, ni sur l’avant- bras. :-)))
Je sais, j’ai de la chance !
Non non non et non!
on s’épile déjà les jambes, les cuisses, le maillot, les aisselles, les sourcils, (la moustache pour certaines)
On s’arrête là peut être non?
:)
http://marielgdc.blogspot.fr/
I shaved my arms couple of times when I was a teenager, but then I just thought it is very stupid, the inner feminist came out and in the beginning hair was thicker, but then they came back to normal. We are not children, we are not dolls, just stop the madness.
i have very pale skin and dark body hair. I’ve been shaving my forearms for about twenty years. No ill effects and really not time consuming. Just a quick swipe in the shower.
Tout dépend du poil! Si tu as des poils “normaux” aucun besoin de faire un truc pareil, et sinon…pour certaines il vaut mieux c’est sûr
Can we discuss the fact that hairy legs on women is an exception? Why is it that we are made to feel ashamed of our body hair? This is an honest question, coming from someone with fairly dark, noticeable hair who shaves her legs occasionally, when the mood strikes. Why is leg hair, a shared male/female trait, condemned on women but not men? I would love to hear from some hairy-legged women!
j ai rendez vous jeudi soir pour ma premiere seance laser sur les bras !! youpi!!
J’avais jamais entendu ça! S’épiler les avant-bras? Je vis sur une autre planète quand on parle de poils. Ma meilleure amie (super brune) m’a toujours dit que j’ai tellement de chance de n’avoir des poils nulle part… enfin si, sur la tête j’ai bien des cheveux (hyperfins hyperlisses), mais sur les jambes, les aiselles et le bras j’an ai quatre, j’épile ceux des jambes qu’en été au rasoir sous la douche, les aiselles une fois tout les deux ou trois mois (quand il y en a un ou deux qui osent pousser) et je n’ai jamais fait mes soucils… je n’y comprends rien aux cires, machines, lasers, gommages.
I have very pale skin and very dark strong hair and when I was younger I was embarrassed about my dark hair over all of my body. Then I found laser and it was freeing. Like Garance and others, waxing didn’t work for me, by the time the redness subsided the hair was growing back. I have had my face (lip,chin,eyebrows) and my underarms, forearms & bikini done. I feel free. No stress about ingrowns, no stress about regrowth, no stress about embarrassing black hair on my pale skin. But I will say it HURTS so much and you have to make sure you get the sheer light diode laser cause some of the IPL offered isn’t permanent. But it is really worth it. And for the lovely blonde ladies they now have a laser that works on light hair (previously only worked on pale skin dark hair hence I was the perfect candidate and it worked really well for me). I would say if it makes you unhappy then shave/wax/laser it. Life is too short to be stressed by things you can choose to change. xoxo
I was obsessed with the idea as a teenager, but then again, I think many teenage girls obsess over stuff like that. As an adult, I don’t really care much anymore – it’s not a big deal to me, but I can see how women with different hair situations might want to do it.
Hairy arms are a part of life, and if it doesn’t bother you to the point where to wear sleeves in the summertime and have nightmares about it…it’s probably not worth getting riled up over it. :-)
I lived in India as a teenager and started having my arms waxed back then…even though I don’t have very dark body hair, I personally dislike seeing any on my arms and legs. I wax my arms myself, it doesn’t particularly hurt, it takes three minutes and they feel incredibly soft and polished because the waxing also works as a peel, removing dead skin cells along with the hair, which does not grow thicker.
Je dois avouer que je m’y suis mise il y a peu de temps. J’ai hérité de la pilosité de mon père (ma mère, elle est quasi imberbe, je suis dégoutée!), du coup j’ai assez tôt commencé à m’épiler la moustache (au collège), puis les doigts (au lycée) et maintenant les avants-bras. En deux épilations, mes poils ont repoussé nettement plus fins, donc je pense que dans une dizaine d’épilations on ne les verra quasiment plus et je n’aurai plus à le faire… :)
C’est vrai que moi je me sens hyper gênée de devoir montrer mes poils.
I agree, Molly! I’m a natural dark blond, but my leg hair is definitely noticeable with my white white skin. My skin is so sensitive that shaving, waxing, anything causes major bumps and itching. I gave up years ago and just occasionally use my husband’s electric clipper to trim my lower leg/underarm hairs to about 1/8 of an inch. Then I let it grow back until it gets uncomfortably long (i.e., my jeans pull it). It’s only pokey for the first few days after trimming–otherwise it’s nice and soft. My husband loves me just the way I am. Also, years ago, before I met my husband, I remember getting ready for a summertime date and feeling suddenly self-conscious about my hairy legs, so I shaved them. Wouldn’t you know it, my date had a thing for hairy legs! He took one look at my smooth calves and said he’d prefer them unshaven!
i used to epilate with some cheap brand as a teen — little did i know. now that i check every single product i’m planning on buying with the Skin Deep cosmetics safety database, i certainly wouldn’t epilate even for the Oscar night. totally hear you on shaving as the most convenient and least traumatic way of getting rid of both underarm and leg hair.
I once tried to shave them, I think. But seriously, hair on your arms is way better than studs on your arms. I can’t do epilation or waxing, hurts too much and I just don’t care enough about hair to do that. Well actually I used to wax my upper lips, now I remove some of the hair with a tweezer. But back to arms, I like to at least have one part of the female body, where it’s allright to not remove all you’r hair.
Oh no, never. Though I wouldn’t mind the hair on my forearms to be a little more fair…
http://www.thefashionarium.blogspot.ru/
franchement , je trouve que la grande majorité des filles n’ont pas du tout besoin d’en arriver là. Personnellement, étant asiatique c’est la dernière de mes préoccupation mais à toute celles qui y pensent, prenez conscience que la plupart du temps, les poils de vos avants-bras, vous êtes les seules qui les ayez remarqué !
I “Nair” the hair off my arms and I have been doing it for years. I have dark features and dark hair and while this has served me well in the hair on my head and eyelash dept, the dark hair on my arms had always bothered me. I was always afraid to shave because I was afraid it would grow back even thicker and in my head I was convinced people would know. I know, who cares but at the time I did. So one day I was at the pharmacy and thought why wouldn’t Nair work on my arms if it worked on other body parts? Since I have been doing this for years I can go any where from 3-4 weeks between lotioning up. It is super cheap and basically I need to leave the lotion on for only 3 minutes before showering it off. Bottom line, I think it’s one of those personal beauty decisions…..
Je pense qu’il faut être cinglée pour faire ça! Who has the time! A moins d’être vraiment très poilue des avant bras je pense sincèrement que c’est du grand n’importe quoi. Au lycée j’avais une copine (blonde) qui s’épilait les avant bras, et je trouvais le rendu très…bizarre. J’avais même inventé un petit surnom pour ses bras: “BRAS DE BITE” (Brad Pitt—> Bras-de-Bite, parce que ses avant bras étaient aussi lisses, bah aussi lisses qu’une organe génital masculin). Ahhh souvenirs souvenirs :))
My sister did it once and I remember touching her forearm and how weird it felt! It didn’t feel like an arm, if you know what I mean! haha I don’t think I will ever do it, I don’t see the point unless one has very hairy forearms.
Je le fais depuis que je suis jeune (donc ça va faire 20 ans), à la crème dépilatoire (fut un temps à l’épilateur electrique).Comme Rebecca ci dessus, ça me prend 3 minutes une fois par mois. Donc pas de grosse contrainte et des bras tout jolies !
Le reste du corps a été fait au lazer. ¨Pour cette partie là je n’ai pas investi. Peut -etre un jour. Parfois je focalise sur des filles hyper poiluées de bras et je ne comprends pas pourquoi elles ne font rien. Mais peut-être que je suis trop coquette ! Mais je suis contente de lire dans les comm que je suis loin d’être la seule à le faire
Tout pareil que toi !
J’ajoute que je n’ai jamais porté la moindre attention sur les avants bras des autres gens, je serai incapable de dire si maintenant des amies à moi se rasaient les avants-bras
If I had super hairy forearms I think I would do it (I have a friend who waxes her forearms just because). I sometimes feel like my arms have little hairs that bother me and so I shave that upper part every once in a while (the hair grows back super thin and so it’s less visible). The same happens with my thighs, I shave them instead of waxing them and the hair grows back super thin (I should feel lucky about that I guess… although I would much more appreciate not having any hairs at all!).
Oh hair! Waxing, shaving, creams, tweezers… My worst nightmare!!!
Hairy with a light scent of sweat, me= natural&happy ;-)
I once, measured the hairs on my arms and they are 2 to 3 inches long… i think thats quite funny and my husband and my best friend also a man think its funny too. Girls don’t be fooled into thinking you need to do this…. Hairy arms are really very cool and i for one know 2 men who love me and my hairy arms …
Bah moi personnellement ça ne me gène vraiment pas. On a déjà à s’occuper de beaucoup choses donc mes avant-bras resteront tel quel.
couldn’t think of anything worse! touching someone’s arm when there are prickles coming through. ewww.
I am in two minds about hair removal- i completely understand why people wonder as to why some women remove forearm hair. It is another inconvenient addition to a beauty regime, and it is perfectly natural to have hair there. But then, i regard myself as a hairier-than average woman and sometimes the hair there bothers me- i feel much more fresh and feminine when i have my arms waxed. I often wonder why i feel that way and i think it may just be me being influenced by society’s idea that women should constantly be these hairless creatures…but as some have said in the comments, hairy or hairless forearms shouldn’t matter to all the people you’re closest to in life! Hair removal in any form can be such a pain (quite literally…)
However, for forearms i would recommend waxing- a much more smooth/clean finish, especially for the summer months.
Hello Garance!
I’m just one of many of your legion of fans who adore starting their morning or ending their day reading your thoughtful, open and humorous posts, and the insightful comments.
As a woman, I honestly don’t mind – and nor do I ever notice whether forearms are hairy or not on women. I’m not sure why that is – maybe because I am too busy listening to – and enjoying my friends chatting to me.
Having said that, I think about a couple of my Indian friends and French friends whom I remember have quite long, dark down on their forearms – and – you know what? I find it’s really elegant on therm. It suits them, because they have dark or thick eyebrows with the same kind of hair… so it just follows that they would have the same covering on their arms. I don’t find it looks incongruous, but rather – it looks quite beautiful on them.
I didn’t even notice the light down on my husband’s forearms until we had been together for about a year!
I’m pretty much “visibly hairless”, which I didn’t notice until my husband pointed out to me after we’d been together for a few years. The only visible body hair I have (save for the hair on my head – I’m Asian with dark brown hair) – are a few stray underarm hairs, and four to six persistent leg hairs. My hairlessness (my husband likes to joke that he married a hairless rat) is courtesy of genetics from – of all people – my father!
My mother always shaved her legs, and when I was eleven years old, she told me: “Never shave your body-hair: you will lose the fine ends, and it will always feel coarse on regrowing”.
Of course, being her daughter, at fourteen, I disregarded her advice and I shaved my fine, teenage leg hair twice… after which I used those fine sandpaper mitts that you basically rub over your legs/arms until your skin is smooth… like I said, sandpaper! For six months, my skin was so sensitive that I broke out in rashes from both methods.
After that, I tried an epilator for three months… but it was too time consuming. By the last self-inflicted hair-removal torture session, I’d decided “enough-is-enough”, and vowed to ignore my leg hair.
So for the past thirty years, I have ditched hair removal on my legs… and it doesn’t bother me. It’s not that I am hairless: every human being is covered in hair. It’s just that it’s the extremely fine, pretty much short-and-invisible hair that babies have on their skin that I have on my arms and legs now – with four random 7mm (yes – I pulled them out once and measured them) hairs on my right shin.
However, I do use the Braun Silk Epil on the few stray underarm hairs that pop up every eight or so weeks, because I wear a lot of sleeveless tops in summer. I prefer my underarms not to sport their five or six stray hairs, as I often mistake them for loose threads when I lift my arms and I see them in the corner of my eye, and I mistakenly try to tug them off – in public.
Ah, I wish I had the ‘Asian hairlessness’ problem! I’m Asian too, and although both my mother, father, brother and all my cousins are ‘hairless’, or basically they have very, very, very fine hair over their arms and legs, the genetic jackpot seems to have skipped me. I sometimes think my hairiness is compensation for their lack of hairiness!
I have been very tempted over the years to shave or wax my forearms, because when I look at them, they look (to me) like a hairy guy’s forearms, though the hair is not as coarse or thick as a man’s, just dense, if that makes any sense. They make me feel self-conscious at times, to the point where I avoid wearing basically any jewelry on my arms (aside from my watch), for fear of drawing attention to how hairy, and therefore masculine, they are (even though, hair aside, you would describe my arms as being physically masculine, they’re so long and thin.) When I was in high school, I did have my forearms waxed once, but never maintained it, and though I enjoyed the initial smoothness, I was forever worried about the stubbly re-growth afterwards. Hence, I try to resist the temptation to shave/wax my forearms, though sometimes it’s hard when I’m around all my hairless family! Nowadays, if I notice another woman has hairy arms, I rejoice and say to myself – ‘she has hairy arms and it doesn’t seem to bother her, so why let it bother me?’ Small steps, small steps.
Oh non pitié pas ça, on a déjà tant de choses comme ça à faire !
Je dis non !
Je suis totalement contre. Personnellement, je suis hyper poilue, mais j’ai la chance d’être blonde, donc rien de choquant. Je ne m’épile pas les cuisses non plus… Franchement, pourquoi s’imposer autant de souffrance ?! Mais surtout, ce sujet me fait penser à cette fille de ma salle de sport. Ignoble personnage qui s’épile les avant bras ET les bras. Et a chaque fois que je suis derrière elle au spinning, je suis obligée d’être choquée par la démarcation. Oui parce qu’on oublie d’en parler… Mais le bras imberbe jusqu’à l’épaule, puis un bon gros duvet noir sur le dos, quand on porte un débardeur, c’est juste le truc le plus atroce qui soit. Ceci dit dans son cas, il serait dur de tout laisser au naturel, parce que certainement en effet, que ce serait ambiance famille Delajungle sur ses bras…
Hello Garance,
J’ai cédé à la “tentation” aussi il y a quelques années, même si c’était assez discret…et je n’ai jamais arrêté ! Il faut admettre que la tendance est bien au “zéro poil” (nous verrons ta compilation des commentaires sur le thème rasoir et pilosité plus haut).
Par ailleurs, j’ai vécu en Inde et je peux te dire que les femmes épilent leurs avant-bras systématiquement. N’est-ce pas aussi le cas au Maghreb ?
Bisous
Have a beautiful day
Loulou from sunny Lyon (perfect weather to show your hair-less arms & legs ;-)…..)
YES, YOU MUST!!!!!!
I just done yesterday. But that is easy to do on your self . Is looking nice. I can’t imagine my self in nice elegant dress and hairy forearms.
Etant brune, j’avoue que j’ai pas mal de poils. Les poils sur les avant-bras, ça m’a toujours hyper complexée!
Du coup, je les ai épilés avec de la crème épilatoire vers 15 ans et depuis c’est devenu une habitude.. mais comme mes poils repoussent vite, je dois le faire 1 fois/ semaine ( en hiver) et 1fois toutes les deux semaines en été (car je bronze du coup les poils se voient moins)!
ah non j’aime pas
I won’t say that I have hairy arms, even though my brother thinks I do and tells me I should wax them all the time.. But the idea of removing the hair seems zoo unnatural, which is stupid because women do lots of unnatural things to themselves, like, make-up! I did blench them a couple of times when I was younger, but in the end I just didn’t care enough to keep doing it.
The real question is “why should we shave or bleach or forearms”? I’m not saying we should stop shaving or burn or bras but maybe it would be good sometimes to stop and think a bit about what society encourages us to do and about this pressure it puts on women (and now guys too!). I mean: where is it gonna stop? Like most women, I feel more confident when my legs are smooth and hairfree but this article reminds me that I really don’t like this hygienist wave (Juice Cleaning, Shaving every little part of your body, like everything should be under control…) and that we should be more lenient and indluge ourself a lot more than what we actually do. My advice is: stop thinking about your forearms hair and use your time and money to go out and enjoy yourself!
l’épilation des avant-bras? non mais allô quoi!
Ouais moi non plus ça m’emballe pas !
It’s so funny to see this, Garance. Because just yesterday I got my arms waxed. I like how polished it looks with a gold bangle or bracelets and very dark, short fingernails. I also like the feel of my jumpers (what we call sweaters in some parts of Australia) on the smooth skin.
I only wax my arms. My underarms I just leave and do them occasionally because I don’t know, I kind of like the look of it and so does my man. My legs I shave because I’ve had so much laser they only need a little upkeep and ‘the rest’ I leave. Once I got a brazilian just to try and to impress my boyfriend and it had the opposite effect. He was completely shocked and disappointed because he loves the hair. Imagine. I was completely shocked that he didn’t like it – I guess because we’ve been conditioned to think that men prefer hairless. Anyway, I’m glad that I don’t need to do it again but truth be told it didn’t bother me that much to do it. When I’m doing these things I always pretend I’m Cleopatra or an acolyte of Isis, preparing my body for ritual.
I don’t live in a southern country but unfortunately I do have black thick hair and very, very pale skin! And the girls with light and thin hair all around me. Even if they’re brunettes, their forearms always look less hairy than mine (with several ex?eptions may be…).
All my life since becoming a teenager turned out into “Sleeveless nightmare” every time I was wearing sleevless clothes!!! Which I do like by the way. So, since then boys always payed attention to the fact that I have dark hairs all over my forearms! Commenting on this. Noticing someone noticed that and discussed. Sounds like paranoia but it isn’t. Honestly, I never liked my hairy forearms because they looked like men’s in some way. And compared with other girls who had less hairy bodies or whose hair were blonde or just not so dark like mine and whose skin was not that pale….
I started removing hair from my forearms. And, you know what? I became more self-confident! More relaxed! I didn’t have to bother that I look less attractive than other girls any more! The only thing: I have to spend sime time doing it just because I don’t shave them. no-no-no! Never. I once made a big mistake and shaved my legs several times. Quick, yeah. But after that my hair became stronger, thicker and they started to grow where they did not before! And those fine ends that disappeared forever..
So, girls, if you have light frequent hair or your skin is not very pale, you’ re not concerned about that or may be all the others around you look the same – don’t shave/epilate your forearms! Do it only if it really looks ugly. But we all know that beauty depends on the viewer.
I have a friend with lots of hair in her forearms. She dyes her hear with some kind of product. Regardin myself, strong girl form souther Europe, I use the Epilady, of course…. only way to get decent legs in summer at least…. No pain no gain!!! argh!!!
Tout comme Manu, un vieux traumatisme de collège fait que je m’épile les avants-bras depuis maintenant plusieurs années… mais seulement l’été, puisque l’hiver on ne voit rien sous toutes ses couches. D’ailleurs, pardon les filles mais toutes celles qui n’ont pas de poils bruns sur les bras ne peuvent pas comprendre que c’est exactement le même “poil à cacher” que celui des aisselles quand on a vraiment des poils (ou qu’ils nous gênent tout simplement). Dans les faits, c’est rapide, les bras sont super doux derrière, c’est carrément plus joli que les poils (j’ai eu un choc le jour où j’ai découvert une photo de moi, attablée avec des copines et de beaux avant-bras à reliefs en premier plan). Ah et puis aussi la repousse est loin d’être aussi violente qu’ailleurs. Bien plus light qu’une repousse de rasoir sur les jambes par exemple… :).
J’en profite pour poser une autre question : vous faites quoi avec vos cuisses ? Poil or no poils ? Garance ?
Je n’ai rien contre les filles qui s’épilent ou se décolorent les bras, je suis moi même tentée de le faire pour cet été… Je constate simplement que depuis quelques années, les tendances sont toujours plus “régressives” : des mannequins encore plus jeunes, les BB crèmes, les look enfantins de certaines collections… Et maintenant l’éradication du moindre poil présent sur notre corps, comme si nous devions toutes ressembler à des jeunes filles prépuberts !
Je vais surement un peu loin mais c’est vraiment mon sentiment…
Qu’en pensez vous ?
Carrément d’accord, et ça fait peur, comme le maillot intégral, ça je trouve vraiment flippant, j’aurais vraiment l’impression d’être une gamine, je préféré un joli triangle!
Plus jeune, pas de poil, mince. Je viens de la campagne et aujourd’hui à la ville pour le boulot, je suis toujours étonnée quand je vois les collégiennes hyper lookées, de vraies petites femmes, je me dis qu’elles n’auront jamais le délire de revoir leurs photos avec des vêtements horribles que nous mettaient les parents! A quand un magazine qui refuse les retouches photos, même les stars devraient s’y mettre. Du maquillage et un bon photographe ça suffit amplement, le naturel moi je dis!
Funny, just comment the post of Garance about the razor before to read your post..
And as I said, I wax my arms every 3/4months. I started almost 2 years ago. I think, just because I used to live in south of france before and with the sun in the summertime they were turning “kind” of blondish but now that I live in London, I have to spend the whole year looking at my hairy and dark arms… Can’t stand it anymore!!!
Oups, actually Garance, u wrote the 2post… so confusing with you, Alex and Emily writing…but love it :)
je suis chatain au polis BLOND et je le fait depuis que je suis ado,je suis un peu maniaque……….mais sa se voit je t’assure les miens ont une couleur fluo(genre blanc fluo à la lumière) et puis ils sont assez long
I am totally against it!
As some girls in other comments, I used to live in India and each time I went to the beauty parlour, they beauticians would like at my forearms with disgust, suggesting that I should wax them if I wanted to look “clean” and “feminine”…
As if hairs were dirty.
Anyway, I resisted and I’m happy I did. Women have to stop feeling guilty for being hairy! Plus, the whole maintenance of it all…
… je pense que, sauf cas extrêmes, faut arrêter de déconner 5 min. Prendre soin de soi, avoir une hygiène irréprochable et soigner son apparence, c’est bien. S’épiler les avant bras (je regarde à la loupe mon propre duvet en ce moment), c’est de l’auto esclavagisme!
You know the way that water runs over smooth, hairless legs?
It’s the same with the arms. It’s sensual, it makes you feel different, sexier, better. The same goes when your man gives you an oil massage.
And once you do it the first time, you’ll want to keep doing it (if you know what I mean). The feeling after you do it is magnificent (if you know what I mean). Ok, I’ll stop :-) (I was talking about removing the hair from your arms, btw.)
But seriously, I love having hairless everything. And with the ‘epilateur electrique – genre SatinElle’, it only takes 10 minutes to do both arms. It looks clean, it’s smooth, you’ll want to show your arms afterwards.
And no, it doesn’t grow back thicker. You might want to use a soothing lotion afterwards, so you don’t get that chicken skin someone mentioned. I use an oil that contains aloe vera. It’s perfect.
It’s not, and don’t think will ever be, a must. Don’t do it for anyone elese. Do it for yourself if you want to try it. The feeling is great!
Being Indian with fair skin & thick dark hair there is no choice…..you just have to sugar or wax!
s’épiler les avants bras….?!!!! non mais ça va pas ou quoi….?
bon ok moi j’ai les poils des avants bras fins et blonds et donc cela ne m’a jamais gêné mais je n’ai jamais tiqué sur une fille bien brune qui aurait des poils de singe sur les avants bras…
En général ce qui est assumé se remarque moins du coup: on veut pas le cacher et du coup les autres y font aussi moins attention.
je plains les filles qui s’infligent cette corvée supplémentaire, genre comme si on en avait pas assez en été (vernis impec, jambes bronzées, fines et épilées, maillot épilé, maquillage discret qui coule pas au soleil, etc…)
I bleach them…
NON NON ET RE-NON!!!!
nah, as i am not hairy, I don’t even shave my legs.
After having read almost all the comments I’m not surprised, but a little sad :(. Many women comment on what sort of hair removal procedure they use and how they experience it, some comment on why they do it, which could be because of complexes for example. Only a a few ask the question, WHY SHOULD WE FEEL OBLIGED TO SHAVE? I’m very hairy, and during summertime I occasionally wax my legs (maybe two times per summer), not because I want to, but because many people would judge me if not (and don’t pretend this is not true for many of you, I bet it’s similar to what we all feel, right? It’s just a crazy spiral of idiocy…). If I would stay hairy, I know many of you would look at me and feel disgusted, or be shocked, and I’d rather avoid that, simple equation… I would never shave my legs or bikiniline for my boyfriend, I wouldn’t need to, because I would not be together with someone who judges me like that and don’t accept me the way I am. I do have complexes about my hairy body, but I try to turn it and use it in order to train my self esteem instead. I think it’s better to feel good about who you are, than to feel good about fitting the norm…
But honestly now, hair… Do people really think its ugly? I mean reeeeaaallly (come on?!!)? Or is it just something we have all learned? Why do we impose this madness on each other?
Thank you Cecilia! And to the other skeptics out there.
I notice many women say they can’t imagine hairy arms or legs with an elegant, feminine dress, but isn’t the whole point of fashion to imagine the unimaginable and to have fun and feel good in your own skin? I think smooth skin looks gorgeous and feels great, but just imagine if hairy skin (the norm for many, many people) were also represented in the current visual media repertoire that dictates our physical maintenance (whether we know it or not)….What possibility! What great relief! Pure freedom!
So many people find body hair undeniably sexy, and in this, remain totally unrepresented. Actually, hair-lovers are represented: as aberrations. This always troubles me about the fashion world. Despite its feverish declarations of individuality and personal freedom it has a dark monocultural side that is purely imprisoning. I’d love to hear more discussion about this. Team Garance…I’m looking in your direction! Maybe one day.
I’ve removed my forearm hair since I was 15. My mother always shaved hers, so I learned to as well. These days I use an epilator. Even when I shaved my arms never felt prickly.
I don’t see why this has to be a statement about femininity or feminist principles. I don’t like the way dark hair looks on my pale forearm skin. It’s that simple. I couldn’t care any less what others choose to so with their body hair. Me, I can’t imagine wearing a beautiful, flowy sundress, awesome bangles and dark hairy arms.
J’ai les poils des bras très fins… un micro duvet du coup ça ne m’est jamais même passé par la tête de les épiler ! Ils m’ont même valu le surnom de “chenille” que j’aime beaucoup.
La seule fois où j’en ai entendu parler c’est à l’époque où je faisais de la natation de compétition et mon coach m’avait raconté comment la sensation des bras sans poils est bizarre… c’était l’époque pré-combinaisons… sigh…
Sinon je ne m’épile pas les cuisses non plus, le poil y est terriblement fin et blondit très vite. J’ai fait laser aux aisselles (juste quelques petits poils fins restant…) et intégral maillot (il en reste plein, mais je regrette, j’aurais du faire que maillot échancré), je rase mes jambes, épile mes sourcils et Nair ma moustache :)
Je suppose que pour celles qui ont beaucoup de poils et très foncé ça s’impose, mais je suis étonnée que ce soit aussi répandu. Pour celles qui se rasent ou utilisent du Nair… euhhh la repousse doit être curieuse non ?
Je ne suis ni pro, ni anti poils… mais je ne peux que me demander où ça va s’arrêter ? Est-ce que certaines s’épilent les poils sur les doigts (ceux sur les phalanges) ? Dans le cou sous la nuque ? Le duvet autour du nombril qui est parfois un peu foncé au début de l’été ? Et le léger duvet du visage, on en fait quoi ? Est-ce que parce que c’est plus beau, pour le comfort, pour peur d’être jugée ?
Et à quelle âge commence-t-on à s’épiler ? Ma soeur a 9 ans et du poil aux jambes, j’espère qu’elle n’en aura rien à fiche pour encore longtemps.
Moi je ne ressens pas du tout le besoin d’épiler mes avant bras, ils sont pas particulièrement poilus et en effet, aucune raison de me rajouter une corvée. Par contre j’aurai bien voulu que tu fasse un article sur l’épilation du dessus de lèvre ( ouais la moustaaaache). Je suis mitigée entre me la laisser telle quelle et l’épiler, sachant que je n’ai que du duvet. J’ai demandé conseil à mon esthéticienne, mais je ne lui fais pas confiance, aha, elle ce qu’elle veut c’est m’épiler et se faire du fric, je veux un avis impartial, avec les avnatages et les incovéniants.
Si tu t’y connais en la matière… je veux bien ton avis.
I’ve never heard about anyone shaving or epilating his/her forearms before. I’m from Germany though. Probably it’s an American thing? Mine are tiny and blonde and I actually think it looks kind of pretty if they are “shining in the sun” on tanned skin. Does that sound weird? :D
Mais quelle horreur ! Y’en a qui ne savent vraiment plus quoi inventer … Sauf dans les cas de gorille poilu (les filles qui ont des poils dans la nuque, sur les mains, dans le dos, la totale quoi) je vois vraiment pas l’intérêt. A force on s’épilera quoi ? Je trouve ça bien plus joli et naturel des poils qui blondissent au soleil, un bras humain quoi, pas un truc en plastic …
(M’a vraiment soufflé ce truc !)
If you ask me, anything TS Eliot rhapsodized on in a poem is fine to keep.
“Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
[But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!]”
I have to say, as a middle-eastern woman, I understand why some ladies do it. But even I don’t do it, because unless it’s reeeeaaally really bad then it’s not worth it. My friends who do it have prickly looking & feeling arms even though they wax; a little bit like chicken skin! I think it isn’t worth it & isn’t attractive to remove your arm hair. Also if you’re doing it for men, they NEVER notice anyway.
Mon dieu! Arrêtons cette dictature des poils!!!
I’ve been waxing my forearms for years as I have really fine, but very long dark hair on them (and very pale skin) … and over the years it really has become less not more.
Je n’y avais jamais pensé avant non plus et je dois dire que ça me trotte dans la tête en ce moment. Les beaux jours arrivant en France, je me dis que des avant-bras nickel ça serait cool :) Mon Roll-On Easy Wax de Veet a très envie de passer sur mes bras, je crois…
xx
Théa
I guess I could understand removing your arm hair if you have very thick, dark hair. But I feel like it must be more trouble than it’s worth. Since your arms are so much close to eye level, everybody can see any stubble you may have. For legs, at least you can’t see it for a while.
Personally, I don’t do any hair removal on my arms because I have very light blonde hair.
En effet, je me rase les bras de puis quelques années maintenant, car j’ai les poils noirs et ça me complexait vraiment ! Après, je ne pense pas que ce soit vraiment nécessaire pour celles qui ont les poils clairs ou peu nombreux !
Bonjour à toutes j’ai une pilositée assez abondante sur mes avant bras mais pendant des années cela ne ma pas dérangé je n’y avais mêmes pas penssé mais , j’étais plutôt anti épilation mais depuis quelque temps j’ai changé mes habitudes je m’épile plusse et plus souvent(aisselles jambes sourcils et maillot intégrale) et depuis peu j’ai cédé à la tentation et je me suis aussi épilée les poils des avants bras comme ça c’est la touche final , et en plusse mon copain lui n’aime pas trop les poils alors ça l’arange aussi .