For this week's question, I'm "going there" and addressing a topic that some of us probably don't like to talk about. That topic? Forearm hair.
Are you happy with your forearm hair? If not, do you remove it? And if you remove it, what's your method?
I'm gonna give it to you straight. My forearm hair SUCKS and I hate it. It's sparse yet dark and kind of long in certain spots (long in terms of forearm hair, but not freakishly long!), and it's been that way since my late teens/early 20s. In other words, I was not blessed with beautiful forearm hair and I remove it regularly by waxing it. I used to use an epilator on my forearm hair for many years (yes, it's painful, but the longer you use an epilator the more you become immune to the pain) and after using an epilator for so long, the amount of hair on my forearms decreased significantly. When you repeatedly remove hairs from the root for a long time, some hairs just never grow back, which is awesome in the case of my forearm hair. But yeah, now I just use Sally Hansen home-waxing kits once a week on my arms, and I'm OK with that.
I don't dislike my arm hair. It doesn't bother me and I don't remove it. I think I tried removing it as a young adult, like maybe 10 or 12 something like that. But I don't remove it now it doesn't bother me at all.
ReplyDeleteThis is my experience also.
DeleteI'm generally ok with it, but I'll bleach it every once in a while if it's looking too dark.
ReplyDeleteI have very little hair on my forearms.. it's just everywhere else I have to deal with :/
ReplyDeleteThankfully that is one place I don't stress about, my face is another matter entirely. Le sigh.
ReplyDeleteWax. Solves all hair issues. Except the hair on your head....
ReplyDeleteMy forearms are one of the few places I don't have super dark long hair. I think my body expends all it's effort on my legs ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't even shave my legs 90% of the time, so that should give you an idea of how little my forearms bother me haha. My skin is way too sensitive and picky for me to want to deal with the flaking I get from hair removal. I'm not terribly hairy and it doesn't bother me anyways, whether it's arms or legs. I happily remain a Sasquatch.
ReplyDeleteNot a problem for me, it's light and very fine. I do have this weird one right at my wrist that grows long and dark.. that one gets plucked. Speaking of body hair.. I recently bought an electric shaver and I adore it. It doesn't take the place of a razor, I still shave when I wash my hair (2-3 times a week), but it's great for "touch ups" when you are about to wear shorts, or go for a swim... or simply don't have the time to shave. It takes about two minutes to do your legs/bikini line and there is no need for shaving cream, water, etc.. no mess. Personally if I shave at night by morning I'm a little scratchy..with the shaver it's no longer an issue.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I have the philosophy that I shave/wax/remove/thread enough of my hair I'll be damned if I will shave my arms. I do not need something else I have to keep up after.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side my arms are pretty hairy but light blonde so they never show up in pictures and no one really notice. But if my hair was black I still wouldn't shave it. It freaks me out when I touch someone's arm and it's prickly
I barely have any hair on my forearms, so I don't stress over it.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you asked this question! I'm super pale with dark brown hair, and my arm hair is pretty dark (especially up towards my elbows). I tried waxing once, but it gave me this horrible rash and I felt like it looked even worse once it started growing back in. Last summer I was bleaching it, but I found I had to bleach every 3 days or so b/c the roots came in so fast. I may just deal with it this year, but I really don't like it at all!
ReplyDeleteI have a story that I want to share. I am a very hairy person and that goes for my forearm hair. It didn't used to bother me, but I had developed a growth that was eventually removed (stubborn wart). In the process, the wound was cauterized and the dermatologist office smelled of burnt hair. My arm was numbed and stayed numb for a few hours while I recovered at home. I took a nap and I wake up to my brother using my facial razor shaving my numb arm. Then he proceeded to shave my other arm. I wasn't mad at my brother but I started laughing. I honestly liked the way my arms looked without hair and been shaving it since. I tried waxing but it irritated me too much! So, you can thank my brother for my hairless forearms, hahaha.
ReplyDeleteThat is hilarious! Did he explain what in the heck gave him the idea to do it?
DeleteI used to shave it when I was younger. I had a lot of people make fun of girls with body hair at all, and I felt really self-conscious about it. It's not bad, it's practically invisible because of how light my body hair is, but I would shave it every other day so I wouldn't get laughed at. I stopped after I was in High school, too much management and I didn't like the stubbly feeling.
ReplyDeleteThis is totally me! I'm pale with blonde hair so my arm hair is super light, but there was a lot of it when I was growing up. A boy called me "gorilla arms" (Oh the things you hold on to from middle school!) and I, too, started to shave my arms about every other day. As an adult though, it doesn't bother me as much. And, like Bex B, I hate the stubbly feeling when it grows back in. I wish they would show arm hair on models in magazines so young girls (like I was) would know they're not weird or different. Ugh!
DeleteHairy arms, legs, mustache are things that run in my family and most of us shave, wax, depilate since we hit our teenager phase. Now in the 30s, I am glad that those issues are more manegable, and infinite grateful of no more ingrown hairs, acne and being the target of bad jokes.
ReplyDeleteThe hair on my forearms is like all of my body hair-- very sparse, very fine, and very fair. It's there, but you can't really tell unless you do an up-close inspection. I've always felt fortunate in that regard.
ReplyDeleteI do not remove it. My hair on my arms is very fine,and in the summer when I have a tan on my arms the hair lightens to a barely noticable blonde-I kinda like it when it does this considering I have black hair,dark brown eyes and an olive complexion. These are the only blonde hairs I have anywhere! LoL!!!
ReplyDeleteI used to in high school because I was self conscious about how pale I was and how dark my arm hair was. I gave up after getting tattoos on my arms. I didn't want to nick them shaving and found that the ink drew the attention away from my arm hair!
ReplyDeleteNope, not bothered by forearm hair. It's fairly fine and blonde so I'm fine with it.
ReplyDeleteIn like 2006, I read about someone who waxed her arms and I was like "Is this something I need to do?" So I naired my arms for a good year before I just felt like it was getting ridiculous. I already shave my legs, bikini, etc. I didn't want to shave my arms too. My arm hair isn't super dark though.
ReplyDeleteMy mom always told me "Your hair will grow thicker". Thankfully I barely got any forearm hair, but I highly dislike my mustache growing:/
ReplyDeleteI'm hairy but I leave it alone_ hate keeping up with stuff like that..."Ain't nobody got time for that!" lol
ReplyDeleteI shave my arms and have been ever since I was a pre-teen. When I started I used an electric razor and sometime during my teen yrs I used a razor w blades and never went back. I've tried waxing, but would rather save the $, the results were not that impressive (grew back way too fast.) I have very fair skin and my natural hair colour is dark coffee brown, but my brows, lashes, and body hair are blackest black. No bother to shave the arms once a wk when I do my bikini area. Armpits and legs are a daily. I've never waxed my pits, but been thinking lately of giving it a go this summer...lord knows it'll prolly grow back a wk later tho. : \
ReplyDeleteDear god, don't wax your arm pits. Most horrific pain imaginable. Tried that last summer haha
DeleteMine is fine and blonde, barely visible. The only time it bothers me is when I add a new tattoo and the hair grows back all stubbly. I'm about to get some more work done on my right forearm, so I guess I'll just have to grit my teeth until the hair gets soft again.
ReplyDeleteI think when I was younger it bothered me. So I did try some at home hair removal products. But it's so light and thin that I dont bother with it now. I've also asked my husband's opinion of the situation (the subject actually came up a long time ago when we were dating. He's from Portugal and I'm from California. I had to ask...) and even he said hair on a woman's arm has never bothered him.
ReplyDeleteI have dark hair with a similar skintone to you G so it really shows up. It sometimes bothers me but so far I've never removed it. Honestly, I'd rather not have one more thing to worry about or stress over. I have super sensitive skin so nair and wax are out. I'll consider it during the summer (I don't live in sunny San Diego so most of the year, i'm not wearing sleevless tops) but usually change my mind bc I also like to go hiking in summertime--mosquitoes love my forearms and I think body hair helps me detect them.
ReplyDeleteOMG thank you for bringing this up, I feel like I can never talk to anyone about it! I've always had a good amount of forearm hair, from when I was a young girl. Luckily it's very light blond so it isn't super visible, but I still hate it. I've shaved and trimmed, waxed, etc. Lately I've "let it go", but once summer comes, I'm right back to it.
ReplyDeletemaybe there is something wrong with me, I don't have any hair on my forearm. None. O only shave my legs up the middle every two weeks or so. Yet I have fine thick hair on my head. I never really had much hair, not even in my pits. TMI...anyway lucky me?
ReplyDeleteI know alot of women wax, shave or use No No, but I am fortunate that what little body hair I have is blonde, that I do nothing at all. I don't even need to shave my legs that often. I don't even tweeze my brows, but I wish I could add hair there!!!! LOL I am glad that I passed on that trait to my daughter, though we have alot of hair on our heads, thank goodness!
ReplyDeleteI'll be honest, I totally didn't know shaving/waxing/whatevering forearm hair was a thing. I have dark hair and fair skin, and although I have the eastern European mustache thing going, and other facial hair issues due to a medical condition, my forearm hair doesn't really bother me (anymore). It's not super dark (like every other hair on my body) and isn't thick at all - it's not sparse, but my arms don't look like a man's. Huh. Very interesting question: I'd never really thought about this before! :)
ReplyDeleteIt probably shouldn't be such a big deal, but I feel like I'm confessing a deep dark secret! Even though all my hair is blonde I have a lot of it. I don't mind it on my head, but I feel self conscious about it on my arms. I used to feel like I had a light coat of fur on my arms!. So, I shave my forearms about once a week when the weather is warm. Thankfully my upper arm hair is not so noticeable.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky that I don't have any hair on my arms or my legs for that matter. I shave my legs at the beginning of summer and that's it. My step-daughters hate me for it, they have to shave their legs every day if wearing shorts and their arms almost as often.
ReplyDeleteI've never gave my arm hair much thought. It's sparse and blends into my skin color. I've never removed it.
ReplyDeleteShave my arms once every six months. I've been shaving them for 10+ years so the hair has thinned out almost to nothing.
ReplyDeleteMy long, dark-ish arm hair used to bother me when I hit puberty (and I think I tried shaving it once), but where I'm from removing arm hair isn't even really a thing... I got used to it though, I figure that no one really cares whether or not my arms are hairy, especially not men. Like other posters have said, I have so much other hair I need to remove, I'll be damned if I need to shave my arms too! Plus, prickly-looking arms are THE WORST.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting topic, lol. We're arm hair twins...mine is thick, dark, long, and yet (ugh) sparse/patchy and one arm is randomly much hairier than the other. At least it's slow growing so it's no trouble to just shave it.
ReplyDeleteI'm very fortunate that my body hair is super fine and sparse. It's dark brown, but with my medium to light tan skin tone you just don't see it unless your face is right up against my arms or legs! lol So I don't do anything about arm hair and it's been years since I bothered with leg hair even. The only shaving I do is under the arms, if I don't my pits look dirty! I am just starting to get concerned about facial hair, I'm 50 and menopausal. I am noticing more and more random hairs on my upper lip and my chin and cheeks. So far I'm just tweezing them.
ReplyDeleteMy forearm hair is not so noticeable but I hate it. I shave it, not every day it's just not necessary but probably every 3rd or 4th time I shower I run a razor over it. I don't get stubbies or irritation and I don't even think about it anymore. However, I have a cousin who has very hairy forearms and I always teased her that I wanted to perm her forearm hair, which I could have. She didn't appreciate my humor and she now too shaves it off.
ReplyDeleteI really hate my forearm hair. It's not particularly dark or heavy, but I still hate it. However, I can't justify the expense of laser hair removal right now, so about six months ago, I started shaving forearms 2x/week, and I've never been happier.
ReplyDeleteI have fair skin and dark hair, so it shows up quite a bit. I does bother me but not enough to actually do something about it. I already shave/wax enough parts of my body, I don't need to add one more.
ReplyDelete