Shaving, the task that never ends

My face is the biggest bother, but the hair removal industry can really screw off in general

I have been shaving for over 30 years now. I sometimes feel frustrated that I still have to shave every day even though I've undergone countless hours of laser and electrolysis treatment (I could actually count them but that feels almost as painful as the treatments themselves). But I don't feel shame for needing to shave or for having little bits of stubble on some morning walks before I shave for the day.

Facial hair management is a journey. I also occasionally have to shave my chest (personal choice although aren't they all), my legs, and my armpits, and I'm forever grateful my testosterone blocker has eliminated back hair for me. And that’s just me. I’m sure there are other people who manage the shaving of other areas on a daily, or weekly, basis and who are tired of doing it on such a regular basis.

Ok, back to my face.

(this is me with layers and layers of numbing cream on my face prior to an electrolysis session to get rid of this facial hair).

Did you know that many razor blades have a single razor blade on the top you can use for hard to reach spots? I did not. Read again that I've been shaving for OVER 30 YEARS. And I did not know this.

Now I bet most of you do know this but if you didn't this is me being your little facial hair tutor passing on my late in life knowledge. It's been so helpful post nose and lip lift surgery in getting that tricky little spot under my nose.

As much as I don't think about the looks of facial hair as I move through the day, I do think about it and am more self conscious about it in other ways. Like how does it feel for someone to kiss me? Does it impact what they think about me? Do I take a quick trip to the bathroom before any potential kiss and shave and reapply makeup then get back and find out there is no kiss because I took 15 minutes in the bathroom? And am I supposed to care about my legs? Because I really don't. Do I really care about anything being shaved? What if someone hurts themselves touching my three-day-old leg stubble? Maybe I should just carry bandaids.

There is so much attached to feminity and shaving and I'm pretty sure that even pre-transition I was reading and aware of so much hatred toward this idea. Hair removal pressure is crap. From needing to spend money on products forever (even Phil Dunphy needed to and he had a lifetime supply), to feeling like you're ugly because your body grows hair naturally, this industry is centered around making everyone feel like crap.

So maybe I’ll just be the billionth in a long line of women to just abandon the idea of shaving. Maybe if I’m part of a zombie apocalypse movie I will finally be the one that has leg hair and armpit hair. Maybe I won’t make Gillette more money and maybe by the time I’m dead and all my hair is ready to stop growing, everybody will remember that women grow body hair too.