Perk@Work: “Winter Coat” | Published February 1, 2021
Two questions boggle me:
- Why do we have leg hair?
- Why do women shave their legs?
I’m sure you have pondered these questions as well. I will now answer these two insightful questions without any research whatsoever. From what I can see on social media, that seems the best way to put forth ideas.
Why do we have leg hair?
There are those who say that humans derived from apes. They point to the legs of apes and the legs of humans and say, “Look! Both have leg hair!” Now, I’m not here to debate whether humans evolved from apes, but one would have to wonder, wherever you are on the evolution debate, where did leg hair come from in the first place? And, furthermore, where did hair come from?
We know that reptiles don’t have hair. We also know that birds don’t have hair. We know that mammals have hair. Is hair a form of feathers? Does evolution work like that? If so, what is the progression from feathers to hair? Or is hair just hair to begin with? I find it weird that mammals all had hair all over their bodies from the get-go. Wouldn’t the first mammals be hairless and get more hair instead of getting less (à la, humans)?
If we go the route of creation, why did God give us leg hair? It’s not enough to be considered fur, let alone to insulate us from the cold. It’s not necessarily aesthetic… is it? I mean, no one has ever looked at hairy legs and said, “Wow! How gorgeous!” When you think about it (and I’ve given it over 37 seconds of thought), the only reason we have leg hair is as an additional differentiator between men and women – men usually have more leg hair. Naturally (no pun intended), this brings us to the second question:
Why do women shave their legs?
Would I be off by saying that women shave their leg hair to be more womanly? If having hair legs is associated with being a guy, women who don’t want to look like a guy may shave their legs. At some primal level, this may help guys distinguish between a potential mate and their other guy friends. Of course, a guy noticing that a woman shaves her legs doesn’t automatically make that woman want to mate with the guy. Trust me on this one. Yet, the woman may want to attract as many potential mates as possible so that she can choose the best of the pack.
Some women may disagree with that conclusion. Yet, if you ask them why they themselves shave their legs, you may get a response like, “Oh, it just looks better” or “It’s just something everyone does.” None of these are solid reasons to endure the constant maintenance and potential injury of shaving one’s limbs. Furthermore, both responses go back to my initial theory. If it looks better, it would be to be more attractive to men. If it’s just something everyone does, it’s to keep up with other women who are doing it to look better to, you guessed it, attract men.
Perhaps there is another reason why women shave their legs. There’s always the trite answer, “I just like it better,” but that begs the question, “Why?” Then there are those who don’t answer but ask this question as a retort: “Why do men shave their faces?” That’s simple. It’s either because a guy can’t grow a good-looking beard (I’m in that category), or because it’s cleaner. Not all guys are capable of eating without dribbling food out of their mouths (I’m also in this category as well).
Do you have better answers? I’d love to know. Please place them in the comments below. If there are no comments, that means that I am 100% correct and everyone in the world agrees with me. If not, well then I don’t have a shaved leg to stand on.
Jason Salas 