Shaving Ethnography: Observation 3

My third observation was of a female. This was so that I had something to contrast with my male observations. This female shaved her left and right leg. 

Female

17

My participant likes to shave her legs in the shower. After being in the shower for about 5 minutes she says that she will shave her legs now. I ask her how she knows when to shave her legs she says it is because when she touches them they feel soft not sleek. She says that she often lets her leg hair get longer than she thinks other women would because she has blond fine hair meaning people don’t notice if it doesn’t get shaved. She says that when she has a shower she likes to be in the water for a few minutes before she starts doing things like washing her hair or shaving. She says the likes to shave first because she enjoys washing her hair more as she gets to massage her scalp. For shaving she puts one leg up onto the shelf in the shower. She then puts the soap in one hand and holds the razor in the other. She soaps up her whole leg and then does multiple strokes from bottom to top of her leg, she does them slowly in a careful manner, she says she doesn’t want to cut herself. After 5 or so strokes she puts the razor in the water and flicks it to get rid of the “dirty stuff.” She moves her leg slightly so that she can get underneath it and does the same thing. She then puts it in the water stream and washes the soap residue off. She repeats the process for her opposite leg in almost an identical manner. She says that doing her legs usually takes the longest in the shower because she is careful. She says that she likes to wear skirts and have bear legs so it is important to her that they are not marked with razor burn (red bumps that look gross) or cuts. After she is finished her second leg she gets opens a bottle of milk honey moisturizing shower gel. The scent is very feminine and is a stronger scent of the subtle one which pre-exsisted, obviously it gets used lots. She says everyone in her family uses it, including her brother. She says needs to put this on her legs after shaving so that they feel smooth and sleek. After she gets out of the shower she dries them roughly, with no extra care. Later she informs me that she also puts on body moisturizer on her legs to keep them hydrated.