I Don't Shave: How Going Natural Can Affect Your Budget, But Not Your Social Life

At last year's Golden Globes, many of us did a simultaneous gasp at the site of actress Mo'nique's semi-monstrous hairy legs. It was her big night, but sticking out from her gorgeous gown was a conscious decision to forgo going bare.

Well before Mo'nique's furry red carpet debut, Melissa Danielle, a Brooklyn-based health coach and aspiring farmer, made the same decision to give up the practice that in many ways defines femininity. What started out as a way of living a more sustainable lifestyle has evolved into a cost-saving effort that, contrary to what you'd think, hasn't affected her personal life. She shared why she made the decision and why body hair shouldn't be seen as a negative thing.

As told to Nykia Spradley
I've been going natural on and off for two and a half years now. I just can't be bothered with all the maintenance required to keep it up. I don't have the lifestyle that requires it, and I think that allows me to get away with it - not that working in an office means one has to shave. It's also not the best use of my money; it's such a waste paying $5 and up for disposable razors. The last time I looked at disposable razors, I saw a 4-pack for $12, which means $3 per disposable.

Shaving is not ecologically friendly. Where are all of those disposable razors and blades going? I started buying toothbrushes made from recycled razors as a way to make up for it. When I'm ready for a new toothbrush, I can send the old one back to the company. I am moving towards a more sustainable lifestyle and weaning myself off of disposables.

To stay bare, I'd have to shower every 2 to 3 days. I am not, not, not a day laborer or an athlete, nor do I have one those efficient bodies that sweat profusely, so why do I need to shower that often? I have really dry skin, and shaving combined with daily showers is not good for it.

Before I gave up going bare, I'd been shaving since I was a teenager. I was told that body hair on women wasn't attractive. I love the way smooth, just-shaved skin feels, but it's not worth it. I used to love the way the hair on my legs grew before I started shaving. It was fine, straight, and flat on my legs. The moment I started shaving my legs, I regretted it. The hair grows back uneven, coarse, curly, sticking out every which way. Even the fine hairs on my thighs above the back of my knee now grow in coarse, curly, and sometimes ingrown.

Shaving in the pubic region is extremely uncomfortable and unsightly for me. The ingrown hairs, razor bumps (that salicylic acid shaving gels don't prevent), the itchy discomfort of the hair growing back - it's not a good look, especially when you are intimate. Who needs that?

I've tried those hair removal creams that smell like toxic chemicals and I've also attempted waxing. Your skin is a filter that constantly absorbs and expels things. Those creams can't be good for us. I think waxing allows people who do it regularly to express their sadist tendencies without fear of public shame, but that's not my kind of party.

My decision to not shave annoys the heck out of my mother and my boyfriend of four years, would really appreciate it if I went back to a regular shave schedule, but he's still here, so obviously he isn't that disturbed by it. Also, up until my current boyfriend, I've never had a lover complain. It certainly has not affected my ability to attract the opposite sex. In fact, one guy asked me to stop shaving; a trim was good enough for him. That was the second best thing a man has ever said me about my body. If anyone else has issues, I respond that they are welcome to buy me a gift certificate to cover the cost of hair removal treatments either at the spa or the drugstore. No one has offered.

For the record, I do use clippers to trim my underarm and pubic hairs, only because I find that it controls odor and chafing, especially during the summer months. The only exception I will make to shaving is a formal event, like a wedding. I don't believe that I am compromising my values when I do that, because it will grow back.

What I'd say to critics of Mo'nique: She has the right to bear hairy legs, including the right to change her mind. On the flip side, I think it is extremely important for women, young and old, to see Hollywood women defy the current beauty standards that require them to alter any part of their physical selves just to maintain someone else's ideal sense of beauty.

When I was entering puberty, I thought it was the best thing ever to be growing in pubic hair. I really believed that it meant I was becoming a woman, and not a little girl anymore. As I got older, I started hearing messages that that wasn't what made a woman. On some levels, sure, I understand, but I think it's damaging for girls to be told at an early age that how they are and what they are becoming (women who grow hair on places other than the tops of their heads and may also grow wide hips and large breasts and ample bottoms), is unacceptable and must be altered.

Why women spend so much time and money on uncomfortable and sometimes painful "beauty" treatments to make other people comfortable is irrational and absurd, and we need to stop this. If you want to shave (or do anything else to your body), do it because you like it, not because someone else is telling you that no one will find you attractive or love you if you don't.