Smooth legs?

Velonutter

I used to shave them in the 70's when I raced because my coach insisted and explained that it helped with gravel rash.

Now that I am doing 200-300 miles a week I shave them as it helps massaging them after the longs rides, it is deffo more hygienic, cleaner and easier to slide compression tights on as well. As for how high, well up to the top!

My legs are quite cut up from all the years I used to do weights so they look good shaved, my wife likes it and I have had a number of comments about how good they look as well.

Paul E

No way in a million ways, ever, I don't care if some people think it looks better, I don't need my legs to look any bigger anyway after a couple of months back in the saddle it doesn't matter.

Ollieda

softlad wrote:

Team Banana Spokesman wrote:

the first team to do it did it to keep their sponsors happy. that was back in the days of gravel roads and they felt no need to do it for those reasons you say. it doesnt make a difference when in a crash really.

mark cavendish said he hated doing it and its the worst part of racing for him. he mentioned something about 'having to do it' for the team/sponsors.

did you make that up..?

have you ever crashed and needed treatment for road burns..?

Cav was shaving his pins long before he turned pro and had any sponsors...

Men have actually been shaving their legs longer than women, and when women started it's only because they started shaving their armpits for looks then moved onto the legs as well.

As for helping with road rash, small amounts will benefit from no hair and hair can cause infections, but if you get it bad, you get it bad and nursie brings out the wire brush to clean the wound.....shaed or not shaved!

I shave mine as I like the look, and so does my girlfriend (although I tell my mates it's for road rash / massage / streamlining in the pool )

solsurf

waxed my legs recently as part of the charity raising effort before doing the Fred Whitton. A big mistake. There is something very wrong about having smoother legs than my wife, can't wait for my fur to grow back.

Anyway each to their own!

carrock

andyxm wrote:

The question I have is, do you not have better things to do? I shave my face twice a week as I can't be arsed to do it more often, and if I leave it any longer it gets annoying, I'm certainly not going to start shaving other parts of my body because it 'looks nicer' Very suspect behaviour in my opinion. You sound like the type of chaps who might like musicals.

Hmmm- well I don't like musicals, shaving my chest takes me 5 mins/week, my wife does my back once a month and that takes 5 mins.

And for me, it's worth it to look better and feel cleaner.

But I'm sure you're right- why not grow a beard and stopping getting a haircut- think of the time you'll save.

Paul E

andyxm wrote:

The question I have is, do you not have better things to do? I shave my face twice a week as I can't be arsed to do it more often, and if I leave it any longer it gets annoying, I'm certainly not going to start shaving other parts of my body because it 'looks nicer' Very suspect behaviour in my opinion. You sound like the type of chaps who might like musicals.

Very suspect attitude in my opinion.

CiB

A guy in The Telegraph is doing the etape this year - in between the superfluous blogs is one on leg shaving. Doesn't add much to what we've said here really, just confirms it. A good series of blogs though.

juankerr

For the first time, I've run the hairclippers over mine to give them a no. 2 rather than shaving. 2 inch long hairs weren't looking good with lycra, plus my legs are more likely to tan if not obscured by a forest. Also, if using creams, sunblock etc then applying to hairy legs is unpleasant.

hopper1

EKE_38BPM wrote:

The question I have to ask of the shavers is:
Where do you stop shaving?

At the top!
I'm not too hairy, so stopping at the top isn't too suss!!!

My opinion, anyway...

Also, chest, face and head :roll:

Bunneh

Can't remember where I read it but apparently the shaved leg thing started back in the 40s-ish. It was to help with deep massage, stopped the ripping of the hairs out and was less unpleasant for the person doing the massaging (can't spell the word :P ). It pretty much became tradition.

dg74

I go the whole hog - from the legs up to the nether regions

The_Beast

I once did my chest after spending 9 months in the gym before a spanish holiday, never again, I felt like a prat, especially with stubble rash on a pasty white body before I got proper bronzed.

I'd never shave the legs, it seems all wrong to me, just not done. Thankfully I'm not a like a silverback gorilla when it comes to body hair.

robbiedont

EKE_38BPM wrote:

The question I have to ask of the shavers is:
Where do you stop shaving?

Just above the line of your shorts (leaving you looking like you are wearing long-legged hair shorts)?
Around the crotch (leaving you looking like you are wearing hair speedos)?
Fully shaven (leaving you looking like a wannabe porn actor)?

All over baby!!

Armpit hair is also very wrong IMO.

I have more hair on my face

oldwelshman

Team Banana Spokesman wrote:

softlad wrote:

But the pros don't do it for looks, as you say - they do it for hygeine and all the other dull practical reasons...

the first team to do it did it to keep their sponsors happy. that was back in the days of gravel roads and they felt no need to do it for those reasons you say. it doesnt make a difference when in a crash really.

mark cavendish said he hated doing it and its the worst part of racing for him. he mentioned something about 'having to do it' for the team/sponsors.

Makes no difference in a crash?
Hair tends to rip the tissue when you crash.
Also hair carries bacteria.
I shave arms and legs.
If you claim shaving makes no difference, if ever you require an op, aks the surgeons and medical staff why they shave the area first, or maybe you will tell them not to shave as it makes no diffrence?

Anonymous

I shave, cos it looks good and it looks like you are committed. Plus people who dont ride think its strange and cant work it out and I like that sort of Voodoo.

floosy

Legs look so much better smooth..



Dave.

Barrie_G

I shave legs, arm pits, sack and crack, for looks and hygiene reasons, probably in that order i.e. looks then hygiene. It just looks so much better plus I was never that hairy to start with, the hair on my legs was all patchy where areas had worn away around the calfs and just looked odd. I hate the look of sweaty hairy arm-pits on show at the gym so that went and I get all sorts of sweat rashes in the area between the top of the leg and my man bits if I let that area get hairy.

and it looks better 8)

Philip Whiteman

Quite simple:

If you crash, infection control is better with shaved legs than without. Matted hair in a wound is highly unpleasant and is vastly be difficult to clean. I speak from experience!

The improved appearance of lycra and shaved legs is merely incidental.

Headhuunter

I really don't think men with shaved legs look better, they tend toget that shaved chicken look, especially on the upper thigh.... Most of the racers in my club shave their legs and AFAIC it just looks pretty nasty. As for the argument that it makes road rash and injury easier to deal with, how often do you crash that hair in wounds becomes a significant problem?!

paddlemyowncanoe

The road rash is a red herring - how many have ever had so much road rash that they wished afterwards that they wish they'd shaved? And masseurs use so much oil a bit of fur never gets in the way.

My hunch is that it a tribal identitiy thing and a mark of commitment. I race 3rd cat and I'd say around a third of riders are hairy. In the E1/2 line ups, it is zero. I'm saving the razor for when/if I get second cat - because I'll feel like I belong then.

And it might look good.....

idkPhil

Mostly vanity.
I tell my friends all of the other reasons for it though.

Jabster101

Looks better and all the above etc.

And, as someone mentioned, putting sun-block on hairy legs is a nightmare.

And, compared to v hairy legs, your pins feel cooler when you ride. Which is nice.

And it irritates your non-cycling mates.

And, face it, if you bod around in lycra you already look like a right weirdo pansy anyway. May as well go whole hog.

lvquestpaddler

I've never shaved my legs before, and aint particularly hairy on the legs, but to shave incase of a crash means you really have to do the whole leg so as EKE_38BPM says it's gonna be hair speedos for most...
I can understand how some people view this, even my missus pointed this out...I mean taking ages to clean shave all that horrible hair, apply some bronzing oil to the smooth muscular legs, spray on the lycra and spend hours crouched behind someone elses backside in the same get up....yes, suspect it could be deemed by some!
I couldn't be bothered it's enough hassle keeping the nads smooth(always dry shave!) never mind my legs....(but that's not for aesthetics!!!!!!! :oops:)

softlad

paddlemyowncanoe wrote:

The road rash is a red herring

it isn't a red herring - you don't know what you're talking about. It has nothing to do with the level you ride at....

Spatulala

andyxm wrote:

You sound like the type of chaps who might like musicals.

+1

"The hills are alive with the sound of Ladyshaves"

Tom Butcher

2 reasons for me - first off the gorilla in lycra look isn't a good one. Second just because it's a cyclist thing. I suppose the road rash thing too but it's a few years since I had road rash bad that bad - touch wood.

Bon_Jovi

I do shave my legs. I think it looks better on the bike - the look of lycra and hairy legs is really weird. that said, i dont think i like the look of shaved legs when not on the bike; however, it makes my life a lot easier with applying sunscreen, so no hair for me.
Luckily, I dont have too much hair on my arms, so applying sunscreen there is not a mission.
All in all, I hate shaving (face and legs) - but I just gotta do it every now and then and it really does not take that much time.

sunburntknees

Everything. Neck down.

jonmack

sunburntknees wrote:

Everything. Neck down.

Except armpits and arms... this. Mainly for vanity, I feel my (admittedly small) muscles look better shaved, and it makes me feel like a more serious cyclist (although my bank balance already proves that!)

thel33ter

14 and ridiculously hairy, but I don't shave, looks silly and I can blame being slower than someone (not often) on the extra weight+less aerodynamic