If you dare wear short shorts …

May 16, 2008 – 12:24 pm |

It never occurred to me that I should shave my legs.  I don’t even recall being aware of leg hair.  Not until the summer before 8th grade on the Midway at the Montana State Fair. 

My best friend Julie and I were riding some amusement ride that whisked us high above the Fairgrounds and then stopped for loading and unloading.  We were swinging away, chatting it up about the cute boys on the ground below, when a crisp Montana gust came along and caused the fine blonde hairs on my leg to stand on end.

“Holy Cow,” remarked Julie, honest and amused, but not intentionally unkind, ”you look like an albino gorilla.”

That was the end of my youthful ignorance and the beginning of my hair removal life.

I bring this up only because, much to my disbelief and dismay, my 5 year-old daughter has recently started talking about her non-existent leg hair and lamenting that she doesn’t want her legs to someday be ”all hairy like Daddy’s.” 

I told her that all kids have hairy legs, and that when she’s a grown up she can choose whether to keep the hair or remove it..  I sensed her frustration with me immediately, “Oh, I’ll get rid of it,” she promised. 

So, tell me, was I the exception, or are our daughters growing up way, way, faster than we did?