The Year I Decided to Not Shave My Legs (This one has pictures)

Octiber 2012, I decided I didn't want to shave my legs for a year. Mostly it was just for kicks, I'd been thinking about doing it for a while. There were a lot of factors in my life's experiences that contributed to this experiment, but mostly I wanted to see what it was like. I found out that most of the time I'm more self-consious about my legs themselves then the hairs on them. They're not even as impressive as I'd hoped they'd be.

This is what my lower legs look like after 14 months of not being shaved:

Not that impressive. I want more leg hairs! :( 

Oh, and I didn't shave my armpits either, but I haven't taken pictures of them ): 

I don't let a lot of people who look at my legs (even before I stopped shaving them). My mom said, "Well. It could have been a tattoo." I don't think dad noticed at all. I have a brother who noticed I was wearing leggings in summer (this was normal for me to do anyways). My sister rolled her eyes a few times, but that didn't bother me much. To me, unshaved legs are comfortable, and for the most part my family doesn't care either way. But if I go out into public, I will always cover up (the same way I did when I was very unhappy about my weight) because I don't want to deal with criticism of others. On Christmas Eve last year I shaved them.This is what it looked like afterward:

My niece (who was spending the night) noticed:

My niece: "What happened????"

Me: "Oh, I just shaved my legs and accidentally cut myself."

She went to the kitchen and soaked a tissue in water, and used it to clean the wound.

Me: "Oh, thank you!"

My niece: "Now you can ask my dad."

Me: "Um...your dad's not here right now."

My niece: "Well, when he comes tomorrow, he can help you. He's really good at shaving."

Later, she saw the front of my leg, and repeated the cleansing of my wounds.

My niece: "Now, if you keep on shaving, it will give you more boo boos."

That is the reaction I couldn't have dared to hope for! No more shaving for me!