Survey Says Women Spend 72 Days of Their Life Shaving Their Legs

women spend 72 days of life shaving legs
women spend 72 days of life shaving legs

I went through a four-year period in which I didn't shave my legs. I was going through a Grateful-Dead, look-at-me-I'm-a-late-80s-early-90s-hippie-despite-the-fact-that-I-actually-shower-daily-and-wasn't-alive-when-Woodstock-happened-although-I-once-visited-the-town-and-had-a-nice-brunch phase.

I still shaved under my arms (I have my limits), but my legs didn't see a razor until my first job out of college when I had to wear stockings and it was kind of awkward with little hairs poking through.

Now I shave about once a week - maybe twice or even three times in the summer. If I could afford to laser the hair off, I would. But shaving doesn't take me too long and I enjoy the result. No biggie.

A new study says women spend 72 days of their life shaving their legs. According to The Huffington Post (via the Daily Mail), a company called Escentual conducted a survey and found women lather up for a grand total of 1,728 hours throughout the course of their lives. They also spend 30 days plucking their eyebrows, 52 days taking off their make-up (ha ha! I don't take off my make-up! I sleep with it on! The joke's on . . . me and my skin, probably), 44 days moisturizing their body and 11 days getting pedicures.

The women in the survey said they shave six times a week at four minutes a pop, and that shaving is their most-hated beauty ritual (it would probably be mine if I did it that often, too).

Related: 21 superfoods everyone needs for healthy skin


But what's the alternative? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we should live in a society where women shouldn't have to perform disfiguring body rituals in order to conform to an ideal type. Except it's also just kind of nice to have smooth legs. And it makes wearing a skirt that much more less icky.

I'm sure I spend far more time doing less pleasing things (hello, the seventh load of laundry that I'm waiting to finish as I type this). Count me out among the women who loathe shaving. I'd do it any day over lots of other things. Well, not every day. But on the days I do it? It's always a good day. (With all apologies to my fellow former pseudo-hippie chicks and Women's Studies minors .)

- By Meredith Carroll
Follow Meredith at Babble

For 15 vintage fashion trends that, thankfully, didn't stick, visit Babble!

MORE ON BABBLE
25 fun and flirty nail trends you have to try
10 reasons NOT to get plastic surgery
What you should be buying at Forever 21 RIGHT NOW
25 chic hairstyles that take less than 10 minutes


Stay connected. Follow Babble onFacebookandTwitter.