I recently received a message from a TCF reader, which is shown below:
Hi! Just found this website and am loving it 🙂
Related to this but on a different type of hair, what are your thoughts on female depilation? Shaving, waxing, laser hair removal, etc.? For a year now, I’ve been wearing skirts and dresses that mostly go to the ankle, so I haven’t seen much need to shave (unless I marry a man who prefers it). Women started shaving as stockings became less available during WWII and as hemlines began moving upward. My dilemma is that unshaved legs are now associated with feminism, but shaved legs became popular in the first place as a result of increasing immodesty, so I’m at a loss what to do.
Thanks for this lovely post, and have a great day 🙂
To shave or not to shave – that indeed is the piddling question.
Before I go into that topic, I must say that I have never heard the mention of shaving being immodest!
I find the whole idea rather absurd and bothering on SCRUPULOSITY, to be honest.
What next would be considered immodest?
The use of COSMETICS? Wearing deodorant?? Brushing your teeth???!
In my opinion, feminine shaving is just as important a part of womanly grooming as wearing deodorant, using cosmetics MODERATELY and so on.
I do believe that feminine shaving should be done for three main purposes:
- Grooming
- Hygiene
- Femininity
Walking around with armpit hair hanging out from your tops is not only unsightly but also indicative of sloppy grooming and bad hygiene. Ditto with excessive body hair.
And on the topic of body hair, women naturally produce less body hair than men.
It is a mark of Biblical womanhood and femininity to differentiate your appearance or form as woman, from a man.
This is why skirts and dresses are preferred over trousers and other attire that are generally associated with menswear.
Along the same vein, if, as a woman, you are prone to excessive body or facial hair, you should keep it under control through any one of the various forms of hair removal techniques.
You are supposed to look like a woman and having less body and facial hair than a man IS the essence of femininity, and shows clear distinction between you and a man.
In addition, the more body hair you produce, the more likely you are to have a body odour as the hair follicles and sebacious glands make sweat more likely to get trapped, leading to increase of bacteria and problems like skin infections, acne and also body odour.
So, YES, women should shave body and facial hair and NO, it is NOT immodest to do so.
BUT, WHAT ABOUT THE HAIR DOWN THERE?
The feminine vaginal environment is delicate.
Pubic hair is there for a reason and it functions to maintain a healthy vaginal PH, thus protecting the woman from certain cancers, infections, bacterial vaginosis, and can also help to improve fertility and reproduction.
Did you know that, as a woman, if your PH is off, it makes your kitty’s PH environment extremely hostile to your husband’s sperm and kills them off before they even make their way to the cervix?
This, of course, then leads to problems conceiving a child.
Shaving everything down there to look like a prepubescent child is very harmful to your kitty’s PH environment and is also inappropriate and frankly, creepy!
However, letting it run wild and untamed can lead to poor kitty hygiene and increased risk of infection.
So, how do you keep your kitty happy?
Trim or shave it very low, but never leave it completely bare.
Avoid using soap down there.
Moisturise only with natural oils like coconut oil or sweet almond oil and stay away from tampons.
I hope this clarifies any questions re feminine hair removal, modesty, and grooming.
Our Lady, model of womanhood and femininity, pray for us!
MORE RESOURCES
ad Jesum per Mariam
🌹🙏🌹
Traditional Catholic Femininity 🌹🙏🌹 
I believe you missed the initial point about the connection between shaving and immodesty… as your TCF reader said, “Women started shaving as stockings became less available during WWII and as hemlines began moving upward.” In other words, prior to the war, the styles of women’s clothing were more modest and showed less skin. Once the trend for skirts to become shorter came about, the media and razor companies targeted ads at women to start shaving their then more visible legs. It was a marketing ploy, with capitalistic motivation, to make money off of women being embarrassed by visible leg hair.
So your reader’s question was, more or less, since those immodest trends of shorter dresses and skirts were what brought about the practice of shaving, wouldn’t it make sense to maintain more modest styles and not worry about shaving leg hair since most of it wouldn’t be visible by dressing modestly? Some of it would be of course. So then she also noted that unfortunately visible leg hair is often a sign of the modern feminist movement in these days. That’s the dilemma she was posing to you, and you didn’t really respond to it 🙂
My two cents: both men and women should strive to dress modestly and appropriately for the settings they find themselves in. You’ll notice that mens formal wear shows hardly any skin at all… pants to the ankles, shirt cuffs and jackets to the wrists, collars and ties up to the neck, etc. In formal settings, men don’t really showcase their body hair. Wouldn’t it be fair that women shouldn’t either? On the other hand- casual wear. In the appropriate settings (swimming or a hot summer day etc) men wear shorts and shirts or tanks etc, and those articles of clothing allow the hair on their legs and arms and underarms to be visible. Why should women not enjoy the same freedoms? Why should women feel burdened with the need to remove their body hair in order to dress in the appropriate manner for the occasion and environment?
My two cents continued: There should be no concern for “appearing feminine” if you have visible body hair… you will be distinct from a man because you will still have naturally have less hair even when you let it grow. You don’t need to completely annihilate it from your body in order to differentiate yourself lol! You are feminine in the way God made you a woman. A man is masculine in the way God made him a man. We should not feel a sense of shame surrounding the way God naturally made us.
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“stay away from tampons”
Can you explain this? Are you saying you are against tampons generally, or am I taking this out of context? If the former, what is the alternative?
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Sanitary towels are an ideal alternative. Tampons can cause a lot of issues, including TSS
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I’m crying as I write this. At last. A modest Catholic website for those of us who prefer to be traditional Catholic women! Thank you sooo much!
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I am so happy you were able to discover this website!! Welcome aboard and I hope you find my content useful 🌹
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If armpit hair is so unhygenic, I suppose men should shave too. Armpit hair became a “problem” (for women only, fancy that…) during the late second half of the 20th century. Before that, it was lauded as a sign of maturity and considered quite erotic.
If God gave me hair on my body, who I am to decide that this hair doesn’t fit who I am, i.e. an adult woman ? If I do not brush my teeth, I’m gonna have bad breath and health issues. But if I don’t epilate my leg hair… well, I’m still clean, I do not stink (I wash everyday, thank you very much), my skin is actually softer and healthier, and there is no risk of infection from ingrown hair. Hair is there for a purpose, people.
Refusing hairiness on women is refusing what God intended our bodies to look like when they reach full maturity.
Oh, and any man who has requirements about it (I say requirements, not preferences) is probably watching porn.
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Lol. Have fun with that, then. Not sure why you are here trying to argue your case. This article is not for you, so go do you, boo
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What are your thoughts on shaving/waxing/etc in order to wear a swimsuit? Or are swimsuits best avoided? I live in a very tropical, hot, beachy city where it’s almost always Summer and I usually wear shorts and a T-Shirt to the beach/pool because even the “more modest” tankinis that are so in fashion nowadays (those with the high-waisted bottoms) can at times be more revealing than some bikinis! And while we’re on this topic, what are your thoughts on mixed bathing? I know in some Traditionalist circles this is highly avoided and to be honest I’ve never felt comfortable with it. These days I mostly avoid the beach because of modesty.
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It’s very important to use the correct, biological name for genitalia. There is nothing immodest about saying vagina. Especially when you are talking to children. Sexual predators are less likely to target children who use proper names to identify genitals. It also makes it easier to understand if a child is trying to tell you they have been sexually abused. If my daughter told someone “so and so touched my kitty”, they aren’t going to care because they think she could be talking about a pet cat, not her vagina. Sure, children probably aren’t reading this blog but mothers are, and those mothers are teaching their kids it’s not okay to use the proper anatomical names for their genitalia.
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1. I did use the correct term for genitalia throughout the article. For some strange reason, you deliberately ignored THAT and chose to be nitpicky over a term “kitty” that I used as a fun term of endearment. Ar
2. This article is meant for GROWN WOMEN, not children, so I am certain no child would be reading this.
3. Your pedantic scrupulosity is both jaw-droppingly hilarious.
Please find something better and more productive to do with your time other than making pointless comments and fault-finding nonexistent issues.
Don’t you have to go whine about a traditional priest or something?
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Dear Paige,
I am so glad someone has posted about this….such a delicate subject but at last some advice. I have often wondered if trimming is encouraged or discouraged as it is so close to the most feminine of areas. Much care is needed in so many ways.
Thank you
Pax Christi
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