Does Having A Boyfriend Affect How Often You Shave Your Legs?

Recently, I've been thinking about how the changing seasons affect my beauty habits. A few examples: I wax my bikini line during bathing suit season, I don't exfoliate as much in the winter and I wear a gel moisturizer instead of a cream one in the summer to avoid oiliness. But one that I've noticed myself and many others tend to do is shaving less during the colder seasons, when we can cover up our stubble (or forest) with long pants or tights.

At YourTango, we're always looking to find out what you, our wonderful readers, are most interested in. So we conducted an informal survey asking 70 women around the country, ages 20-30, about their seasonal hair removal habits, and the results were certainly interesting.

While I expected that many people don't shave at all during the colder months, 88 percent of respondents said they remove hair from their legs year-round. The frequency of shaving varies: 44 percent of people said they shave 2-3 times a week no matter what. Others said that in the spring and summer, they shave every day, while in the fall and winter, they do it significantly less. Many simply said "as needed," regardless of the season.

"As needed" definitely applies to my own habits: I don't tend to shave my legs unless I'm planning on wearing something that really shows them off, I'm having photos taken or I'm going to wear tights — I get itchy in tights if I don't shave.

But seasons aren't the only factor that played a role in shaving routines. Many respondents also said their shaving habits depend on their relationship status. In fact, 12 percent stated they typically only remove leg hair for special occasions and another 10 percent said that they would likely never shave if it wasn't for their significant other. Forty percent of respondents, however, informed us that a significant other played no part in their shaving routine; they simply did it because they wanted to — while 36 percent said they did shave, but their significant other wouldn't mind either way (lucky).

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When it comes to boyfriends, I used to always shave my legs — and I mean always — if I thought I would be getting intimate with anybody in the near future. This started to fade for me each summer of the past four years, when I was often away from the guy I was dating at the time and stopped shaving as much. Sometimes, I would quit for entire months; it just seemed pointless.

But in the last year or so, I was re-released into that ridiculously scary, dense jungle known as "dating" and started going out multiple times per week and meeting new people, going on dates, all that good stuff. Even though it really irritated my increasingly sensitive skin, I kept on shaving because I was a bit frightened by whether or not people would judge me based on my hairy legs. However, around April or May, I ceased my shaving because it was itchy and no matter which lotions I used, I would get razor bumps.

So now, I shave once in a blue moon: when I have a ton of time to devote to exfoliating properly beforehand, going super slowly and using aloe vera afterward to sooth the irritation. It's also a great way to tell whether or not I'm a good match for somebody — if they think my legs are an issue, then why on earth would I continue seeing them?

For a long time, I believed that I was strange for only shaving when there was something particularly special coming up or if I was seeing somebody I cared about for a big-deal date. But this survey proves that there are all sorts of different shaving habits. Pick whatever works for you!

Do you shave your legs when it's long-pants season? Does having a significant other affect your shaving habits?