My mop broke. That's my excuse for being at shoprite at 8:30pm on a saturday evening. If you've met me, you'll know that I dislike the mall with a passion and try to avoid it as much as possible. Sadly, it's the one place I will visit when I need something like a self-squeezing mop or foreign foodstuffs I won't find at my local market.
So yeah, my mop broke and I chose to go get a new one on account of I needed to finish cleaning my room. Now, I'm gonna quit yapping about mops before I end up gushing about this new one, with it's twist to squeeze feature and easy grip.
Something shocked me as I walked bast the bath products aisle!
See, there was a section with razors. I love razors and shaving cream. So I decided to check if they had Venus razors. You know, the line that's made specifically for women? I've run out and been looking for months for venus sticks in every pharmacy or store I visit. I figured, "Oh the mall should have them". Oh poor naive me.
No Venus sticks! Everything From Bic to Gillette but no Venus?
I think it was the frustration of the endless searches and the fact that I'd gotten my hopes up that made me blurt out to my male companion "Why don't they have venus razors? Don't Ghanaian women shave?!" My voice was a bit too loud (usually I can be heard from accross a room lol) and I could hear the couple behind me laugh out loud. My friend said, "No they don't. Haven't you seen the hairy legs and the beards that could rival mine?"
Come to think of it, ghanaian women don't seem to like to shave their legs. Or faces, or their bikini area. I once had a roommate (in college) laugh at me when I complained that I couldn't find my favourite Gillette women's shaving cream on the market. She laughed even harder when I switched to NAIR and asked me why I bothered.
Well I think women should live by the Triple S Principle. Yes they should have SSS= Skin So Soft. And that oh so soft skin should also be SSS= Silky-Smooth and Sexy. Nothing irks me more than seeing a woman in a short skirt and beautiful legs that are suffocating underneath a heavy layer of hair, and yet my fellow ghanaian women are reluctant to grab a razor, so much so that a whole shoprite will not bother stocking a special line of razors for women. You've never had a perfect shave until you've tried a Venus razor, in my opinion. Their special bikini area trimmer is a wonderful addition to a woman's bathroom routine and their soothing solution for razor bumps is marvelous!
I saw a woman once in town and she was sporting a hairy face. For a while, I thought she was a man until i noticed the dress. Even the men shave their beards.....why can't we get rid of ours when our bodies decide to produce too much testosterone? Oh and that one time at the beach where this girl showed up in a bikini but had forgotten to trim her bikini area? Like seriously? And you see it all the time. Pretty women who work at the bank, wearing their short tight little numbers with orangutan legs to match....
I have lots of questions.
First is, do ghanaian women truly object to shaving/waxing/trimming legs and other areas?
2. If you do remove/manage hair, what products do you use?
3. Why do you choose to shave (or otherwise) ?
4. If your local store stopped shipping whatever product you use for hair removal, would you demand that they restock?
5. Ghanaian guys, what do you think about women who shave/wax their legs?
6. And what of women who don't? Would you be cool hanging out with a woman whose legs were much more hairy than yours?
Let's hear from you, people. I want to know what the deal is with this.
I've Missed this space. Hopefully work will afford me some time to revisit. Thanks to those who still check out this space. God Bless,
~Daixy~
My goodness, this has been an irk of mine for sometime now. When I realized that some GH women do not shave, my heart was saddened, I'm used to it now but hmmmmm. I think this is a trait that people that have traveled outside and lived there for a period share . . . we should research into that assertion.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad someone has finally decided to write about it, I'm no writer so . . . But I'm a dude and I will not leave my girl or divorce my wife because of too much hair but I must say that I'd prefer one that did shave.
For some odd reason yes most Ghanaian ladies do not shave or even think it necessary and yes even those little ladies in their little numbers with orangutan legs do not even seem to notice or care that their hairy legs should be trimmed. The thing is, this culture, or place, cuz it seems to be an African thing, probably consider shaving your legs a luxury or something. Also, most Gh men do not mind or even seem to care or notice. Thus since it doesn't bother the men, I think the ladies do not get bothered as well.
I'm just blabbering on and on but seriously I sometimes see the prettiest of ladies and something just seems off, only to realize that . . . yup, hairy legs. I think if you are gonna expose your legs, thighs, bikinis, armpits, please shave, only because its definitely a requirement to be stamped SSS. A dude can get away with being hairy but I just dont think ladies should get away with it.
Maybe sometimes, the commitment of constantly shaving puts some off? If that's the case that might spell laziness wouldn't it? Also, how much does it cost to keep it up? Or our ladies just do not like shaving whiles taking a shower? But oh well, we still love our ladies, its whats inside that counts you know. hehehehehehe but sometimes the container should be kept SSS as well. . . Just saying, lol.
This is anonymously your neighborhood neighbor sobolo lova'
1st Of,welcome back!! its been a minute. The issue of Ghanaian women not shaving can be blamed on superstitious believes and culture. I once had a close female friend who`s legs were hairier than mine but never shaved. when i asked she why she doesn't,she told me its against her tradition to do so and that the she considers she being that hairy to be a blessing. Some are just lazy,stubborn or naive. I think alot of women have to be enlightened coz what we see at times is SCARY. "please visit A&C mall @ East Legon next time U wanna get razors"
ReplyDelete@ Sobolo lova, LMAO!! Maybe you're right and it's a thing for ghanaians who've been exposed to other cultures. I forgot to add moustaches and uni-brows above.
ReplyDeleteI get you about shaving being seen as a luxury. Our women are supposed to be hardworking and lord forbid you should be the type to get a mani-pedi and a facial once in a while, or even worse, take a bubble bath once in a while. My mom actually asks me why I love bubble baths and tells me she doesn't have the time to go lie in water, that she's not a chicken.
So you can just imagine what it's like to ask our women to take the time at least once a week to take a look at their legs and bikini region. Most will only trim when they have to wear something revealing and certainly, most have to be told to shave before a trip to the gyne. My gynae friends have horror stories of women showing up with real forests down there and in worst case scenarios, LICE infestations.
Perhaps we should start a revolution, as you suggest, where we educate women on how to keep themselves clean and fresh. Maybe get some doctors on board who will give extra advice on the matter. But yeah, it's not just the legs that get to me anymore...it's gone way beyond and I'm hoping we're done being silent.
Oh and one pet peeve of mine for men? Hairy armpits. Like, seriously? Sometimes our ghanaian men have got to give us something to work with. Untrimmed pits, and below? Y'all can get away without shaving but please don't expect your wife/girl to go down when you give her a faceful of hair.
@DIDI, thanks hun :) I'm hoping I can free some time once a week to say something on here. I've felt so deprived for the past couple months lol.
ReplyDeleteI find it funny about Ghanaian women blaming stuff on tradition. In my opinion, Ghanaians have lost our culture and we have no clue what tradition is. Also, it may be because I just love to be the rebel without a cause but rules and tradition were meant to be broken, or we'd never have half cos and Africans wouldn't ever make it to university level. The first cardiac surgery would never have happened if someone hadn't decided to break the rules, and brain surgery? Cancer therapy? I think you see where I'm going.
Times change and so do people, and yet, us Ghanaians who have lost sight of what our culture is, use tradition as an excuse to stick to our backward ways. If your legs don't look nice with thick dark manish hair, please take it off! It's not going to kill you.
Hmm...Maybe I should really look into an educational grant to teach our women something lol.
Oh and I checked out A&C two weeks ago. They didn't have Venus Sticks. Or maybe I was just unfortunate and they'd been cleared out by the few razor hungry women in Ghana? I'll be there sometime today and will check one more time. Thanks for the heads up :)
Yeah, a revolution needs to take off, but seriously Lice?????? ebeiiii!!!!!! Hmmmmm, as3m oh. I think in as much as we must be comfortable in our skins, we should go to the lengths to upkeep ourselves.
ReplyDeleteIt's like having a very nice car but never washing the exterior and the interior, u'll just end up with a dirty looking car, at that point people just stare and wonder why you'd let such a nice car go to waste like that. But, yes we need to educate all people and we need to keep hygiene. But am still in love with the SSS squared combo, its necessary and so are a few facials and pedicures and manicures (even for men). But lice paaaaaaa!!!
Yeah but for the dudes, yes, i didn't mean that we should be hoarding mini amazons on our bodies but yeah, we need to also be hygienic as well. We also need work done as well.
Traditions that are baseless and groundless should be left in the dust. Living in a time where we don't shave cuz of tradition raises an eyebrow. For instance if proclaim to be a Christian and yet u are worshiping other gods because tradition says some women in a family should not shave their legs then we have not understood the essence of being new creatures and not bound by traditions linked to traditional gods, we can't serve two masters afterall. But yeah, bad rules need to be broken, not all rules :p.
Question though, in this heat, where we don't experience snow or abject cold, is hair a plus or a minus???
Question two, does that mean that there is a market viability for razors for women? Plus an accompanying education on shaving? Possible business idea!
~ your friendly neighborhoody neighborhood sobolo lova'
Believe it or not, some men find hirsute? sexy. Akin to bleaching, some ethnic women (Indians and other SE Asians as well) find shaving unnatural.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that if you are gonna be wearing bikinis, your bikini area should definitely be shaved and so must armpits. and i agree with sobolo lova that before any woman goes to the gynae, she must at least trim the nether lands. But I have no issue with having hairy legs. Like you and sobolo lova, i have lived outside ghana for most of my life( and still live outside) but i like leaving the hair on my legs, i'm a female. I tried shaving my legs when I was younger and I didn't like the way it felt and it changed the way my legs hairs felt so I stopped.
ReplyDeleteI don't think having hairy legs necessarily makes a woman unclean or not sexy.I was taught and I assume many ghanaian women are taught to shower at least once a day and to use lemon if you don't have access to deo.
One of my exes hated clean shaven legs and made me promise not to shave my legs when we were together.
Also I remember one of my mother's friends commenting on how beautiful my legs(and hairs) were and my mom said that's her legs were like that but her leg hairs don't grow anymore.
Unshaven armpits is a major pet peeve for me in guys.
Anon 2
I have very fine leg hairs. You'd hardly notice them cos of my dark skin.
ReplyDeleteI bet this post is going out to those whose skin color contrast with their leg hair (dark, coarse hair on fair skin; gal, you'd need to shave that!)
In the spirit of experimentation, i shaved my fine leg hairs *sob* last night and i can't seem to stop running my hands on the extra smoothness. Though i like the feel, it is odd. I want my hairs back. :)
Keep posting dear. You always give me something to think about.