Shaving in the Men's Room

2017

I'm the brunette, transgender wife.

I Had to Try

I was in California, at a military base for a few weeks of training. Prior to traveling there, I was thinking I wanted to step out as more feminine while there.  No one there knew me, I was away from work, so it was a good time to try.  When one is in an area where no one knows you, it can be safer to try things that you can't safely try around your own community. Upon arriving there, I had decided that if I was to step out as more feminine, then I needed to do it right. So, I made the decision to shave my body while there. This is something I had never done before, though I had been shaving my legs for a year or so at this point. I was nervous about doing it and thought that I would probably not follow through. What if someone saw me shaved, and figured out the truth about me?

I already had what I needed to shave because as a Soldier I needed to shave my face. I waited until late evening and went to one of the more remote areas of the shower room. The showers were all together in a restroom, with each shower being individual, with wavy glass doors that distorted what was inside a bit, but not enough to totally hide anything. So, you really didn’t have privacy, but rather just the illusion of privacy. I will say that this is more privacy than one typically gets in a male shower room in the Army. 

I started showering. I was nervous. No, I was scared. I was shaking a bit. So, I took my time, because rushing while shaving can be a very bad idea, especially if your hands are shaky. In that barracks, hot water was nearly unlimited. So, I simply stood there and enjoyed the feeling of the hot water cascading over me, and tried to relax.

Calm Down, Already!

The hot water felt good. Finally, I had calmed down. I started to lather my chest and then got busy shaving. I’d never done it before, and had no idea which way the hair was growing, to know which direction to shave. I'd never thought about which way the "grain" went. I had to shave my chest three times, to get it right. That was a bit frustrating but at the same time, if you've ever shaved an area for the first time, the feeling of air moving across that area is exhilarating. 

Then it was time to do my armpits. That, for me, was a challenge, because there was no mirror to look in, and the angle was odd to view what I was shaving directly. So, that made things significantly slower. I was thus surprised to find a good method for shaving my armpits on the first try. So far so good!

I moved down to my stomach and shaved that area fairly quickly, all things considering. At that point, my upper body was done. Now I was feeling much more relaxed and a bit confident. 

Let me just say that many women never have to deal with shaving their stomach. But hey. One does what one must. 

Safe Territory

I lathered up my right leg. I was confident about shaving my legs because I had been shaving my legs for many months at that point. I had my razor in my hand and was just getting ready to start when I heard a shower nearby start up. I froze, and suddenly, right outside my shower, a guy was standing, wearing a towel, hanging his keys, and then the towel, on hooks.

The guy turned, and there I was, all wavy looking through the glass. He was pretty distorted, to me, and there was some condensation on the glass. That meant I was distorted too. But he had a clear enough view of my leg covered in shaving cream to be able to tell something was odd. I heard a muttered “What the hell?”, and then the guy got in his shower.

I heard him get busy showering, so I let out my breath and continued shaving. I got that leg done pretty quickly, all things considered. I enjoyed a moment of silent celebration, and then lathered and shaved the other leg. I stood there for a few minutes, letting the water clean off the remaining shaving cream.

Now for the Hard Part

I still had one area left to shave, that being my groin area, and I considered waiting until the other guy had left. I hadn’t been able to see his facial features, through the distortion, so had no idea if I knew him or not. I decided the best move was to get done. So, I got myself wet, and lathered up, and went for it.

I am trying to find the words to describe the simultaneous joy of losing the hair in the private area, combined with the fear of shaving the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong way. I’m not sure there are words. In the interest of not being crude, let's just say that shaving the genital area on a male body is not an easy thing to do. Nothing is smooth, nothing stays in place, and you have to be very careful not to cut anything, because as experience has since shown me, cutting anything in that area freaking hurts! It also tends to bleed a lot. 

I finally got done, and then realized that I was going to have to shave that area again, because the hair had been reduced to stubble, but no further. At that moment, the guy nearby banged loudly out of his shower. I nearly had a heart attack, I swear! He grabbed his towel, and dried off quickly. Then, without a comment or a look my way, he was gone. Good grief. 

I lathered up again and got to work. When I had finished, I remember standing there thinking that the only hair on my body was on the top of my head, my eyebrows, and my arms. It was a moment of exhilaration.

Thank God!

I rinsed off, making sure I got all the shaving cream off and then stepped out of the shower. I grabbed my towel and dried off as well as I could. I wrapped in the towel. and I walked out of the shower area, through the bathroom, and out into the hallway. Because the bathroom was off the side of what the Army calls a day room, which is a room with a TV and several chairs, I expected the guy from the shower to be waiting, to see who I was, but he wasn’t there. Neither was anyone else. Thank God!

I walked down the hall, wearing nothing but shower shoes and a towel, to my room. I hadn’t thought of it until I was writing this, but the towel was high on my body, tucked under my arms, covering my chest as well as the lower areas, rather than in the typical male method of wrapping around the waist. I didn't pass anyone. 

In my room, I got out my bottle of lotion and applied lotion to my body, because I knew from experience that my legs, anyway, would otherwise razor burn. I was amazed at how smooth my skin felt, in areas that had always been hairy. I went to bed that night feeling proud of myself, having achieved something I honestly hadn’t thought I’d have the courage to do.