To Shave or not to Shave?

To shave or not to shave is there really a question? It seems actually that there is. I rented my wetsuit at the weekend (I’ll deal with that one later) and I was sitting at home that evening doing some research on open water swimming. I was looking for tips and tricks on getting the best performance when I found some very interesting info. I also stumbled across a rather strange triathlon phenomenon. While surfing on one of the better triathlon sites http://www.trinewbies.com I discovered a topic called Tips on Shaving.

Most recently this area has been spoken about in relation to Gavin Henson the Welsh Rugby Player. Aside from the Hair Gel and fake tan, Gavin is famous for shaving his legs. Now while I can’t speak for the fake tan I could entertain the idea that shaving your legs may have very minor benefits for a rugby player. One could argue that there is less friction in a rugby tackle as the legs are smoother there is also the possibility of less wind resistance when running. Now while I don’t personally believe this has any merit to this practice for rugby players does this translate to Triathlete’s?

In a section called The Real Reasons Tri-Guys Shave Their Legs I discovered that shaving can help a tri athlete in 4 main ways. And I quote

1. Aerodynamics – With regards to cycling, this is one reason I have a hard time believing. Shaving to become “aero” applies to swimmers primarily and we will touch on that in a moment.
2. The Bike Crash – There’s an old adage that applies to cyclists and it goes something like this - “there are two types of cyclists, those that have fallen (wiped out) and those that will.” If you have never experienced the pure joy of feeling your elbow, hip or the palms of your hand become one with the asphalt, then be patient…you will! Especially, if you plan on sticking with this sport. The more mileage you put on your bike, the higher the odds of you being inaugurated into this unfortunate club. So, the shaved legs, I am told, helps the healing process – no hair to contribute to infection and Band-Aids peel off much easier.
3. The Rub-Down. I have heard that rubdowns and/or massages, are more affective when applied to a hairless leg.
4. Keeps You Cooler. Finally shaved legs are much cooler than hairy legs in the hot summer.

Even armed with this information I was still not convinced. There must be some valid scientifc reason why a hair less body is more beneficial in a race of this type, there must be more to this than pure vanity. So I continued my research.

I like many of you love to watch the Olympics and eagerly await the Bejing games this year. Ever since Michelle Smiths win in the Olympics in 2000 I have kept an eye on the world of Swimming and one thing I have never seen at these events is a swimmer with body hair. Seriously now do a search on google or live.com and find me a picture of a swimmer with hairy arms and legs. If you do try and find out if he has ever won a race. Arms's, legs, back and chest all as bare as the day they were born. I wondered was there seriously something to this......then I found out why.

Now I'm not an overly hairy person. Ok maybe a bit but I'm certainly no Chewbacca like wookie-man. But when I bought my Triathlon Wetsuit (10 days ago) I discovered that body hair is not condusive to a comfortable experience in a wetsuit. If you can picture sitting in a body encompassing Sauna, with the heat on maximum but your hands feet and head on the outside, than that is what it felt like. Barry was standing there in front of me cracking himself up laughing at me, because I'm loosing half my body weight in sweat and I've only been in the thing for less than 2 minutes.

So now I have dilema. For comfort, for speed, to be one of the triathlete gang or simply to not pass out from the heat of the wetsuit before I can get onto the water. Maybe this small bit of sacrifice will help me reach my ultimate goal of finishing the race in second last place or above. So To Shave or not to Shave. There really is no question.