shaving

I've only shaved shaved a few times, once for nationals when it was here in AZ. I might have noticed a slight difference, maybe a second per hundered for ***, a little more for free. Since I'm not anywhere near getting records, top 10, etc...it really isn't worth the time, frustration, and the stubble/pain I go through when the hair grows back. I don't think I would ever do it again. One thing I don't get is guys who shave down but still have facial hair and/or hair on their head. Wouldn't that defeat at least some of the purpose of shaving your body to begin with? Does the hair on your head create much drag, and would wearing a cap help any?

caps definitely help, though in longer events and even in training sets I stay cooler when I don't wear one. I tend to take off my cap in those long hard practice sets. I haven't tried those new hard / non wrinkle caps like they wore in the olympics ande Originally posted by aztimm I've only shaved shaved a few times, once for nationals when it was here in AZ. I might have noticed a slight difference, maybe a second per hundered for ***, a little more for free. Since I'm not anywhere near getting records, top 10, etc...it really isn't worth the time, frustration, and the stubble/pain I go through when the hair grows back. I don't think I would ever do it again. One thing I don't get is guys who shave down but still have facial hair and/or hair on their head. Wouldn't that defeat at least some of the purpose of shaving your body to begin with? Does the hair on your head create much drag, and would wearing a cap help any?

i wear a high neck fast skin body suit I'll clip then shave my face, arms, back, arm pits and the small part of my chest that's outside my suit. I'll clip and maybe shave my legs I may clip my stomach and chest, probably won't shave there. I use creme or shampoo. Usually shave in the shower. though I might do tiny touch ups dry I don't buy the dead skin theory I definitely feel much faster shaved. I think shaving helps me knock off a second to a second & 1/2 per 100 though it's hard to tell cause there's so many other factors that effect your time for a race. you could do an experiement swim a 100 free hairy then shave and fully recover (several hours) race it again and compare the diff. Ande Originally posted by hooked-on-swimming Just wanted to see how everybody shaves for meets or not?I heard different things on shaving:some shave legs and arms only, some -the entire body, some shave it with cream, some just get the body wet without cream, some shave DRY(CRAZY)!!!Supposedly the last helps get rid of some dead skin which gives you a much better feel for the water.Or, and another one I do not get:some shave even if they wear a body suit - what's up with that? Well, I would like to hear about your experiences, how it feels to swim shaved and if it helped you to shave your time off too ... Thanks.

Well, I am one of them guys that wears a full body suit but still shaves. Me personally, I do not like the body suit for certain events, so being shaved at nationals is something I always do. At Nationals a few yrs ago, I was putting on my body suit when I put my finger right thru suit and had about a 6 inch tear near seam up the leg. Luckily, I was shaved, put on the ole speedo and I was off to the races.

I only shave for meets I've tapered for. It makes a huge difference. Count your strokes while cruising in warm up and I am sure your stroke count will be lower. I clip all the places not covered by the swim suit or cap and then soak in a hot bath tub and shave there.

Most swimmer's don't shave until big meets...at least their bodies. Aside from asthetics, I believe the real reason for keeping facial hair a reasonable length may lie in the importance of head position. Catching a lot of water in a beard could make it difficult to keep the head into the proper position at higher speeds. Personally, I'll get little burns on my shoulder in a freestyle workout from my chin if I haven't shaved within the past day or two. As for shaving, I whole-heartedly believe in it and have since the first time I did it fifteen years ago. I shave even when wearing a full body suit so I can have the fast feeling in warmups. I've also found that hair tends to stick through the suits if not shaved off.

I guess I'm the only one who doesn't think shaving helps all that much. I've shaved before and it never helped out, I didn't get any personal bests, nor did I lower my strokes. Currently I have a beard and it hasn't slowed me down at all. Wouldn't having more hair slow me down by the second per 100? It is a full beard too, I don't trim it down. Plus if it mattered that much then wouldn't you see the big swimmers not shave until the big meets? Wouldn't you want to have the drag for practice? Plus I would think that a lot of the top swimmers would shave the head too and not wear a cap?

Originally posted by Edward The Head Plus I would think that a lot of the top swimmers would shave the head too and not wear a cap? there are some top swimmers who shave instead of wearing a cap. Well, I don't know if it would be better to wear a cap or to shave your head but I think most top swimmers don't shave their head because not everyone likes to have a shaved head. Me, too, would prefere a cap against shaving my head. Because you will spend some time out the water where hairstyle could matter :D

Edward The Head - I hear ya'. I've felt the same way. But, shaving really does help. It's not just mental, though the mental aspect really gets some people amped. Think of it this way: Put on a pair of longjohns and do some laps. How do you expect it will feel? If they were tight enough they wouldn't necessarily change your stroke any, but they certainly would slow you down. So, comparatively, "Why do you believe the hair on your legs has no adverse impact?" However minor it may be. You're used to swimming with hair. Similar to the whiskers on a cat, hair provides information about your speed an body position due to friction. If you're relying on this type of information to swim going to be difficult for you to swim without it, and your stroke may suffer because of it. You may need to train shaven before you learn to swim without hair. Shaving isn't a magic bullet, but it is science: Resistance requires effort. Given the bounds of effort, lowering resistance will increase speed. How much speed? Well that depends on the amount of resistance lowered vs. the amount of energy. Not to mention that resistance increases expedientialy with speed in the water. Anyway, I don't feel shaving is that important. You have to take your life circumstances into consideration too. Going faster isn't guaranteed no matter what you do in practice. If it were guaranteed then we wouldn't need to race, we'd just calculate out what we think we might do in a race and sit back on the sofa. ;)

On a related subject to shaving.... About 2 years ago, I began to wear a drag suit. Nothing fancy, I think it is like $15 online through Kiefer. The main reason was that our water was exceptionally cold (the period between when they shut off the heat and nature kicks in to warm it). Anyway, I've noticed a HUGE improvement over my times since this began. At first I felt very slow and wore out 1/2 way through the workout, took off the drag suit. But over time I built up enough endurance to finish the whole thing with it on. For comparison, if we're doing a sprint set, I'll sometimes do the last 2 or so without the drag suit. Even as my endurance is fading, I notice my times remain the same or improve due to the decreased resistance. Compared with shaving down, I think using a drag suit is much more effective. I've noticed my 200 scy *** time decrease by 4-5 seconds, and about 3 for my 100 scy. I assume you can do both, and could have even better results. Another plus is that you don't have to replace your suit nearly as much. The drag suits seem to last forever, and it seems to also extend the life the suit I wear underneath.