Why do swimmers shave their bodies?

Before a major competition, many competitive swimmers do something that can seem strange to outsiders: they shave the hair from their arms, legs, and bodies. It is a well-known ritual in the swimming world, often done together as a team the day before a big meet. To a non-swimmer it might look like an odd superstition, but there are real, practical reasons behind it, rooted in the search for speed.

In competitive swimming, the margin between winning and losing is astonishingly small. A race can be decided by a few hundredths of a second. Because the differences are so tiny, swimmers and coaches look for every possible advantage, no matter how small. Anything that might shave even a fraction of a second off a time is worth considering. Removing body hair is one of those small advantages.

The main physical reason is drag. Drag is the resistance a swimmer feels as they push through the water, and it slows them down. Body hair adds a small amount of extra drag, creating slightly more resistance against the water. By shaving off that hair, a swimmer makes their body a little smoother and more streamlined, which reduces drag. The effect on any single hair is tiny, but across the whole body it can produce a small, real gain in speed.

There is a second reason that swimmers often mention. Shaving does not only remove hair; it also removes a layer of dead skin from the surface of the body. Swimmers say this leaves the skin much more sensitive, sharpening what they call their feel for the water. With heightened sensitivity, a swimmer can sense the water against their skin more clearly and feel more connected to each stroke. Combined with reduced drag, this is why shaving down has been a swimming tradition for decades.

This article was written using information from Wikipedia.