As women, we’re expected to be plucked, shaved, bleached and waxed to meet feminine beauty standards. And although there is no right or wrong when it comes to the keeping-of or stripping-of our hair, the problem arises when the preference we embrace is the opposite of society norms, which translates into a strip down of our femininity. Some people feel everyone HAS to conform to “traditional gender roles” meaning it’s okay for men to wear their natural hair with pride but we women must be trimmed to a shiny new version of ourselves– as if we were still 10-year-old schoolgirls.
A body hair revolution has begun and women have started to realize that indeed there is no wrong or right way to coexist with your body and the natural hair that grows on it. Personally, most of the time I enjoy having my legs hairless, but I also admit that maintaining them that way can be a tedious task. The contortion-like moves one must complete in order to perform a perfect shave are mind-blowing. As we speak women around the world are propping legs on top of bathroom sinks or bathtubs à la Cirque du Soleil in the name of beauty.
The definition of what is considered beautiful or feminine is changing and I think it has a lot to do with the restrengthening of feminism. The fact that we’re realizing we can embrace our natural beauty as it is with or without hair is causing an explosion of female body empowerment worldwide. Right now, female armpit hair is making a movement. And women across the globe, including some celebrities, are allowing their armpit hair to grow out and rocking it freely both au naturale and colored like nobody’s business.
That’s the important part here, choice. So don’t feel pressured to conform because you feel you have to meet society’s beauty standards, but instead know that you are free to define beauty as you see fit. So let your hair flow à la Fabio, or re-create your best hairless chihuahua look or if you want to do both. At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong way to love your body hair.
Until next time my lovelies– remember to be kind and loving to yourselves,
Artwork shown as featured image for this post: cover of George Lois’ “on his creation of The Big Idea” book
Unconditional Body Beautiful is a self-love series created by Rebequita Rose — “It is a year-long collaboration which I created-slash-founded, and I will be doing this with many other bloggers…We will focus mostly on discussing our bodies more than on fashion, but at the same time we will fuse the two together.”
Missed any of these #UnconditionalBodyBeautiful series posts?
Part 1: My Body and I from the Beginning
Part 2: The Heart (Bust)
Part 3: My Journey on My Legs
Part 4: My Belly and Me
Part 5: My Buttocks
Ok, gotta say I’m not into hair under the arms but totally cool with leg hair. It could be because I’ve never really accumulated much hair in either place so it’s never been an issue. Thanks for speaking to this subject!
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I’m actually the opposite, it took me awhile to be okay with my own leg hair. Because I don’t grow much hair under my armpits it was never a big deal. I use to forget a lot and wonder about with fuzzy armpits. 🙂
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This was a great Blog post! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!!
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Thank you for dropping by and taking the time to read it Jo! ❤
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i don’t think body hair was such a big deal before the 1900’s. I think the flapper era brought about the need to shave. Before women were more covered up.
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I think you’re completely right. I read some articles that said The Channel suit dress & the boom of sleeveless dresses created a higher demand for body hair removal. And omg! some of the methods were frightening!
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Thank you for this post, I wish more people would talk about this, and not only leg/armpit hair, but hair ALL OVER. I know that it’s not the norm among women, but many of us have hair EVERYWHERE, and I mean, belly, back, upper arms… you name it. And it’s not even a matter of hormonal changes, it’s just our genes, we where born like this. I feel like we need to know that women are allowed to have hair all over the place.
🙂
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Hi Vic! You’re so right! I think it’s important to know and acknowledge that natural hair happens anywhere it wants to basically. And who are any of us to try and dictate how someone else should accept their own body. Thank you so much for stopping by, reading & commenting. 🙂
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I’m disappointed that this article doesn’t source any of the images, especially the artwork.
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Good morning Rachel. Actually if you click each image, it has the name of where it was found as well as a link that will take you to their website.If you are viewing this or any other of my posts on your laptop or desktop hovering over the image will bring up a pop up at the bottom of the image with the same information. I definitely do my best to credit anyone’s work I use on my site.
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I just wish this would have focused a little more on the perception of trans women who forego body hair removal and how if we do choose to let our body hair grow we are NOT embracing masculinity, and if we do choose to trim our body hair we are not trying to prescribe to typical patriarichal bullshit. We do it for us!
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Hi Kae! This was a generalized conversation on the topic of body hair, but THANK YOU for sharing this because it definitely adds to the conversation. It’s amazing how people are still trying to police our bodies. So it makes me so happy to see so many of us standing up for ourselves and taking back control of our own bodies.
Thanks for reading and commenting Kae! Keep kicking patriarchy’s ass! 💋
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“Some people feel everyone HAS to conform to ‘traditional gender roles’ meaning it’s okay for men to wear their natural hair with pride but we women must be trimmed to a shiny new version of ourselves– as if we were still 10-year-old schoolgirls… The fact that we’re realizing we can embrace our natural beauty as it is with or without hair is causing an explosion of female body empowerment worldwide.”
I am a conservative man (not a feminist), but I totally agree with the above quotes. Most women naturally have body hair, particularly in the pubic area. I consider that to be a perfectly feminine and attractive trait. Women should look like women, not prepubescent girls. That cartoon at the top is hilarious, but also spot on, including highlighting the silly notion that body hair on women is indicative of poor hygiene.
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Perfectly said John.
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