Body Hair

Body hair can be a pretty tricky topic to talk about. It’s kind of okay to not want to shave your legs, but as soon as you get above the waist the response to not shaving is something slightly aghast. Because after all, who would put up with hair growing out of their armpits?

Real talk: I stopped shaving my pits maybe two months ago, because my razor got blunt and I just couldn’t be bothered enough to get a new one (I’ve never shaved my legs). While it was initially a decision borne out of laziness, it’s now one I am proudly continuing because – and you’ve got to believe me on this – my armpit hair is kind of cute?

My imaginings since I started shaving my pits at age 14 was this terrible tangled mass of gross, but that’s largely because the only pit hair I’d seen since was that of boys at the gym (It’s a terrible tangled mass of gross, boys at the gym. You should fix that, for all our sakes.). It’s actually not something you notice that much and now I never have to worry about showing stubble when I wear sleeveless tops because instead I have this super adorable bit of fun-fur.

It’s not a sign of a lack of self-care, and it’s not unhygienic, gross, or stinky. It doesn’t mean you have to give up anything else. I still pluck my eyebrows, use face-masks, moisturize. The only thing that’s different is the lack of shaving and associated shower neck stretches. It’s kind of a relief. Now I can spend more time using shampoo to turn my hair into a mohawk.

It’s up to you what you want to do with your body, of course, but you should know that shaving is not an obligation (armpits, legs, anywhere else) but something you can choose to do or not do. Not shaving your armpits is not the end of the world. If anyone says otherwise, explain to them how much they suck. Because they suck a lot. They might not be aware of it yet. Educate them.▼