Body hair, we’ve all got it. In fact, the only skin that hair doesn’t grow on is the palms of your hands, soles of your feet, backs of your ears and lips. Just take a second to think about that…
I know right! Since 97%* the rest of our body is covered in hair to varying degrees, it’s kind of bizarre that there is a perception that some of it is unacceptable and we don’t even think about the rest.
I’m not sure if it’s the era I grew up in (post Sex and The City), or the location (sunny Queensland), but I come from a place where the slightest leg or underarm stubble was deeply offensive and Brazilian waxing was the norm and I’ve always been curious about where all of this even started. It turns out, that body hair removal dates as far back as Cleopatra’s day, where Cleo set the beauty standard and believed removing all body hair demonstrated cleanliness.
In modern society, our hairy bits were kept mostly covered up and under wraps until the 1920s when sleeveless dresses became a thing, and marketing campaigns dictated that the subsequent visible underarm hair was “objectionable” and needed to be removed. I think this means we’re all fashion victims. From here, the surface area of objectionable hair grew in line with shorter skirts and the desire to be on trend, fit in, and “sexy” by whatever the standards were at the time.
So now there we are up to speed on a very basic history of the concept of de-fuzzing and why it’s a thing, thanks to society and beauty standards, I think it’s worth a personal inquiry.
If you take a step back and think about it, how does the hair make you feel? Do you personally have a preference? Because that’s all that should matter.
For years I would trot off to a very regular, very expensive and very painful appointment to take care of my (not so) Brazilian bizness, but after about 6 years of this I started to question this routine and made the decision to prune my preening.
Now, I just do what I can when I can be bothered, and I still manage to have friends AND have sex, and neither seem to care or to be correlated to my sporadic preening, which suggests that it matters all of 0%.
Thanks to the women’s empowerment movement, it’s become more socially “acceptable” to do what we want without becoming pariahs. So, if you’re happy to ditch the wax and razors and go au naturale, I raise my arms and wave my hands (and kind of hairy armpits!) to you. If you still want to go the whole hog because you prefer it, or you’ve mastered an efficient routine and it’s NBD, I also take my hat off to you, and to anyone who lands somewhere in the middle and cuts back on the extra annoying parts, then you do you, too.
What are your thoughts, vinas? Pro hair? Anti hair? No hair no care?
*non-scientific estimation, according to me a not so professional scientist of life.
VINAZINE 
I hate shaving anything!!
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I personally am all for embracing your body and the way you were made. If it makes you uncomfortable physically or if you have a personal preference they go for it. I do not shave anywhere and I have been razor free in my pitties since November 2016!
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Armpits: Prefer to shave them as when the hair is longer I stink more.
Legs: Varied between shaving, waxing and letting them grow out. I haven’t liked shaving and waxing in the past because it tends to hurt when growing back out, esp in colder weather and I’ve tried moisturising and everything. I remember once a beautician waxed the tops of my feet without asking and I was a little offended – I had nothing against it personally. I’m really quite comfortable with full grown leg hair but do feel a bit self conscious when it’s full grown and I’m in dresses and especially high heels. So now I use a trimmer (2mm – 4mm) and very occasionally shave.
Pubic: I let it grow naturally for a while and then started trimming. I did try shaving but it hurt like hell growing back and I was like “never again, not worth it!” Plus I think it just looks really strange with no hair, like a prepubescent. I now just use a trimmer, try to keep it close on the sides so I can wear swimmers and pole dance with cinfidence as I don’t really like the sight of it poking out haha.
I generally think I’ve come to a balanced comfortable position between ‘eww body hair’ and ‘let it all grow out natural baby’.
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I have a PCOS which already gives me a higher testosterone level so my hair grows much faster than most. If I shave my legs comeoleteky within a day or during winter, half a day, I’ll already have hair poking out and be stubble. Within a week it is full grown Chewbacca legs. Though that doesn’t bother me one bit, I’ve always embraced my legs and still wear dresses or shorts and even though others have tried to wax my legs in my sleep, I just embrace the way my body has chosen to live it’s life lol. I shave my pits and my chin and chest because those areas come in just as quickly, and I am unhappy with hair growing on my face. But although with my condition I have no choice, even if I didn’t have it I would still let my body do its thing, it covers scars and makes me feel better when I let my lower half grow. I know it’s not for everyone and I’ve dated people who really weren’t into it but I don’t feel I need to change my comfort because someone else might think it’s gross. Am I right?
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I would’t shave at all if it was acceptable, i cannot rase my armpits when they are not shaved, becase i am ashamed, i know i sholdn’t be , but peoples reaction make me feel this way and i am ashamed that i care what they think
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