The first time I noticed I had body hair was when I was twelve. I was at gymnastics and I was hanging from a bar when I noticed I had a few hairs in my arm pit. I went home, told my mom and that weekend I got my first razor. Eventually I started shaving my legs and it became part of my routine. All throughout middle school and high school I shaved my legs and armpits almost every day. I hated my body hair and I wanted it all to go away because I viewed it as a nuisance. Multiple times during this period I developed a horrible rash on my legs. The hair follicles on my legs would become infected causing them to turn into angry red bumps. I would continue to shave though, because I was not about to have hairy legs.
This mentality and habit changed my senior year of high school. I’ve struggled with severe acne since middle school so during my senior year of high school I was prescribed the drug Accutane by my dermatologist. Not to completely change topics, but I have to give you some information on Accutane. This medicine is hard core; it completely cures people with chronic acne, so they never have a severe break out ever again, which is wild. But the gift of clear skin comes with a catch, in the form of a whole slew of harmful or unpleasant side effects. One of those side effects is severe dry skin, and I experienced this. Every time I shaved my legs, skin would just sluff off of them leaving my legs raw and burning. No lotion would help and it was super unpleasant for me, so I decided to stop shaving just my legs. I quickly realized that not shaving your legs saves you a ton of time and you never get ingrown hairs which is awesome. My armpits soon followed and I transformed into a gorgeous hairy girl.
My transformation was not really a social or political statement, I just changed my ways because I was very uncomfortable. As time went on though I got hairier and hairier, and I was embarrassed at first. I was wondering if people would think I was dirty or weird. I started to wonder about why I felt so embarrassed about having something that was natural on my body. According to American society, women shouldn’t have any body hair and if they do its abnormal. This is ingrained into our heads with every shaving advertisement we have ever seen, showing a girl shaving her legs with no hair being shown on the actual leg. Women as whole have been fed this idea that in order to look attractive and clean we must shave. This stigma around women’s body hair comes down to idea that women must be “feminine” and having body hair has been categorized as “masculine” trait, so it’s off limits to the women of American.
Next time you shave think about the reason why you are doing it. Is it because you yourself enjoy having smooth legs and you view it as self-care? Or do you feel that you have to because if you don’t you will be shamed for it? Every woman should be able to make their own choices about their body, not the patriarchy.