No Shave, No Problem! Why To Go Au Naturale
Hair is hair. It grows on your head, on your legs, anywhere and everywhere. However, a woman’s beauty is often determined by how hairless, smooth or soft her skin is. We at Jerk have to one thing to say about that standard of beauty: down with expectations.
Some ladies have very fine, blond body hair, while others have thick, dark hair. Both are beautiful. What is problematic with this idea that women must remove hair from their bodies, is that not only is it one-sided—men don’t have to follow this “rule” in order to not be shunned—but also, if a woman has hair anywhere that’s not appreciated by the general public, like a happy trail or hair above her lip, she is deemed less feminine.
Femininity does not have to be defined by the removal of any aspect of a person. Especially because shaving sucks. You’ll never suffer from a nick or an ingrown hair again if you decide to put the razor down.
Many women feel insecure about having hair on their body, when it’s such a natural thing to have! Beauty is defined by so many things, but societal standards should not be one of them. To quote the Atlantic, “Hair removal, at its core, is a form of gendered social control.”
There’s a misconception that smooth skin measures a female’s level of cleanliness and, alas, that is not true. A person can be clean and smooth and a person can be clean and hairy. You actually produce more sweat without the hair.
Armpit hair is fine. Leg hair is fine. Hair on your arms, ears, nose, wherever is okay to have and not something to feel embarrassed or ashamed for having. Hair grows on your body for a reason. For example, hair on the pubic area prevents the growth of bacteria and can decrease the likelihood of your getting an infection. So it is actually more hygienic to keep the hair than to rid yourself of it.
Women have been programmed from the time they are young girls to believe that shaving is hygienic, when in actuality this expectation is unrealistic. It stems back to the porn industry, where the female porn stars would always have waxed or trimmed bodies contributing to this image of an ideal beauty standard. What’s even creepier is that the fetishizing of young girls increased the popularity of this trend. Unless your prepubescent, you definitely grow hair all over your body and it may or may not be thick and it may or may not be noticeable, but it is there. What you want to do with it is your choice, but make sure it is YOUR choice.