The pandemic has brought significant alterations to people’s lives. First, it kept them at home. Their kitchen table has become their new workplace, and their pajamas have replaced their uniforms. For many women, not going out meant a break from their regular routine. Who cares about hairy legs if you’re not going outside? Regardless of whether there is a pandemic, some women have quit shaving as a personal choice.
Women Have Stopped Shaving
Hair removal used to be as important to female hygiene as cleaning their teeth and washing their hair. However, some women are questioning and even rejecting this beauty ideal. And they are getting a lot of flack in return.
“It’s been deeply stigmatized — it still is — and cast with shame,” said Heather Widdows, professor of global ethics at the UK’s University of Birmingham. “Its removal is one of the few aesthetic traditions that have gone from being a beauty routine to a hygienic one.
“Today, most women feel like they have to shave. Like they have no other option. There’s something deeply fraught about that — though perceptions are slowly changing.”
A few years later, actress Emily Ratajkowski posed for Harper’s Bazaar, displaying her black armpit hair.
“If I decide to shave my armpits or grow them out, that’s up to me,” Ratajkowski wrote in the magazine. “For me, body hair is another opportunity for women to exercise their ability to choose — a choice based on how they want to feel and their associations with having or not having body hair. On any given day, I tend to like to shave, but sometimes letting my body hair grow out is what makes me feel sexy.”
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Some Women Have Stopped Shaving Their Legs
In 2019, “Bachelor” personality Bekah Martinez posted a photo of herself in a mini dress with unshaved legs at a red-carpet event on Instagram. “I’ve finally gotten to the point where I feel (almost) totally comfortable like this. I stopped shaving my legs and armpits about a year ago as a practice of self-love. I grew up HATING the hair on my body…
“It’s not about ‘not believing in shaving’, it’s about believing I AM BEAUTIFUL, ATTRACTIVE AND ‘FEMININE’ NO MATTER WHERE I HAVE HAIR ON MY BODY.”
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Throwing out the Razor?
To remove or not to remove hair is a personal decision. Some women may have maintained their shaving or waxing routine throughout the pandemic because it is what they prefer. Others, however, may transfer their newfound laxity in hair removal into non-lockdown lives.
Some ladies may not have the time or patience to include hair removal in their cosmetic regimen. Others use their unshaven legs and armpits to make a statement. For some women, they are simply guarding their bodies. Shaving can cause skin irritations such as chafing, ingrown hairs, and rashes, and they prefer the hair over the infected skin. Some ladies are unconcerned about their hair.
Body hair, or lack thereof, is a personal choice that may alter throughout our lifetimes. Or it depends on if we plan to go out that night. The key is that you should make your selection based on how you feel rather than what others think.
