Body Hair & Should You Shave It
When my sister and I were tweens, we were at our Grandma’s house, our really religious Grandma’s house. My sister kept scratching her fandango because she had recently shaved, which prompted Grandma to ask
“Why do you keep scratching yourself?”
“Because I shaved the other day” Brigitte replied.
“There is nothing wrong with a hairy pussy” our frail, never wore trousers in her life kinda Baptist, Grandma responded.
While my sister and I died, Grandma went on to explain that God created us and put every single hair on us, so we shouldn’t remove them. Then Brigitte and I explained to her that pussy is now a rude word and fandango is currently the acceptable term.
Apart from the incredible story of my Grandma saying pussy, I hate talking about body hair, because literally we’re only having this conversation because the patriarchy wanted one more thing to make us self-conscious about to use to keep us down... and then consumerism came to the party.
But let’s just say you came here to learn about body hair, the pros and cons of removing it that don’t include God and not to read my latest raging manifesto… sounds dumb but ok.
Hair itself…
The peach fuzz all over our bodies and face are called vellus hairs, and the thicker, often darker, hairs that develop during puberty (pits & pubes, beards & brows… feet… etc) are called terminal hairs. Our lashes and head hair are also terminal hairs.
I actually have an abundance of peach fuzz which I like to remove, especially before events - for make up reasons. Two days before my best friends wedding I got drunk with another one of my best friends while I tended to my facial hair with 3 year expired Nair. Can you guess what happened? I got a Hulk Hogan handle bar chemical burn on my face.
For why?
Before we decide whether or not we should remove our hair, we need to ask, why do we have it in the first place? The answer? Essentially, protection & preservation.
Protection
- Head hair protects our scalps from the sun and body hair keeps us warm
- Hair reduces friction during sex
- Eyelashes, nose hairs and pubes trap dirt and bacteria and junk, preventing them from entering the body
- Hair follicles produce an oil called sebum. Sebum protects the skin from bacterial and fungal infections and it kinda keeps your skin lubed by reducing water loss. The follicle is actually an organ that’s function doesn’t change whether or not you remove the hair, so this particular point might be moot, but I am leaving it because the word follicle gives good mouth feels
- It protects us from malaria! And just like, bugs in general. Think about it – bug goes to land on us, hair creates a barrier making it harder for a bug to bite while SIMULTANEOUSLY sending signals to the brain saying there is something on us. We swat, no malaria. How cool is hair?!?!
Preservation
By preservation I mean preservation of our species… loll
- Hair traps and amplifies chemicals like pheromones that we release to attract a mate… so at an animal instincts level, makes you more appealing and more likely to smash I mean reproduce, therefore preserving our species
Have you ever nestled your nose into a Lynx Africa crusted armpit?
So why would we want to de-hair?
One time I used masking tape and nair to make a venus symbol.. Mum came home when I was in the middle of doing it and was like.. “yeh but why are you doing it on the couch?”
It is believed that shaving your pits can reduce odour and sweat but I disagree. I mean there was a study on it but… I know, personally, that I am a sweaty betty, and I find I am much better off WITH some pit hair. The hair holds the sweat and odour but for me that means it’s not going on my clothes. Regardless if they are bald or hairy, armpits should always get a good scrubbing with a washer (cloth, flannel, whatever you want to call it) and soap. That’s just hygiene babe.
As I briefly mentioned before, there are some make up reasons. This is a tricky one though because I don’t know if I recommend it. Removing the peach fuzz can make your make up look fucking flawless - this is why I do it, but there are a few cons. If you want to look into it check out the resources here.
Then there is our ‘ole pal aesthetics. Some people for no other reason like the aesthetic of having hair, and some people like the aesthetic of NOT having hair. And that is fine, if you want to shave, shave, if you want to grow em, grow em!
In summary, there are no real pros and cons and it comes down to you and what you want. Don’t let people bully you into shaving because they don’t like the way it looks, similarly, don’t feel like you have to grow anything out because your IG feed is filled with hairy pits hashtagged feminist.
Pour Moi?
I already mentioned my face but the rest of my body, I go back and forth. I grow attached to my body hair and have a Tina Belcher reaction every time I remove it but then when it is gone I flop around like a silky seal.
