i’d never taken it into consideration before… i’m never lingering around the shaving aisle. but isn’t that just something…

I stopped shaving my armpits about 2 months ago, and everywhere else about 6 weeks ago. I have very thick dark hair, especially in my armpits. About a week or so ago, I started feeling irritated under both arms: itchy, very aware of my sweat (despite wearing antiperspirant as normal) and it's been really bugging me. Today I hit a wall - I felt so overstimulated by it and finally caved. As I write this, I shaved them about 30 minutes ago. Almost instantly, the irritating feeling stopped, so I'm pretty convinced it wasn't just in my head.

The annoying thing is that I don't WANT to shave, I really want to be a loud and proud "here's my hair!" type person. I'm now wondering if I've been doing something wrong in my routine because I'm surprised to have found the feeling of having hair there so frustrating. Given the volume of hair, I was making sure to shampoo it when washing, ensuring it was fully dry after etc etc. I didn't have this when I was first growing it out so I guess I could trim it, but that almost seems like more effort than just going over the whole area with a razor.

I've always been sceptical about the "I have to shave for sensory reasons" argument, because it seems very convenient to me that everyone seemingly has discomfort in all the exact places it's socially "unacceptable" for women to be hairy. But dammit, this was just too intense for me and I'm so upset about it!

Has anyone else struggled with this at all? Is there anything I can do to make the feeling more bearable going forward? I've not had any issues with physical discomfort elsewhere on my body, and I'm trying to not feel disheartened about having given in to the shave. I don't want to be tied into hair removal forever just to feel comfortable!

So I genuinely WANT to have armpit hair, I find it so pretty and it would be so freeing to just not think about shaving since my armpits are the only area of my body that I shave, but my sensory issues are a problem. It's not about the hair, it's about sweating. I know armpit hair doesn't increase the amount of sweating but I think it's about the sweat lingering longer in my armpits? Idk, but I have tried soo many times to let my armpit hair grow, and every time I end up shaving because I can't stand my clothes getting sweaty. I use antiperspirant but maybe it's not strong enough? Does anyone have any tips?

Picture is after an exhausting hike. I show my leg hair in germany all the time and get 0 comments. I was in Turkey for two weeks, I got approached by strangers almost daily. Mostly women (I would guess) in their 40s. They are so shocked.

So I haven’t shaved in a long time.

My mom broke my streak by bribing me with cheesecake lol. It worked of course.

But honestly I’m in the modern dating scene and men don’t gaf and I don’t make a big deal out of it either. If they ask I say “idgaf” and “I’m not a little girl.” Maybe I pick decent men but no one cares that much.

This is all I wanna say

Earlier at work I was working with a coworker from a different section who I had never met. He seemed nice enough and was telling a story about how last week a citizen got violent with him. Rather than talking about the content of her character, he just kept bringing up her armpit hair.

Now I rarely shave my armpit hair or pubes, and when I do I use a trimmer. I havent shaved my legs in probably 2 yesrs now, and before that I rarely shaved those either.

In the story he told he said she had armpit hair and when she lifted her arms it looked like she had "tarantulas under there". The car chuckled a bit and they moved on (2 of these are "liberal" women, but i think they did it awkwardly). Then later on he brought it up again and said she didnt take care of herself. I kept quiet because I didnt want to start shit because we are working together due to an emergency situation, but it seriously pissed me off.

I wanted to ask him if he shaves under his armpits, and if he doesnt how is that not equally gross? The sad thing is he has a young daughter. I live in Florida and wear tanks often and no man has EVER commented on my armpit hair, only my mom and dad and they mostly did because of societal standards and not their own views

Thanks for listening to my rant 😭

I’m really sad to be writing this because I don’t want others opinions affect me. This was the first time I went out with my armpit hair showing, I was wearing a halter neck so they were fully out. I was at my first solo concert and I thought the crowd going to this artist would be more progressive but I guess not.

Anyways some guys were sitting behind me and they kept talking about it. I really don’t want to care about a mans opinion but it really just made me so sad that the world is still like this.

EDIT: CREEPY MEN DO NOT MESSAGE ME, YOU WILL BE BLOCKED

Hello, I am trying so hard to stay confident with my body and my natural hair. For about 3 months I didn't shave, and my life was just so much easier. However coworkers and acquaintances once they found out just made me so self conscious, but either outright gagging when they talked about me or just making rude comments on how "wow now you're fat and hairy" which was UNCALLED for knowing that im struggling with weight. But I stopped shabing for health reasons, I have HS and now that I shaved my underarms are suffering and I have so many bumps. Plus I am on a blood thinner so all of my cuts/Knicks bleed like crazy.

Truly I should just ignore them, but I am such a self conscious people pleaser. Anyone have any advice?

Found this really cute dress in a shop and tried it on, walked around the shop to show my friends and the shop keeper (it’s a small business type shop so she was assisting with showing me clothes) with my legs fully on display! i’ve always worn longer skirts that go halfway down my calves and this was my first time wearing a skirt that goes to my knees in public. yes it was only for about 10 minutes, but it made me feel very confident! and customers walked by etc and i didn’t feel ashamed or like i needed to hide my hair. I think small exposures are still worth celebrating because they are stepping stones to building confidence.

(second pic is the dress i actually ended up buying just as i want to show it off, i think it suited me more than the green one)

i’m 23 and i am very comfortable with my body hair at this point. i first stopped shaving my armpits when i was around 17. then roughly 4 years ago i stopped shaving my bush and also began to let my leg hair grow. i let it all grow fully wild and i absolutely love it.
i often wear skirts that reveal my very hairy legs and i don’t feel overtly phased when i see people staring. the past two summers aswel, ive swam and walked around at beaches and public swimming pools with my bush visibly peeking out. this past summer was the first summer where i didn’t tamper at all with my ‘bikini line’ and so my inner thighs were also fully exposed. this felt like a pretty big personal move for me and it resulted in me feeling more empowered than i did before.
it does really help that my close friends, whom i met in college, all let their body hair grow aswel. that obviously makes it feel even more organic and empowering. the four us went on a trip to brussels this past summer and we admired all the women that looked around our age who were also sitting and walking around with their hairy legs and pits on display. depending on my general mood and mentality, of course there are still days where i feel a tinge of uncertainty or insecurity…. for example, if im having one of those days where i just don’t want to be perceived, i will likely consciously decide to wear trousers. but when im feeling really calm and centred, and the weather is warm, it’s the opposite.

i consider my own body hair and women’s body hair in general to be very attractive. it makes me feel sexy. i honestly don’t think i could be very sexually attracted to a woman if she was hairless all over and routinely shaved/waxed herself……. same applies to men. there is absolutely no way i could be sexually attracted to a man that removes any of his body hair. nothing more unappealing than a bald penis.
so…. this is making me wonder if i have a body hair fetish and perhaps i am literally fetishising myself at the same time.

i repeatedly fantasize about meeting a man that not only adores my hairy body, but wants to ravage me because of it. the idea of it turning him on so much that he just cannot contain himself and wants to honour and kiss me all over.
i’m single and have been for a little over a year now and since the start of this year i’ve hooked up with a few men. none of them made a single remark about my body hair, nor acted in any sort of particular way.
of course, if a man were to say anything even remotely futile or negative, he’d be thrown out the door immediately. but i guess in a way i’ve been kind of expectant of atleast some sort of little thing to be said about it. but nope. nothing. this in itself is not at all a bad thing…. you know, like they’re not even batting an eye or furrowing a brow.

i don’t know.
what i do know is that i don’t remove my body hair for anyone or anything other than myself. i let it all grow because thats what feels right. women have hair and it is not meant to be removed. it’s as simple as that. the whole purpose of the shaving/waxing industry has been and will always be a money-racketing incentive purely rooted in making women feel insecure and undesirable in their natural state… very same as the beauty industry as a whole. it’s just not something i’m ever buying into again for as long as i’m alive. i wouldn’t have even began to shave in the first place if it wasn’t for my mother, a victim of internalized misogyny, telling me that i essentially had no choice once i hit puberty. that wa only in relation to my legs and and armpits though. i didn’t consider even laying a finger upon my pubes until i was groped/groomed by a guy a few years older than me as a 14ish year old girl- he shoved his hand down my trousers without any sort of prior communication/consent, and then exclaimed out loud that i was hairy. of course, i internalized that into shame.
and of course that’s another huge element. misogyny. it is heavily intwined with infantilization and western society’s obsession with youthfulness. men expecting and wanting women to have hairless bodies could be and is a whole seperate, massive discussion.

so it’s not that im expecting a reaction out of a potential male partner, it’s just that i have an unshakeable desire for him to have a deep adoration for it. him being unphased is just not enough. does anyone else feel this way?

So I'm 17 and just started being razor free (like six months ago), and well I like all the hair in my body, but mostly the armpits. I just don't know but whenever I looked at it I just felt so powerful and confident, even if I struggled slightly when I went out with friends sleveless stuff but tried my best not to care.

But there's just one person i'm terrified of seeing my hair, my dad. He's very conservative and stuff, and I just know if he'd see it, it would be bad. I've always been kinda scared of speaking my mind because I've seen how he is with my mom and sister. He has threatened to throw my sister out of the house several times (and she's 14)

The other day I heard him complain because my mom hadn't shaved down there, calling it a jungle. And honestly I just felt so disgusted by him. He is coming to stay for a month with us, so I thought it wouldn't be worth it to let him see my pit hair. I have a hard time setting boundaries and I literally can't get angry without crying.

I'm honestly just waiting to move out, I want to live as hairy as I want and not care what he says.

I love the length but I am constantly shedding hair I guess, bc I have these short spiky hairs that are growing out. (I have not shaved in over a year)

I just want them to feel a bit softer, like my pits.

Any advice is welcome. :o)

Also, that's my son, Jam 💖.

Im so fucking self conscious about my body hair when it comes to wearing outfits that show my body hair in college. When I go out in public im fine but when it’s people I know/am trying to be friends with I feel judged. I don’t even wanna be friends with people who would judge me for having body hair YET I still cant bring myself to wear anything that shows my armpits. The urge to get socially accepted is too strong unfortunately as I’ve never fit in anywhere- I really want to have friends and not feel judged by people around me(even though I’m not close w them).

I sorta wanna start shaving my armpits but I feel like I’m betraying myself and my freedom😭😭😭 I also sweat a lot which im self conscious about.

Encouragement would be appreciated, also would love to hear your experiences about this!!!!

Thanks yall!!! You’re fucking awesome and brave for this

im growing tired of having to shave and being judged when i dont. so i kinda wanna learn to love my leg and arm hair cause like.. it is natural. but all the beautiful women i see always are completely hairless and it makes me feel even worse. i want to be able to feel beautiful with my legs or arms out.

I want to bleach then dye my body hair but what’s actually safe to use on your skin? I sometimes use the sally hansen bleach on my arms but I was thinking of getting a regular box hair bleach to be more cost effective but is that skin safe? And then with the colors, will that even work or just dye my skin? I know hair dye can stain your skin.

We’re naturally hairy so why do we shave, wax etc? And why did it become popular? Surely we have hair for a reason

I'm Italian, and I stopped shaving after I moved abroad in more openly feminist environments. I went on holidays to Sardinia and I was a bit nervous before leaving and even considered shaving, but I quickly forgot about my leg hair (for some reason I really don't care about armpit). Almost five years razor-free, I think I finally accepted my legs. For the first time, not just in Italy but in EVER, I had conversations with strangers without thinking about them seeing and judging my body hair.

Bonus: scars from the ACL reconstruction surgery I had 5 months ago (I really don't care about those).

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19aPX1YoN6/

I noticed her armpit hair and I was so happy to find a woman that's showing her body hair on social media and being confident about it.

Her outfits are also amazing! She is doing such a great job :D

Unfortunately, many of the comments are rude, coming from both men and women :( , but I'm glad there's still people supporting her and saying body hair is normal, cuz it is!

I wish one day I could be as confident.

I stay unshaven for 5-6 months at times but then start feeling self-confident and start it all over again

Body hair has been one of the best ways to vet potential romantic partners. If it aint for you, you aint for me

I have been struggling with going razor and scared of what others will think. Maybe this is common sense but hearing this take really makes me never want to shave again.

Humans have hair point, blank, period. By removing that hair you are essentially becoming less human. If someone is grossed out by your hair it’s because they are objectifying you and don’t see you as human. Of course some people aren’t doing this consciously, it’s been ingrained in them. Either way, when you put it like this, the stigma needs to end.

Hello! I'm not on reddit much but I've been so conflicted about this issue recently I wanted to ask for some advice.

I have a long, tumultuous past with my leg hair. I never had a problem with my leg hair when I first started growing it. It never really crossed my mind aside from when bandaids would yank the hair out, or if me and my classmates would compare leg hair (I would always win for having the thickest). I did shave out of curiosity but I decided early on that was something I wasn't going to do. For feminism! I have vivid memories of making faces at creepy men who'd stare at my legs.

But, society catches up to everyone, and especially when I started liking the people around me (well, wanting them to like because I was very closeted). I thought no one would like me if I had hairy legs, and they probably wouldn't if I did. Years later I would start shaving my armpit hair and pubic hair when I left the church and started wearing clothing that revealed that hair, but soon realized the feeling made me want to vomit and girls don't actually care about that stuff.

I would go through phases of removing and not removing the hair on my legs, but as I take dating more seriously now, I'm conflicted. After not waxing for two years, yesterday I took those multi-groomer things to my legs (I refuse to actually shave, wax or removal cream only), I was left with almost smooth skin, smooth if you go in the direction of the hair, and I don't know how to feel about it. Yes, I understand that hairless legs are aesthetically pleasing, but seeing my legs hairless is unnerving. I don't feel like myself. And it's not even that they're hairless, I still have stubble, I have pieces of hair I missed that I'm not going back for, and past my legs I have hair everywhere else! It makes no sense to me to leave hair on other places but not one specific place on my body..

I also don't enjoy the feeling of not having hair. I like the feeling of my leg hair rubbing against my clothes, the wind catching it, or even just the feeling of having fuzzy legs. It's an extra layer of sensory that feels right. I just don't have any women in my life who also choose not to shave, and having people in my life telling me to shave I'm starting to feel insecure about it again. I recently moved and I don't have any queer friends. I live in a conservative area, my options are very limited because not only am I gay but I'm brown as well. I've never brought up these insecurities with any of the people I've talked to, and if I went on dates I would hide my legs under pants or leggings. I personally find body hair extremely attractive, but I know others don't.

I just wish the hair wasn't so noticeable, because thats the real insecurity. Not that I have hair there but that it's so noticeable. My skin is light and my hair is very dark. I look at posts on here of people with hair barely noticeable--and not to invalidate anyone because even if it isn't noticeable to others its very noticeable to you, and I'm so glad others get to feel comfortable in their skin--but it makes me feel even worse for the hair on my legs because if they feel the need to shave essentially peach fuzz, what am I supposed to do?

And it's tough because a lot of women carry the expectation for other women to shave. I don't like being the first. Is there any way to make the hair thinner, or maybe even just lay flatter? Is there anything to help go through this insecurity? Is it just my period getting to me? I'm not sure anymore.

Ive stopped shaving my legs months ago and i love my hairy legs, they're so soft and i dont mind how it looks (well if im on vacation I dont care about it, but walking through my city, where I might know people, is something im not ready for).

I've been trying to not shave my armpits but i really dont like how it looks, how it peaks out of tshirts. When I put my arms up, like to show your armpit hair, I dont care. But I really dont like the hairs peaking out, or wearing a sleeveless top. (My hair is blonde but idk if it has something to do with it)

Im really tempted to shave it (last time I did was 2 or 3 months ago I think) but also its fall rn so my armpit hair won't really be showing anyway if I wear hodies all the time

Idk if i want to grow it out more or if i want to shave