8 Reasons to Finally Stop Telling Women to Keep or Remove Body Hair

The debate around body hair seems to be never-ending. In this article, we’ll look at the reasons why hair grows on our bodies, the theories behind why people started to remove it, how perspectives have changed over time, and how some celebrities are embracing their natural body hair.

Whether you’re someone who prefers to keep their body hair or someone who prefers to remove it, this article will surely give you some food for thought and 8 interesting points about this.

1. The history of body hair removal

If our hair is so necessary, why do we want to get rid of it? We should look for the answer to this question in ancient times. Hair removal has been used to indicate social status and determine the idea of femininity. In the early stages of human history, people removed hair just to keep their bodies clean. But the first copper razors were used in Egypt and India.

During the time of Cleopatra, people used a sugar mix to remove hair. And Roman women used tweezers, among other things.

One of the theories as to why people want to remove hair appeared after Darwin’s The Descent of Man was published in 1871. According to the theory of natural selection, people like to get rid of anything useless, and thick hair is just not necessary. Hair removal was encouraged because the fashion industry, magazines, companies making razors, and other things were making money off of it. After wax epilation appeared in a salon in the US in 1987, hair on women’s bodies became taboo.

2. Why we even have hair

Mammals have an internal mechanism that allows the brain to regulate the body’s temperature, known as thermoregulation. So when we sweat, our internal organs cool down. But in order for the sweat to do its job and cool us down, the hair can’t be too thick. This is why we have thin hair that does the job perfectly.

Our ancestors were covered with thick hair, but modern humans lost it around 2 to 3.3 million years ago. In the picture, you can see the inner and outer structure of mammals’ epidermis. It consists of dead cells, sweat glands, and nerve endings. The sweat glands produce the fat that keeps the hair healthy, and the erector muscle can make the hair “stand up.” The hair that consists of keratin grows from the follicle that’s attached to every hair on the skin. The hair is a great heat conductor that lets the heat in and out. Hair protects the skin from a lot of bad things.

But through evolution, the hair coat has become thinner, and the human body has changed due to the hot climate and an active lifestyle.

3. Hair facts

Some scientists believe that preserving heat has become less important than staying safe from parasites. Modern humans have about 5 million hair follicles around the entire body. Its location and construction may vary depending on age and hormones, but we still need it since it has an important function. Hair on the head regulates brain temperature. By the way, curly hair is incredibly effective at protecting the scalp and brain from overheating and is very good at evaporating sweat. Thicker hair near the genitals and armpits is most likely connected with sexual selection. The odorous chemicals made by apocrine glands are unique in every person and help attract the opposite sex, like feromones in animals. As for the invisible hair, it also has an important function. This helps the skin restore itself and serves as storage for stem cells.

When it was harder to keep the body clean, shaving was the only way to get rid of the bad smell and parasites. In the twenty-first century, it’s a bit different, so whether you want to shave your hair or not is simply a matter of taste. But you should consider this factor:

• Shaving can cause ingrown hair, skin irritation, infection, and trauma.

4. Celebrities who take pride in their body hair

Notable women are increasingly choosing to keep their body hair and embrace it, showing the world how it makes no sense to keep debating about something that is natural and grows on everyone.

• Madonna has long been fighting against what society expects of people, especially women, and has spoken out a couple of times about her body hair. She released an Instagram post showing her armpit hair with the caption, “Long hair...... Don’t Care!!!!!!” And in an interview, she said, “Going to high school, I saw how popular girls had to behave. I knew I couldn’t fit into that. So I decided to do the opposite. I refused to wear makeup, to have a hairstyle. I refused to shave. I had hairy armpits.”
• Madonna’s daughter, Lourdes Leon, follows her mom’s example, proudly showing her hair in an Instagram post with her mom.
• Miley Cyrus has talked about how she feels the media closely associates her hair and body hair with her well-being: “Hair’s long and blonde, she’s sane right now.” It’s when her hair is dyed or she’s growing out her armpit hair that she’s judged unfairly. She’s also added to that in another interview, saying, “It’s not their fault that they associate my hair and my identity and my well-being so closely because, basically, we drilled that into their brains for 8 years of a series.”
• And here’s an interesting fact: Cara Delevingne actually needed her armpit hair again after lasering them. This is what she wrote on her Instagram, “I never thought I would need armpit hair again after getting laser... I was wrong. Introducing ARMPIT WIGS! Thoughts?”

5. Why we, as a society, need to get over this topic

1. It’s a personal choice and not a reflection of a person’s hygiene or cleanliness.
2. Body hair has natural health benefits, like protecting the skin and keeping our normal temperature.
3. It’s a form of self-expression that can be empowering for all women.
4. Arguing about this topic can perpetuate harmful beauty standards and we need to consider that what is deemed attractive or unattractive varies greatly across cultures.
5. We need to be supportive and uplifting to all women instead of policing their bodies.
6. Body hair does not affect one’s personality, character, or worth as a person.
7. Maybe ending the argument can help us all to create a more inclusive and accepting society.
8. Removing body hair can be time-consuming, painful, and even expensive, and one should not be expected to do so.

❗The text is partially based on the experience of the author.

Let’s have a friendly discussion — tell us what you think in the comments! 😉