Why is it that when a girl chooses not to shave her underarms and legs, she is suddenly making a political statement? Why isn’t it just another personal choice like pants or short hair or painted nails? Why does a girl’s shower have to last 15 minutes so that she can shave all the hair off of her body? Who decided that body hair was “unbecoming” on a lady? Why don’t we have a choice in the matter?
These are the questions that lead to my decision to grow out my armpit hair a few months ago. I want to make a non-political statement to point out the absurdity of female hair standards. My non-statement is, why the hell not? Whose rules? Shave them if you want to and grow them if you want to! I used to hate shaving my armpits; I always had red bumps, and when it grew back it would scratch me. Awful. Not to mention, I had to shower in the mornings because if I shaved at night, the hair would grow back and be prickly by the morning.
So that brings me to where I am now. Hairy armpitted and smelly as ever. I had imagined I would look like Patti Smith on the cover of Easter, but instead I look more like this.
Regardless of the surprising amount of hair that grew under my arms (seriously, I am hairier than most men), I felt confident about it throughout the summer. I didn’t mind if people saw it; I even wanted them to. I wanted to see them react, whether it was with support or disgust (I got a pretty mixed bag). But now that school started, I have been feeling much more self conscious. I started pinning my arms down at my sides during class, I did not participate in the daily stretches in choir, I brought a sweater to school just in case. Suddenly I found myself in very close quarters with people that I didn’t really know after a 3.5 mile bike ride to school in 80 degree weather. Armpit hair traps your scent. That’s why we have it. I was smelly before the hair . . . But now it was beginning to feel like Middle School all over again. I started having second thoughts about my non-statement.
Not surprisingly my older brother thinks my hair is gross. He and I went home this weekend to visit, and my mom (who I love dearly) commented that it wasn’t very “feminine.” She told me that I don’t want to be known as “the girl with hairy armpits.” Why not show off my talents rather than distract from them?
The conversation really got to me. I started contemplating shaving and began listing the reasons why I didn’t like the hair: the awkwardness in class, the necessity I felt to keep a stick of Old Spice Pure Sport on my person at all times, the hair is thick and dark, I don’t look like Patti Smith, and so on.
But upon further reflection I decided that the conversation with my mother and brother only made me more set on my decision. So here are all the reasons why I should keep the hair: I will not have to shave every morning therefore minimizing my time in the shower which helps me be on time AND reduces my water consumption, I will not get scratchy at the end of the day or when I sweat, I will save money on razors (which are damn expensive), I will not get razor burn in my armpits when I’m too broke or cheap to buy new razors, I will be questioning a baseless expectation of American women, I will be redefining femininity.
I should probably trim it though . . .
-Maggie Boles
Yonic South 
rock on Maggie! fuck what they think, its your decision. take it back!
Darling daughter (who I love dearly), it is your writer’s discretion to leave out some details of a conversation, but I do think it salient to mention to your readers that I told you about how I did the same thing at close to your same age for close to the same reasons… I sacrificed my armpit hair for performing arts (playing the Girl in Fantasticks who would not have grown her armpits out). But seriously, I do love you with or without armpit hair. Your choice flouts contemporary American definitions of femininity. But then, what doesn’t?
I don’t shave my armpits for the same reasons you do. I walked around all summer in a bikini without a care in the world 🙂 The interesting thing is that I got more disgusted looks from women than from dudes! When people asked me why I didn’t shave my armpits, I just said, “’cause I don’t fucking feel like it!” or “What’s it to you?!” 🙂
Please continue on, my friend. We were made to have hair. Fuck the haters!! 🙂
I wish I will soon have the proverbial balls that you do. I think you’re definitely on to something with this non-statement. I hope this is the beginning of something big for you, for me, and the rest of us women out there. Kudos.
Hi, I stumbled upon your blog because I was googling why my armpits aren’t as hairy as some other women’s pits.
Let me just start by saying: I completely agree with your reasons not to shave. What kind of society are we living in that we feel the need to condemn half of said society when they wouldn’t remove the hair that naturally grows where ever it wants to grow.
If you think about it, it is extremely unnatural to remove/alter a part of your body, just because it is not in fashion.
Granted, hair is different and not as important as let’s say, piercing your belly button. But still…
Let me end my ramblings by saying that I shave my pits when I want to, and if I feel like not doing so, the razor stays in the bathroomcabinet.