So the for the first time ever, January is now known as “JANUHAIRY”!
Januhairy is literally the sister month to Movember which sees men grow their facial hair to raise money for charity.
The concept of Januhairy is very similar in that money for charity will be raised but the added benefit in the eyes of the creator; drama student Laura Jackson is; those that partake, will be left feeling liberated whilst growing out their bodily hair.
Laura wants Januhairy to encourage society to accept one another fully and truly and believes one way of doing that is to have women love and accept their bodies and all its hairy glory for at least one month.
Sounds great – I’m all for body positivity and doing what you want to do.
The burning question here has to be; why is it still such a big deal if a woman does NOT want to shave/remove hair?
And rather than improve, the pressure to be smooth and dolphin like at all times has definitely gained momentum from when I was a sprog in the playground!
I remember when I first asked my mom if I could shave my legs.
I was about 12 years old.
My random request came after learning some of the girls at my school did.
Rightfully, my mom said “no” and pointed out that not only is there no need for me to be thinking about stuff like that at my age but also, there was actually no hair on my legs to shave!
I hadn’t considered that.
As far as I was concerned, the other girls were shaving so I need to do the same, hairy legs or not!
See how peer pressure works?
Anyway, I didn’t beg or plead as I felt reassured by my mother’s words.
Unfortunately not every young girl had/has that.
I sure I’m not the only one that remembers seeing scabby razor ripped legs in school skirts for the longest time.
It was obvious even then, that some of the girls in school we clearly left to their own devices.
Something as basic as even being ‘shown’ how to use a razor without damaging yourself was non-existent.
I remember one of my schoolmates telling me they use a bar of soap to get a smooth finish when they shaved.
Soap!!!!!
Armpit hair was also a focus.
It would appear there was absolutely no room for a few random pubic hairs to grow under the arms of any young woman.
If you had armpit hair you were seen as disgusting and dirty.
You were expected to shave and if you didn’t, you would be the subject of ridicule.
The pressure was real.
It’s no wonder many of us have grown up and continue to grow up with body issues.
As someone that was not particularly hairy themselves, I feel I managed to escape the full impact of the trauma having a lot of body hair could have bestowed unto me.
The bum fluff that grew in my pits was practically invisible so I never felt pressured to shave but some of my mates…shit they had it bad!
For as long as I can remember, young ladies/women that allowed their bodily hair to grow, always got the piss taken out of them – something that I believe is completely wrong.
Society has it set up in such a way that weirdly, femininity is also linked to no body hair i.e. the less body hair you have (bar your eyebrows and lashes), the more feminine and sexy you are.
That’s why, when Madonna exposed a mini bush in her armpit on Instagram, everyone went a little bit crazy…bizarrely.
Last year, her daughter Lourdes followed suit with a series of modelling shots that exposed her armpit hair.
People were actually offended!
How and why?
It really is an odd one.
And what’s this about men fear women with body hair?
Seriously?
Come on…no!
I can’t even…
Yes we all have choices and preferences and that is exactly why we really shouldn’t be so ridiculous and get all emotional over a bit of hair…I mean, that shit grows naturally so what is the problem?
Admittedly, I prefer a smoother finish in general (unless it’s my man’s face – ooo I love some male facial hair) but I have absolutely no issue with someone that feels the opposite…why would I?
How could I even?
Honestly, there is sooooo much more worth channelling your energy into in this world besides someone else’s body and what they choose to do with it.
I really do subscribe to the idea of; if you don’t like something…don’t look!
So the bottom line here is, YES to Januhairy and YES to those that love their body hair and NO to anyone that has a problem with that!
Here’s to a freethinking, self-loving, respectful 2019 and beyond!
