For two months now I've been growing out my underarm hair. It was something I did once before, in my early-mid 20s, when I was a young feminist finding my way in the world. Back then I felt sexy, even if one girlfriend did beg me to shave my pits before her wedding day. Hairy pits were sensual, they were liberating, and they allowed me to feel like I didn't conform to the standard of hairless beauty that many of my girlfriends did.
Still, I shaved for her wedding and then I decided to keep my pits clean for a while. I even tried laser but ouch.
So when I stopped shaving for eight days while at the Burning Man festival, it got me thinking about what it would be like to not shave now, over a decade after my last bout with hairy righteousness. Would men be more turned on, or turned off, by my hairy underarms?
Let's go back for a minute. Historically, The Great Underarm Campaign began to gain traction in 1915 when sleeveless dresses became all the rage. The first ad came about in May of that year in Harper's Bazaar and it read:
Summer Dress and Modern Dancing combine to make necessary the removal of objectionable hair.
Objectionable maybe, subjective for sure. For me, the reviews have been mixed. The general consensus is that if a guy finds me attractive, he will find me attractive with my armpit hair. One man asked to sniff them long and hard, and while that didn't gross me out, it did feel a little odd. But he may also find me attractive while hoping my armpit hair will go away. I had one guy friend go into a bout of continuous gagging at the thought of my unshaven pits. And then I realized, as long as there's hair under my arms, I'm bringing way more attention to my pits than I normally ever would.
Other than that, what surprises me most is that my own reactions have been mixed. There are days where I feel sexy and days when I don't want to stretch in gym class for fear of the reactions from the people of Los Angeles. I don't want them to think I'm some dirty hippie because I have armpit hair.
Whatever the buzz on the fuzz, and just like it's okay for women to love neanderthal men, it's once again personal preference. I haven't had any problems getting some with my hairy armpits. Nope. Not at all. In fact, my hairy underarms could be good luck. As for getting rid of them, to shave or not to shave is the question. Me? I'm just going to wait for my partner to shave them for me. Whenever that may be.
Do you find hairy armpits sexy?
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Comments 48
i would feel gross not sexy, but im pregnant and feel gross pretty much all day, there was a few weeks ago where i didnt want to shave my legs cause my belly got in the way, so i said just for fun i would see how long the hair would grow, that didnt last long i shaved them 2 hours later, i just feel better when i shave
Hahahahahaha I'm sorry, gross. But hey, your pits, not mine. More power to ya!
thats gross.
No, I broke my arm 8 weeks ago and have a full cast on my right arm. I had to have my husband shave them b/c I couldn't. Thank goodness he is willing to do it b/c after the first 2 weeks, they itched like crazy and man did I smell more! Nothing sexy about that. I still have more than a week to go before my cast comes off and I can't wait to catch up on all of my shaving everwhere.
Also, I don't understand how not shaving or not wearing make-up equals being a feminist. When I look my best, I feel my best and my confidence soars so I don't make that connection. Maybe someone can explain it to me.
Keep your pit hair to yourself. I wouldn't be sharing that with everyone.
Well...more power to you for being comfortable. For me, I cannot go a couple days without shaving. I think it's totally gross and the opposite of sexy.
Ummmm....I don't have a problem with it but society seems to. I shave my armpits and legs because my husband likes it. If I was single, I would prob still shave my pits but may not shave my legs until I needed to wear a dress. My three teens asked me why men don't shave their armpits....i didn't have a good answer except to say that if a guy wanted to without getting teased he should probably be on the swim team!