Is Bush Back In Office?: Body Hair Becomes Less Subversive
*Article from Lexington Line Spring/Summer 2023 Issue, page 19
Check out the full issue here
To shave or not to shave?
“We’ve seen [younger consumers] embrace body hair as a form of self-expression that can both signal what they are feeling on the inside but also push back against the norm,” Georgia Gooley told The Zoe Report last year.
Gooley is the cofounder of Billie, a brand that sells women’s shaving products. Billie’s advertisements feature women of all shapes and sizes showing off their body hair, suggesting that femininity and beauty are not dependent on one’s decision to keep or remove their hair.
All trends are cyclical, and body hair is no exception.
In the ‘80s, full bush filled Playboy centerfolds. In the ‘90s, body hair started to fade away, and in the early 2000s, bald was all the rage.
Even as the pendulum swings back in favor of body hair, stereotypes abound. In recent years, celebrities like Miley Cyrus have posted images on social media that vocalize a preference against razors.
In a 2015 post, Cyrus posted an image revealing a bit of underarm hair, sending the internet into a tailspin. One comment even read: “I don’t care how feminist/hippy you are, having armpit hair like Miley Cyrus is a no.”
Why does anyone care what other people do with their body hair?
It doesn’t come as a surprise that most beauty standards are based on the desire to look youthful. There is a whole market dedicated to prevent aging naturally. We dye our hair to hide the grays, get botox to fill in the lines and wrinkles, and use hyaluronic acid to keep our skin looking plump and supple.
Obviously, the appearance of body hair must be minimal too, right? The cult of eternal youth has affected how we view our bodies in their most natural form.
After dealing with the trauma of ubiquitous social media body shaming, a new wave of young adults has begun to preach acceptance. On TikTok, body hair positive influencers are breaking the stigma that connects body hair to femininity.
In December of 2022, TikToker Joanna Kenny posted a video with a quote that read, '“you’re not hairy like a man, you’re hairy like a human.”
Does body hair insecurity stem from a need to cater to the male gaze or from a more generalized generational trend?
“I think it is both. I think people associate body hair with being sanitary when that is not necessarily the case,” says Olivia Gallo, store director of Sugared and Bronzed, a sugar waxing and spray tan salon in Manhattan. “I think it started off as catering to the male gaze, then it morphed into wanting to remove hair for myself and not for a man’s validation.”
At the end of the day, she doesn’t really care, she says.
“I bet you guys will say the same. Obviously, I am sure they will have a preference, but at the end of the day, they don’t really care,” she says.
When the COVID-19 pandemic took over the world, most people put their beauty maintenance on hold—it didn’t feel necessary. Some resorted to at-home waxing, while others decided to just go natural. Getting rid of body hair wasn’t much of a priority anymore. A lot of the stigma surrounding body hair stems from millennials and Gen-X internalizing beauty standards from when body hair was seen as unacceptable and repulsive.
A 2021 YouGov survey found that 46% of Americans between the ages of 16 and 34 have little to no preference to whether women should get rid of their armpit hair. 54% of Americans aged 35 to 54 years agreed.
“Does body hair insecurity stem from a need to cater to the male gaze, or is it simply a response to generational trends?”
Beauty standards are ever-changing, but self-acceptance should remain a constant. Your decisions about your body hair should come from a place of your own wants, not because of what someone else may think.