Hairy Women Do Exist?
Hmm… have been a little pre-occupied with body-hair lately, how it was that i got hard-wired into believing it was something bad or an unfeminine way to be. It was really interesting to catch some youtube videos of hairy women - those who had even more than me, let alone those who had as much as me.
I personally found it really refreshing, somewhat normalising too - seeing hair on other women, really didn’t make them appear to me as being any less of a woman after all. It was really good to see other women not owning any shame over it. Surprising to realise that some guys actually do enjoy hairy women too. It’s not exactly the status quo with the surrounding pop-culture i grew up with, but still intriguing nevertheless.
Hmm… perhaps all this pre-occupation with body hair is an indirect attempt to prepare my body for the onslaught of PAIN with hair removal atm. *lol*
A. said,
November 20, 2007 @ 7:04 am
Have you seen this? There was a series, or maybe just a couple of programmes, on TV but unfortunately I missed it. Being hairy myself I thought it would be interesting:)
R’acquel: I haven’t seen it, thanks for pointing it out - it looks really fascinating and funny too! So refreshing to see Julia’s Robert’s pit hair, my god - she makes it look so NORMAL. What was this series on TV called? Might have some luck trying to search for it via You Tube
captain lifecruiser said,
November 21, 2007 @ 5:37 am
Ah, that was a good one too. Though I really can’t say that I think it’s beautiful, I still think that everybody should have the choice of their own and not feeling any shame about it
R’acquel: *nods* I can’t say that it’s “beautiful” either. I have NEVER seen a hairy-woman presented in film/TV (let alone real life) unless she was some kind of ugly “helga” acting as some butch prison warden, or some old woman who’s facial hair has always been a source of ridicule and mockery, the butt of jokes, something to be made-fun-out-of. Surrounding culture generated the belief system that body-hair was something UGLY, DIRTY and thus one had to be smooth & hairless at all costs.
“Freedom of choice” was greatly out of my hands because my surrounding world was flooded with “hairlessness” being the status quo. For a woman to have pit hair, let alone hairy legs whilst wearing a pathetic “netball skirt” for sport - it was unheard of. To have hair on one’s body like this - you would be putting your hand up for humiliation.
In the film, “What Women Want” with Mel Gibson - there is a scene where he attempts to wax his leg, and he SCREAMS (in pain),
“Why would women want to do this more than once?! They’re insane!”
In my opinion, it truly is insanity and i know that it’s other women like me who would really understand the true nature of just how insane it is to voluntarily put your hand up to endure pain like that for the sake of “acceptance”, be it via others or even more critically - from your very own self. That a human can not experience self-acceptance with something like body hair (because it is something to be regarded as ugly & dirty, that a person’s perceptions can be shaped that way)- i think it’s crazy.
Shaving (the less painful hair-removal method) - ineffective for me. Light skin, dark hair - whoever heard of a woman suffering from 5 o’clock shadow in the underarms?! My body also didn’t react to it well in the early days either, profuse irritation & inflamation of the skin, in-grown hairs to contend with (my goodness, is that not ugly in it’s own right?!). Oh sure, used all that “commercial product” to help, but the reality of it all - my hair, is the way that it was. What’s my only option? To simply learn how to endure the outrageous pain of waxing? Of course, i had to - i had very little freedom of choice.
It was a hard life for me as a girl & woman - to learn how to make peace with my body being the way it was, that i just had to accept the pain. I wear trousers all the time, so this meant less need to endure as much pain, but with the body hair on my legs at the time - it still made me feel terrible about myself, so much self-loathing and hatred at the time.
Having a husband who “didn’t care” - hairy or non-hairy - sure, it made a big difference to be loved/appreciated/enjoyed “as i am”.
Bodyhair - was one significant component that made me resent being born female. How much easier it could have been if i had been born a man, and to not have to endure the pain of waxing because it was more socially acceptable for men to be “so hairy”. On the otherhand, across the last few years - men are slowly beginning to face the increased pressure to be hairless as well. The ex-husband of my primary client booked himself for a few rounds of laser treatment to remove excess body hair (and oh my, what a $$$ PRICE $$$ he paid for the service too). How i would still love to go for laser if it’s gross $$$$ expense wasn’t so gross?
All the more reason as to why the You-Tube videos which showed me “hairy women” was fairly liberating. It was really refreshing to see other women be “at peace” with “how they naturally are”. It was also good for me because when i saw their bodies, just because they were hairy - didn’t make them any less-of-a-woman to me, that was really fantastic. Not that such a thing has impacted me so much that i shall remain hairy-from-now-on - no, i have my days of needing a spell of hair-removal to “feel better”, but i can also stil feel OK with hairy legs with trousers on too - that’s the good part of it for me now, that i can be at peace with it and not hate myself.
I remember the commentary from one women who ended up getting PCOS, a condition which results in women ending up with more body-hair as one of the symptoms. She was screaming with such “repulsion” because her toes were beginning to grow hair. She was completely REPULSED by it, she found it “disgusting” - while i’ve always NATURALLY - had a bit of toe-hair all my life! Like, I’ve had to learn how to live with something naturally occuring that’s always been socially regarded as so “disgusting” like that. It’s a fucking joke, but at least i can laugh about it these days.
I know that the journey in which i had to grapple with, was a feat of needing to learn how to moderate my own belief sytems & perceptions that had been conditioned into me via the culture i was surrounded with. At this stage in my life, big chunks of my legs now have permanent hairloss - most likely due to years of torchure via ripping-out-from-the-roots but also hereditary too.
Being born this way, obviously made me very good at learning effective methods for hair-removal via waxing. Without that, i guess i wouldn’t be the author of that How to do the DIY Brazillian Wax at home (or even in your cabin) post, where hundreds of people from around the world keep landing on that page in the pursuit of learning how the hell it can be done.
I’ve found my ways of self-empowerment through it all. Enjoying this phase of my life a great deal more as i’m beginning to find closure on all those things which made me hate being born a woman.