December 28, 2015: I don’t shave my armpits. About once a year you might find me embracing the tradition of shaving some body hair for an acting gig or I just have a hankering to wear a summer dress. Otherwise, like many other Kundalini Yogi’s I don’t shave.
I’m a minimalist. I don’t wear makeup, I shampoo my hair every once in awhile, I use oils and rarely use store bought soap. Most of what I use for my beauty care comes out of a jar of coconut oil that I buy for $6 at Trader Joes. Don’t get me wrong I think makeup is great, nail polish is awesome, and I’m a girl at heart but… there is something extremely powerful about a woman who feels beautiful in her own skin.
I remember the first time I noticed French women who didn’t shave their armpits. I was six years old at Disney World in the line for Pirates of the Caribbean ride. I looked at these women as if they were exotic animals in the zoo. Why didn’t French women shave their armpits? Why did American women shave, but not French? These women had the air of the exotic about them, I admired them but I was also puzzled. I have always remembered that moment, perhaps because one day I too would be a proponent of the hairy pit.
Why I Don’t Shave My Armpits.
Truth be told part of the reason I don’t shave is because I am lazy but it’s also for health and spiritual reasons. There is hair there and for good reason; it protects the area underneath your armpits that provide detoxification and is a central point for the nervous system. Why would I shave or put nasty chemicals in that area where they would just seep into my body? I’m not too opinionated to judge anyone else whether they shave or not, or beat up on myself if I decide I want to shave midsummer but I suggest everyone take a moment to think about why these practices could be detrimental to your health.
A few weeks ago while at a nightclub in Hannover Germany I noticed three girls who couldn’t have even been 20 years old staring at me. The looks on their faces were a mixture of puzzlement and disgust. They were in their cutsie Halloween outfits with makeup on and their hair done up. Here I am no makeup, hair down haphazardly put back in an elastic with my arms flailing around showing everyone my armpit hair. I was smiling and having the best time in contrast to these three young girls with sour faces staring at me as if I was ruining their evening.
Now what is a shame is these poor 20 year old girls have been seduced and manipulated to believe that they need to shave their armpits to be a beautiful woman and they feel disgust towards another woman who doesn’t.
Shaving armpits is an invention of the beauty industry that started in 1915 when advertisements started to appear warning women of the unseemliness of the escaped armpit hair. It is none other than a way to sell razors. Like I said I am NOT against shaving I think it’s great sometimes. I feel liberated when I shave the hair off my legs in the middle of the summer. Hair can hold energy and memory and it feels at times like a fresh start but I am not going to subscribe to what corporations have told me that I need to do to be accepted in society. Hell no.
I feel compassion for these young girls who don’t yet have a strong enough love and opinion of themselves to see the truth. They have been fed a belief and are eating it up. While they continue to have sour puss faces and judge people I am going to keep dancing, keep throwing my arms in the air and showing everyone the glory that is my armpit hair.