February is gone, and with it ends my month of Body Hair Laissez-Faire.
On one hand, the project was a big disappointment; not one reader joined me in razor-hiding, and I’m still waiting for the results of both e-interviews. Plus, I ripped out two brow hairs with my bare hands, thereby violating my own terms. Wine was involved, but that’s a story for another day.
On the plus side, the experiment injected a little much-needed novelty into my fiercely boring life, distracted me during my boyfriend’s month-long absence— and as predicted, resulted in far, far shorter showers.
To the photos!
February 28 was dark and rainy here, so I took pictures in the Fortress of Solitude‘s warm, yellow light. This sucked a bit, since my body hair is pale and stealthy even in decent lighting. So what appears to be a light coating of underarm lint…
was, in reality, a half inch of fine, light brown fur. Even blurry closeups don’t do it justice:
Likewise, this leg looks nearly hairless at a glance…
But don’t be deceived. It took a whole month to reach this point:
The Feb. 28 photo of my eyebrows was completely uninformative…
so I suffered through TWO EXTRA DAYS WITHOUT TWEEZERS just so I could take a pic once the storm had passed. No small feat, since having messy eyebrows drives me crazy. However, even a month without plucking doesn’t leave half the mess I expected.
I had half hoped that a month sans plucking would allow my eyebrows would thicken a little; I like bold eyebrows. But alas, I am a naturally thin-browed lady. My brows ARE slightly closer together now— years ago, I decided my eyes were too close together and tweezed my eyebrows a few hairs further apart to compensate. There’s no way that fooled anyone, so I’m finally ready to leave my eyebrows in their natural location.
If anything was worse than the stray brow hairs, it would have to be the stray BREAST hairs. Only a few hair, yes, and perfectly natural, yes… but goshamighty was I ready to bid them farewell.
*Imagine a photo of bare breasts with hair. I’m certainly not supplying one.*
One aspect of hairiness I truly enjoyed? My happy trail!
For reasons I can neither explain nor defend, I find happy trails intriguing. What better way to end this navel-gazing than by gazing at my navel?
That’s my story, folks. I have just left the shower, where I shaved off most of my hard-won body hair. I spared only the cute li’l happy trail, which I’ll keep as a souvenir. In one minute, I’ll pluck my eyebrows (at last! At last!) and dress for work.
But there’s still a lot more to say about body hair and American women. Stay tuned for more.
Have you ever let your body hair grow? Why or why not?
Wow, you grow hair a lot slower than I do. I look like I’m smuggling rodents in my pits after about a week of not shaving, let alone a month.
Nice biceps too!
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I’m with Millie – I’m a total rodent smuggler. My leg hair grows so quickly that within 1.5 weeks of not shaving, the hairs get caught in the weave of my jeans and are so painful!
And I apologize for not joining you in the venture, but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without cheating. I’ve got some body hair issues that I wish I didn’t have, but sadly they’re not that hide-able and there’s no way I could have gone 28 days without attacking them – I can’t even go one day. So I appreciate your effort and experiment, but I’m going to have to just keep living vicariously…for now.
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I’m so happy to see you doing this. I only discovered your blog recently, or I would have joined you. I love the pics, you are gorgeous!
I rarely shave in the winter, but still succumb to pressure in the spring and summer. I wrote a blog post last fall about the pressure on women to be nearly hair-free: http://bit.ly/gw9jt4
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Hey thar!
I did the no-shave/groom thing, too! Looking back I may have forgotten to tell you that I was doing this to support your cause.
Surprise!!!!
Confession: I started a few days after you. I was behind in my blog-reading. My results were less than steller aswell. My beard didn’t really get much longer after the first two weeks, just less comfortable. I DID however discover that earbuds will not stay in my ears if my yoda-esque ear hairs are not chopped down. Also a girl at work told me that I had the eyebrows to be “One of those sorcerers that people painted on their vans in the 70′s.”
ouch.
I shaved today, but the brows I am saving to try and photograph for you. ^___^
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Hey! I joined you!!! yes!! but my hair grows faster than yours (besides mine is dark so it’s more noticeable) Eyebrows: now I just take a couple of hairs out, I’m rediscovering their natural shape! and I like it! they look thiker so that emphasizes eyes, and gives a more “wild-deep” look, which I love!
will you do it again? I will, for sure!
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[...] Jaunty Dame blogger Rebekah knocks another one out of the park with this awesome post about her adventures in not shaving… with pictures! Take me there… [...]
Hey, pretty!
After these proofs I can tell how I have more hair, darker and thicker than you do. I truly like this post and admire your initiative. I would have joined you in other moments of my life, but this year I’m going against previous expectations.
After meeting Kelly (“our” Kelly) I decided not to shave. I questioned all social hair taboos and sadly I found that I was my main enemy… then one who judged myself the worst. So, I didn’t shave legs and armpits for almost a year. I just shaved for a friends wedding, for HER, not because I wanted it.
Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you, brave woman! (clap, clap, clap).
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This whole experiment had me thinking about women, beauty, form… SO MANY THINGS! Then today I saw this video about Aimee Mullins and decided I had to pass it along… she isn’t really dealing with body hair, but the issues she discusses are certainly in line with the whole body image discussion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ0iMulicgg
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Millie – Evidence suggests that I have the slowest-growing hair on the planet. Fine for body hair, but it’s taken me CENTURIES to grow out that last buzz cut. Upsides, downsides.
Katie – Better to sit this one out than sacrifice integrity for a blog game. I didn’t EXPECT anyone to join, really, feelings about body hair run so deep.
We ALL have body issues we’d rather not have. Some we can hide, some we can’t.
Cheryl – I remember your post well! I love seeing women talk frankly about their grooming choices. Thank you for tuning in.
James – Awwwww, thank you! Did you get eyebrow pics? Did your new grooming habits pose a threat to your long-term relationship?
That sorcerer comparison is kinda awesome. I would have compared you to Uncle Richard.
Patricia – Ooh, thanks for joining in! I bet your eyebrows look cool. I fully expect to do this again, maybe sometime when I can commit to multiple months and see how long my hair can get.
Smiley Woman – Thanks for the applause, and way to defy expectations— even your own. “Our” Kelly has been a big influence on me… and I believe she was asked to be a bridesmaid UNTIL the bride realized she had armpit hair. Ask her about that story, if you haven’t heard it.
hazelnutmegan – Fascinating video! I wish I hadn’t read any of the comments, though, now I just want to slap people. Will I EVER learn not to even glance at YouTube comments?
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I don’t think I could do that, I like being all shaved..
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