To quite like having hairy armpits?

[WingedPig]

I've always had hair free armpits but have left them to grow free for the last couple of months. I have decided I actually quite like it, I feel quite feminine and liberated. AIBU? Does anyone else feel like this?

I go through phases of trying to grow mine just for fun. It never seems to get beyond half a cm though which is rather disappointing.

I don't like hairy arm pits or hairy legs. It just feels better smooth.
But it is entirely up to every woman to choose for themselves.
I don't think feminism is even relevant.

I shave it they are going to be in the public eye. My legs currently have a fur coat on as they do most of winter

I don't like having hairy puts though really. Annoys me more.

Hairy everything here. I was a seventies child, and I don't remember hair removal ever being important. Times seem to have changed for the younger generation though, it's as much as I can cope with in the morning to get up, get showered, get dc up, grab breakfast to eat in car. The thought of de fuzzing everything in the shower every morning does not compute! But each to their own of course.

70s child here too. It makes me laugh when young women act so repulsed and 'eewwwwwwww!' about body hair, I just wonder how they can cope with their boyfriends' bodies!

I'll shave my armpits and legs if I'll be walking round in public with them out on display, just because I don't want to be bothered by judgey randoms, but otherwise my follicles are left in peace. A GP friend of mine actually told me that body hair reduces body odour, and I never get B.O so I think she's right!

I actually managed to frighten my daughter with mine- she was unexpectedly confronted by them during a cuddle!! Currently clean shaven because I am very hairy and, honestly, if i let it go you could plait it!

dp won't let me shave my pits. well, he doesn't forbid it, but he's let me know he'd be disappointed if I did. so I don't (lazy). then I did for some do and hated the sticky feeling and definitely smellier, sweatier, stickier without hair than with. so I haven't shaved again since (4 years ago).

however, it does bother me what others think. . it keeps nee getting swimming and I never go sleeveless anymore

Bacteria under the arm is why it smells and the hair helps trap more bacteria and thus it smells worse. Total fact.

Most likely those saying that shaving makes it worse are either caking on the deodorant so it's coating your armpit hair, or thinking that no hair means you don't have to wash under your arm.

The only time my underarms smell is if I forgot to put deodorant on (which happened once and even then it wasn't majorly vile or obvious because I keep my armpits clean).

I very rarely touch my armpit hair because I hate the feeling when it's bald. Too sticky and too sensitive. Plus it does feel more smelly to me, and that's not because I treat my armpits any differently when they are shaved than when they are hairy. I never wear deodorant/antiperspirant and I shower every other day. I'm not a very sweaty person, and when I do sweat I don't smell (I have dry earwax and so genetically have lower BO).

In case you imagine I delude myself on this I can tell you I do have smelly feet and my family are very relaxed about telling me about them!

I use veet when I very occasionally wear summer dresses that show off armpits, and I hate doing it, but the dislike of armpit hair is so strong I don't feel that I can do anything else. I take the same approach to my legs and shave when I feel anything else is unavoidable. Given the choice I would leave them alone too.

YANBU to like them for yourself, whatever floats your boat and all that, but don't be the least bit surprised if they disgust and bemuse everyone else.

nooka I'm sorry but I bet you smell more than you think you do. I am not a very sweaty/smelly person at all and if I skip a shower one day no-one would be any the wiser, but only if I wore deodorant. It would be another matter if I didn't.

And if you have smelly feet to the point where others are mentioning it then perhaps you should be showering daily?

Or at least washing your feet.

Someone always manages to amaze me with their cavalier attitude to personal hygiene on these threads.

Yes sykadelic on the odd occasion I have forgotten the deodorant by the afternoon (esp. if it's a warm day) I am aware of a low-level muskiness but it's probably only me who can smell it, if I stick my nose in there - I doubt it's obvious to others. But on the second day with no shower, it would be a whole lot less pleasant.

YANBU

Labeling women's unshaven armpits disgusting seems a bit of an extreme reaction.

Armpits with hair do not smell more. Body hair is designed to pull bacteria away from the skin, where it does smell. I've always shaved my armpits but over the past few months, for some reason, stopped shaving them. I kept meaning to, but then I realised that I did not smell under my arms at all with longer hair there. I use deodorant but can sweat in situations which make me nervous. Recently I had to do one of those cringy team building days at work and I could feel myself sweating, but there was no smell because it didn't stay on my skin. I couldn't believe it when I got home. I even sniffed my clothes that night!

I don't know how anyone can 'feel' that they have hair under their arms. I think armpit hair can look womanly but I'm so conditioned by the 'disgusting' reactions that I would never venture out publicly with hairy pits on show. I could happily drop wearing sleeveless clothing but swimming would be a problem. Do they make non-sleeveless swimsuits!?

I think as long as someone showers daily there's no need to worry about body odour anyway.

I couldn't get away with washing every other day though, but more power to you nooka if you can!

I find it depressing that we're so conditioned to think women's bodies should look a certain way that even women themselves find body hair disgusting.

I hate hairy armpits on me. I shave armpits and lady garden every day and legs twice a week so am always smooth! It just feels nicer!
I don't care what others do though would probably do a double take at a woman with hairy armpits because it's so unusual.

I like men with hairfree armpits too- they smell nicer !

"Most likely those saying that shaving makes it worse are either caking on the deodorant so it's coating your armpit hair, or thinking that no hair means you don't have to wash under your arm."

err, no actually. I'm well aware I still need to wash and I spray on the same amount of deodorant whether I've shaved or not. It's definitely never "caked on" .

I don't think hairy armpits or legs on a lady are a bad/ugly thing, but I prefer to be clean shaven in all areas. Nothing to do with pleasing my husband or being universally accepted, just because I like the way it feels. I feel cleaner and fresher hairless, and it doesn't bother me shaving every day at all.

What I can't work out, is what grooming is a woman allowed to do, in order to be considered a feminist and not a victim of social pressure?

Brush hair, style hair, cut hair, colour hair?
Shower daily?
Pluck eyebrows?
Remove facial hair?
Trim nails, file & buff nails, paint nails?
Wear make up?
Camouflague scars?
Wear jewellery?
What clothes are purely practical?
At what point do clothes become too sexy to be feminist?

If a man grooms, has he sold out on his masculinity.

Why can't I just shave my legs because I prefer the feel of it? They are never on display in winter, so it doesn't worry me what they look like.

I think I like being female too much to be a feminist, if being a feminist means that I can't do any grooming beyond what is needed to stay healthy.

Thing is, Most, that's a hell of a long list. Which is fine if you like that sort of thing, so the time spent doing it is enjoyable to you. But if that sort of level of grooming doesn't entertain you, why feel forced to by social pressures.

From your list:
I shower every day (basic hygiene).
Remove facial hair (because we are all subject to conditioning, and I feel unfeminine with a beard and moustache - would be nice to live in some sort of utopia where I didn't feel that way, but I do).
Occasionally wear jewellery because it's pretty.
Occasionally wear something other than a top which doesn't need ironed and jeans, again because it's pretty, and sometimes even hairy menopausal feminists like to feel pretty .

But that's about it. What do I do with the time I save? A precious extra 20 minutes in bed, which with a 5 yo is badly needed!

But if you like those things, I don't see what's wrong with doing them. That's fine.

Feminists aren't going to stand up and say "don't do them." What they might say is "but we'd like to be free to make the point that you don't choose to do these things in a cultural vacuum, free from any social pressures, and isn't it interesting that the typical male grooming regime (one of my male friends described this as 'shit, shower, shave') takes much, much less time than the typical female grooming regime?"

PS I should add the hairs I really hate are the ones under my double chin because they're so bloody hard to get at and grow to mammoth proportions.

Strangely, I am totally laid back about going swimming with my hairy armpits, and like others on this thread, have found that when I shave, my pits feel uncomfortably clammy and seem to sweat more.

Hairy armpits are supposed to smell less. The hair helps wick sweat away from the body. (Although I shave mine about once a week.)

I feel feminine and liberated without hairy armpits.

Hairy armpits (only on a woman, presumably) disgust and bemuse!

John Ruskin, you walk among us.

I only shave when I can be bothered, which is if I go swimming or wear sleeveless tops, and only then because I know some random woman will be looking at me and thinking ewwwwwww (I know this because people on here tell me that's what they think ). Don't know why I care about the opinion of this random woman, but I do. Conditioning probably. Mustn't make a scene, must conform.

The rest of the time I'm happily fuzzy. It's not that much fuzz, 1cm long maybe? It feels quite silky and nice actually.