Ladies and gentlemen, meet your newest body image heroes.
Allure and StylelikeU (the brains behind the beloved “What’s Underneath” series) partnered up for a video featuring three women who have embraced their body hair, despite society’s push to make them feel otherwise.
Monica Hernandez, Alexandra Marzella and Ayqa Khan each share their journey toward self acceptance. They recall being made fun of, and as a result, wasting time out of their day to make sure they were silky smooth and perfect. Marzella points out that doing so is “for the majority of the world, a completely unrealistic beauty standard to hold oneself to.”
While lamenting the fact that not removing body hair can be “associated with lack of hygiene or lack of self-care,” or make it appear like they’re trying too hard to be cool, all three are quick to say the choice is their own.
”I stopped the practice of removing my body hair and then I was also creating in conjunction to being that person ― the person who is healing, who is letting go of social construct and beauty standards,” Khan said.
They are not, of course, immune to the effects of those beauty standards. Marzella recalls a time she thought about shaving to “feel a bit more sensual. Then I was like, ‘why do I feel like having no hair on my legs would make me more sensual when in reality this is my most natural, most sensual form that I could ever possibly be in?’”
And as far as what romantic partners might think? The three women are pretty much on the same page. “For me personally, I’m not going to be with someone that has a problem with it. They can go fuck themselves,” Marzella said with a smile.
Hear, hear. Watch the entire video above.
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