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There's no shame in letting your body hair flourish - women embrace the Januhairy movement and are sharing social media snaps

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Illustration. Photographed by AndreyPopov
Illustration. Photographed by AndreyPopov
AndreyPopov

As we all wait for our next payday (yes we were warned about having to stretch our December salaries over what feels like three months in one), a refreshing campaign that encourages women to grow their body hair with pride was started by Laura Jackson, a drama student from the UK.

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‘My hair was my worst enemy. Since I was 13 I started shaving. Hair, I thought, was masculine and dirty. In a predominantly white environment in which all girls had little or almost no hair, I felt excluded. Not only because of my skin colour but also because of my generous, dense and curly black hair. I shaved my body hair, cut it, i removed it with wax… so much money, time and pain invested in a competition that I could never have won. So, 3 years ago I decided to stop shaving my legs. It was such a release! Then accepting my belly hair, back hair, armpit hair...I questioned our sexist beauty standards. And I realised they were just that: sexist beauty standards. When I was a teenager, I wish I had female models celebrating their body hair. I wish my mother would encourage me more to accept my hair. Today I want to be me, I want to be a model for the other young people and I want to “Talk-Hair”. What fascinates me about hair is that they can be a vector full of messages: Back to natural, resistance tool, symbol of beauty etc. I often forget that I’m hairy. The looks of others reminds me. I can then smile and thank them for reminding me my hair is proudly here. My hair is sacred, every inch of my body, my soul, free from your control, it’s a whole.’ ~ Bissi, shared experience translated from french. Via @lesensdupoil #januhairy #lesensdupoil #bodyhairdontcare #maipoils #feminist #belgium #acceptance #challengeyourself #challengeyourthoughts #challengebeautystandards

A post shared by Januhairy (@januhairy) on

In the early days women were not affected by being hairy, in fact they embraced it, however with so many new beauty standards, women are forced to be keep up.

Laura got tired of society imposing their standards on her, and then started this movement. According to Today, Laura had grown her hair for a performance but soon began to embrace the fuzz and decided to keep it. She then started an Instagram page called Januhairy and invited others to join the movement.

The movement has been received really well as many women take to social media using the hashtag Januhairy, coupled with pictures of hairy legs and armpits.

READ MORE: Free the pimple – Rihanna claps back at trolls, plus, London photographer showcases the real faces of women

Here are some of the posts:


READ MORE: Woman stops waxing and shaving and embraces body hair

"Why does society still shame women for having body hair?" she captioned this Instagram post on the Januhairy page.

The Januhairy movement is not only creating a platform to encourage women and everyone really to be accepting of hair growth on the female body but it is to raise money for TreeSisters: an organisation, that protects and restores natural habitats in order to fight climate change;  

And we love it!

While we're at it, we'll be leaving the hair on our nipples, under our nose and wherever else it grows to just do its thing.

Do you shave your body hair? Tell us here.

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