Superfluous Hair

I have a question for the world.

Bobby          Murkin                 Brazilan in action

Why is it acceptable to have hair on some parts of the body but totally and utterly unacceptable for it to sprout on other parts?

Let me be more specific.  Why is it that I, as a woman, cannot have under arm hair whereas men can?  Or that I cannot have hair sprouting from the edges of my bikini bottoms or anywhere on my legs whereas men can have great forests of it poking out from every seam but remove it from their chins?

Last week I had my legs waxed for the first time ever in my 39 years.  It was OK, I didn't even swear or cry.  But it got me thinking.  Why am I putting myself through this pain?  Hair grows on my legs, why not just leave it?

Chinese men cultivate long hair from facial moles but have little hair on their legs. It's true.  After extensive research over the summer - which means I looked at loads of Chinese men's legs while on the MTR, I have categorically concluded that Chinese men do not have leg hair.  And also, why is it that female leg hair is a complete no no while men, but not Chinese men, can have tons of it and wear shorts?   The mole hair is lucky but other facial hair is removed as part of the morning routine (apart from men with beards obviously, but that is just wrong).

It seems a strange situation to me.  Some people have hair where they don't want it and don't have hair where they do want it.  Hair is so confusing don't you think?  Balding men are targeted by loads of hair restoring adverts claiming to successfully grow hair on heads yet they religously remove the hair from their chins.  Hairy legged and hairy lipped women are targeted by loads of adverts claiming to remove the unwanted growth with cream, razors, threading, sugaring, lasers, plucking or waxing, the choice is extensive.  Then there are the products to remove the underarm hair or public hair.  The pubic hair removal seems to be the most creative of all.  The choice of shape is incredible.  Landing strip, heart shape and the dreaded yet extremeley interesting Brazilian.  Its all about removal, but the hair on our heads is precious and must be preserved at all costs.

But why do we have to pretend we have no hair on our female bodies apart from our heads?  Why do we continue battling against it when it will always grow back?  Why do some bald men try to hide their hair transplants or wigs and strive to regrow hair on their shiny pates?   Or even worse tend to their comb-overs when we can all plainly see that they have no hair on top.  Do they think a thin strip of greased down hair is really disguising the baldness? Why do women rush for the razor when there is occasion to wear a swimming costume?  As if the world is unaware that they have hair on their pubes.  Everyone knows that, stop fooling yourself!

So I put it to you all.  Let's stop removing hair and lets stop adding hair where it has already fallen out.  Life will be much simpler when we can all let our gardens grow full and bushy.

Comments

[Justine Cricks]

For ladies, there are some body parts that look better hairless. Body hair can be considered a symbol of masculinity so few men remove their chest and leg hairs, and the few who do shave do it out of vanity.

[Pubic Hair Removal]

I think shaping my pubic hairs is fun. It just spices things up down there. However, I don't really like waxing. At first I thought it was a problem but I realized they made do it yourself hair removal kits that came with stencils. How cool is that?

[Chris]

Well, there was a time when everyone around me let all that hair grow. During my days in Minnesota in the 70s, the women in my crowd had underarm and leg hair, and some had luxurious growths of pubic hair spilling out of their swimsuits. (Although we did away with clothing for swimming or taking saunas whenever possible.) Some of the older men in our crowd sprouted tufts of ear and nose hair. (You can see how a ban on removing body hair is difficult to enforce, even on oneself.) Gigantic beards were not uncommon. That was then. Then there's my sister. 6 feet tall, she tends to stand out. She also seems to have a good shot of testosterone, as she has a good set of whiskers on her chin. She sees no need to pay much attention their removal, defying the world to judge her on her grooming. It's probably one of the reasons she hasn't advanced in her accounting firm; but she is true to herself, and the rest of the world can go along about their business. She also uses no makeup. No one has seen her in a swimsuit to check the state of other body hair. In an ideal world we could worry about being attractive when we're young and trying to get a mate; then lapse into a more comfortable, low-maintenance appearance later in life. Few people seem to go alolng with that approach these days. Chris

[tom wood]

Hairy back and Nylon shirt? Surely that constitutes a code one fire hazard, when two such combustible materials are brought together especially in a situation of potential friction than your only recourse is to contact your local fire station immediately and to action Code One Imminent Danger at which they will dispatch a crack team of Fashionista's and Waxers. The shirt will be rapidly replaced with an organic cotton substitute and the back forcibly waxed thus avoiding the imminent catastrophe, you will of course be supported by a post trauma team of counsellors and beauticians and put in touch with your local Support Group of Nylon Shirt Survivors and their website nss.com on which you will find a message board where you can share your story of your close shave.

[Lesley]

Tom,
Ear and nose hair, my goodness it was remiss of me not to mention that phenomena. I suppose of all bodily hair I find that the most offensive. Frankly I don’t mind a hairy chest too much, but a back rug feels odd especially through a nylon shirt. But what am I saying? No no no, I stick by my blog – let it grow and cultivate it.

[tom wood]

Hi Leslie
Thank you for the blog and the opportunity to come clean as it were.
I had my 52nd birthday yesterday, a melancholy occasion on which I ruminated on much the same point. With age comes the confusing spectacle of your body going solo and deciding to add and trim bits of hair as and where it pleases. So for example your head becomes a windswept graveyard of distant memories where once lustrous locks waved and shimmered in the sun, such bountiful blessings seemed never ending so little care was taken to preserve such a wondrous spectacle. Now this shiny desert gives no clue to its glorious past except on your back where rather alarmingly it seems to want to live again. Now lustrous locks on the head are one thing but lustrous locks on the back have entirely different connotations. I've sat on beaches in Spain and seen innocuous looking men strip off to reveal bodies black with dense matted hair, front and back, up and down there isn't an inch that isn't covered, looking like werewolves on holiday children stare in amazement as mothers cross themselves. There is a limit to how much hair you want to see and for me that limit is often exceeded in the armpit of a French woman. Now I know that’s not very PC but honestly a little more trimmed gardens of Versailles and a little less wild marshes of the Auvergne is only reasonable, surely.
Now we come onto the battlefield of ear and nose hair. As a young man barely a whisker, nose and ears beautifully bald, as a middle aged man nose and ears resembling nothing less than an allotment gone to seed. I see great hanks of hair sprouting apparently at random, great tufts peeping out from every orifice and strangely not symmetrically. One day one ear will be sporting an enormous wedge of hair and nothing in its companion and so it is with nostrils each deciding to operate quite independent of the other. No wonder as you get older your senses dim, it’s not wear and tear but general clogging up with rampant hair.
What is the greatest invention of the twentieth century? Without a shadow of a doubt the beard trimmer closely followed by the nose trimmer, without these two men would never have walked on the moon or explored the vast oceans of the world, the petrol engine would never have been invented and fashion would have stopped in the 60’s with us all looking like the Maharishi Yogi.
So I’m sorry Lesley but I say bring out your clippers, smear your depilatory creams, boil up your wax and sharpen your scissors, and let’s show we are not animals but clean shaven, shiny and shorn we are bald and beautiful, hair has no place in this new world, begone lustrous locks your time is past, smooth is the new hairy!!!