Society says that women needs to shave their armpits—but model Ashley Graham says do what you want.
“My philosophy has always been: shave what you want, wax what you want, leave what you want — do what works for you,” Graham said in a statement after partnering with body-positive personal care brand Flamingo.
In her endeavor with the brand, she designed her own razor in a limited-edition Ashley Graham Shave Set for just $18. She also has her own limited-edition Ashley Graham Body Wax Kit for $10.
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In preparation for the launch of the items, Graham flaunted her armpit hair in a few photos for the campaign on Instagram, which got a lot of positive comments. However, that wasn’t always the case.
In February, Graham posted an Instagram story about the fact that it’s been months since she shaved her armpits.
“For all the ladies out there who did not shave their pits basically their whole pregnancy or at least until the end, I haven’t shaved since my last public appearance, which was [The Tonight Show Starring] Jimmy Fallon [in December 2019],” she said.
People responded negatively, making comments such as “Why don’t you clean our arms?” and “Ewww, shave your pits!”
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In May 2018, she also spoke out about armpit hair, explaining that there are times she’s clean-shaven and other times where she isn’t, and that’s okay. made it clear to her followers that sometimes she shaves, and sometimes she doesn’t. “Celebrity armpit is a real thing, people,” she said, adding “I just shave them, but only sometimes #hairypits.”
Graham said that all the negative comments in the past were actually her inspiration to continue to fight for what she believes in—and it worked. Her confidence radiated, and people could see that, leading to a much more positive reaction this time.
“The natural look is exotic, erotic and even sexy,” someone posted, summing it all up. ”A woman shouldn’t have to go thru raw armpits and razor burns anywhere on their body. Grooming should be sufficient.”
“Body hair on women and natural and normal and lots of cultures don’t care,” another wrote. “I love that you’re flexing your pit hair as a celebrity and someone with influence thank you 🙌❤️👏 it needs to be normalized.”
“Thank you for giving me the confidence to wear what I want and turn off the noise on my head,” someone else told her.
Of course, there were still people who couldn’t see past her armpits. “Gross, shave those!” people wrote. Too bad Ashley doesn’t seem to care about those rude Internet trolls!
What do you think of women showing off their armpit hair? If you had to choose, which part of your body would you decide not to shave ever again?