There are many things people like to undertake in the month of January, with many of those undertakings having to do with resolutions and vows to oneself. Among those are wants and not-wants like sleep, quitting a job, exercise, no cheese, and a dry January.

While you ponder how you’re going to execute your own personal goals for this year, we’re here to tell you there’s a new trend on the block: keeping body hair. It’s called Januhairy and it’s a new movement that encourages ladies to grow their body hair out for an entire month.

Though women rocking body hair is not new, the Januhairy experiment was started by a young UK student named Laura who stopped shaving her hair as part of a drama project for college. In an Instagram post, she said that she learned about body hair taboos as well as her own biased views against the practice. She learned to accept it.

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Hi I’m Laura, the gal behind Januhairy! I thought I would write a little about my experiences and how Januhairy came about… I grew out my body hair for a performance as part of my drama degree in May 2018. There had been some parts that were challenging for me, and others that really opened my eyes to the taboo of body hair on a woman. After a few weeks of getting used to it, I started to like my natural hair. I also started to like the lack of uncomfortable episodes of shaving. Though I felt liberated and more confident in myself, some people around me didn’t understand why I didn’t shave/didn’t agree with it. I realised that there is still so much more for us to do to be able to accept one another fully and truly. Then I thought of Januhairy and thought I would try it out. It’s a start at least . . . I have had a lot of support from my friends and family! Even though I had to explain why I was doing it to a lot of them which was surprising, and again, the reason why this is important to do! When I first started growing my body hair my mum asked me “Is it you just being lazy or are you trying to prove a point?” . . . why should we be called lazy if we don’t want to shave? And why do we have to be proving a point? After talking to her about it and helping her understand, she saw how weird it was that she asked those questions. If we do something/see the same things, over and over again it becomes normal. She is now going to join in with Januhairy and grow out her own body hair which is a big challenge for her as well as many women who are getting involved. Of course a good challenge! This isn’t an angry campaign for people who don’t see how normal body hair is, but more an empowering project for everyone to understand more about their views on themselves and others. This picture was taken a few months ago. Now I am joining in with Januhairy, starting the growing process again along with the other wonderful women who have signed up! Progress pictures/descriptions from our gals will be posted throughout the month. Lets get hairy 🌵 #januhairy #bodygossip #bodyhairmovement #happyandhairy #loveyourbody #thenaturalrevolution #natural #hairywomen #womanpowe

A post shared by Januhairy (@janu_hairy) on Jan 2, 2019 at 10:35am PST

After a while, it felt empowering and she decided to do it all over again for the month of January and convinced her mother and other women to join in. Online commentary ranges from dissent to heck-yes, but that hasn’t dissuaded Laura and others from sharing their photos and experiences.

With all the attention on her Januhairy project, Laura hopes to help raise funds for the charity Body Gossip, a group that promotes and educates on body acceptance. Further, she wants women and girls to be comfortable with their bodies – hairy or not.

What do you think of body hair on women? Yay or nay? Would you participate in Januhairy (or Movember) or do you prefer to shave?