Janu Hairy: What embracing body hair says about the ideal of beauty

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Scroll and @januhairy Visit our Instagram account to discover stories from women around the world who decided to ditch their razors for the first month of the year.

The tone is overwhelmingly triumphant. A shaved woman wearing a pink halter top with hearts painted over her eyes happily raises her arms, revealing two tufts of armpit hair. she says: “I’m a woman and I have body hair!” Body hair is natural, so one sentence does not exclude the other. ”

Another woman with a curly blonde bob and bright blue eyes dances dizzyingly, stroking the hair on her legs and showing off the fluff in her armpits. The video begins with large text on the screen that says: Women can grow hair too! ”

But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that Janu Hairy is more than just an easy-going person. New Year’s Self-Improvement Challenge. Some of the testimonies on this page reveal the deep insecurities and even shame that women have felt about their body hair.

A 13-year-old from Australia wrote: “It’s still difficult for me to grow my hair long in public, mainly because I don’t want to attract attention or get any bad looks.”

Considering some of the blatantly hateful comments on Januhairy’s post, her concerns are logical.

“If you think this is appealing, you’re crazy.”

“If you don’t want to shave, that’s fine, but it’s not hygienic! Just sayin’.”

“No man is satisfied with a woman (sic) with chest hair.”

Some people may be surprised at the instinctive aversion to women’s body hair. After all, it’s her year 2024, so shouldn’t she get over this problem already?

However, moral philosopher Heather Widows, author of “.Perfect Me: Beauty as an Ethical Ideal“Society’s views on body hair (of both men and women) have only become more hostile in recent decades.

“Something like Januhairy, it’s a political statement, not a personal choice,” Widows told Euronews Culture. “It’s different from quitting alcohol.” dry january. It’s not something people have a neutral view on. To do that, you need to make some kind of big political statement, not just a fashion choice. ”

What is Januhairy?

Januhairy began in 2018 as the brainchild of Laura Jackson, then a drama student at the University of Exeter in the UK. Ms. Jackson told British media that the idea came to her after she had to put up with shaving for a performance, she said.

“I felt liberated and more confident in myself, but some people around me didn’t understand or disagree with why I didn’t shave,” she said. told the BBC at the time.

The social media campaign spread quickly and soon reached women all over the world. In addition to raising awareness of the stigma that still surrounds women’s body hair, the first edition also raised funds for charities that educate about body image.

The @januhairy Instagram account has gained over 40,000 followers in six years.

It’s a rare example of body positivity on an app that is often a breeding ground for unattainable beauty standards.

“Broadly speaking, social media usually doesn’t do much for women’s body image,” says Professor Elizabeth Daniels, director of UWE Bristol’s Center for Appearance Research. “However, the effects tend to be somewhat smaller.”

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For Daniels, peer groups and targeted beauty marketing are more powerful, especially for young women.

“There’s a lot going on in the world going in the opposite direction, telling women that they need to shave their beards in order to be seen as beautiful,” Daniels told Euronews Culture. . “So it’s very difficult for individual girls and women to be able to shut out all that and think about what they think is beautiful and whether they want to actively participate in beauty practices. It is a challenge.”

When did body hair become so controversial?

Western society’s perception of body hair as dirty or disgusting is relatively new.

It was in the early 20th century that American razor company Gillette (still the world’s largest shaving company) began targeting women with advertising campaigns as a way to solve the “embarrassing personal problem” of body hair. .

Advertisements from 1915 to 1917 read, “Gillette is welcomed by women all over the world. Now, keeping armpits white and smooth is a hallmark of good clothing and good grooming.”

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Until then, full body hair removal in the West was a practice reserved for the wealthy class, and was primarily done for religious or practical reasons to cleanse the body or prevent lice.

By the 1950s, as hem-wearing progressed and capitalism strengthened its influence on society, more women than ever before shaved their beards, and the image of hairless legs and armpits became a symbol of female beauty. It became a symbol.

Aside from a brief hiatus among bush enthusiasts in the 1970s, full body hair removal has only grown in popularity ever since.

Today, the global hair removal industry is booming. It is valued at approximately $1.14 billion (€1.04 billion) in 2022 and is expected to reach $1.89 billion (€1.74 billion) by 2032.

Research firm Mintel’s 2023 UK Shaving and Hair Removal Market Report found that 55% of UK consumers – male and female – have shaved their armpit hair in the past 12 months.

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At this point, full body hair removal is not a passing trend, and while female celebrities and influencers are becoming more and more visible as they embrace their natural armpit hair, they are bucking a powerful societal trend. is.

“Body hair loss is becoming more and more normalized,” says Widows. His book, Perfect Me, addresses the changing ideals of beauty and its impact on our self-perceptions.

“Not removing body hair is considered not taking care of yourself, just like not brushing your teeth,” she added. “For many, it is no longer seen as a beauty practice, but increasingly as a health and hygiene practice.”

Non-visual challenges in a visually-obsessed culture

Daniels said social media movements like Janu Hairy’s are unlikely to have a major impact on how body hair is viewed on a global level. However, individuals’ attitudes can be changed and, more importantly, conversations can be encouraged.

“Whether it’s shaving or putting on makeup, it gives us an opportunity to talk about all the expectations that women have to deal with all the time when it comes to their appearance,” she said. “Women have to put in a lot of effort to look good because of societal pressures and expectations, so I think it’s a good time to talk about those issues.”

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But for Widows, the premise of movements like Janu Hairy and other body positive trends on social media is inherently flawed.

“While the intentions are perfectly good, the effects can be counterproductive,” she explains. “Like many body positivity campaigns, this campaign draws attention to the body rather than taking the focus away from it.”

Beyond that, Widows says Januhairy challenges only one of the four characteristics of the “global beauty ideal” he describes in his book.

She claims that for the first time in history, there is a global consensus that to be considered beautiful, a person must be thin, firm, smooth and youthful.

Although posting photos of hairy armpits and legs on social media negates the “smoothness” aspect of the global ideal, most women who participate in Janu Hairy are still thin, firm, and young. , Widows observes.

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“Then what your image is really communicating is that this kind of body is an acceptable kind of body,” she says. “It doesn’t challenge the ideal. In fact, challenging just one of its features strengthens it.”

So what’s a girl to do when she wants to fight patriarchy without reinforcing beauty norms?

Both Daniels and Widows suggest non-visual challenges to help put body image and beauty standards in perspective.

Widows started #Daily Lookism A campaign that harnesses the power of personal stories about body shaming.

“By sharing stories of body shaming or making negative comments about how we look, we can show that it’s not okay and talk about other people’s bodies. It encourages collective action to stop saying,” she says.

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Mr. Daniels challenged his students not to look in the mirror for three days to understand what it feels like to live in the world without visually representing themselves.

“It was really interesting to hear their fears and concerns that they were not suitable, that they were not suitable for both men and women to go out into society,” she said.

“I think it’s this pressure that makes us feel like our appearance is being watched.”