Monday, October 02, 2006

The Pits

I made a decision a month ago that was quite liberating. I decided to stop shaving my armpit hair. I had been finding that I wasn't shaving the area all that well to begin with, and when I did it would be raw and irritated by deodorant until the hair grew. I wore tank tops and my swimsuit this summer and so I continued to shave. Then the weather got cooler and I got lazy and just stopped. I didn't think long and hard about it, but I did ask L and he didn't really care. So the hair began to grow, and it grew in soft and was just there. It was nice to just let it be.

I happened to notice last week as I glimpsed at myself leaving the bathroom though, that in a short sleeved shirt I looked as if I was storing a small brown rodent in my pits. Oh, I thought. Has anyone noticed? Cap sleeves really show all, and so I asked L. He had noticed, but didn't say anything. He suggested an electric razor, so I bought one this weekend and shaved it all away.

I feel a little annoyed at myself now. After listening to the pieces at Space on Friday night, I felt as if I was caving to the conservatives and repressed, who feel threatened by sex and bodily functions in both literature and life. It's also caving to all the crass magazines and people who ridiculed Drew Barrymore for not shaving her armpits. Why are Americans so hung up on everything, from excess body hair to naked bodies?

3 comments:

Christian said...

You should let it grow. I think it's cool. (Though I know I am in the minority.)

Paul Saxton said...

It's what you're comfortable with. If you're not comfortable with hiding a rodent in your pits - as you so nicely put it - then that's fine. Me, I succumb to the conservatives and the repressed all the time - getting rid of my nose and ear hair, trimming my eyebrows and shaving away the hair on my back that pokes out from the top of my T-shirts in the summer. Just so I can look beautiful for my girl...

Hyperher said...

Men do seem plagued by hair removal too, but I think it's much more socially acceptable. But I laughed out loud when I read about your ear/nose hair.