A few years ago, I went to a salon to have my eyebrows threaded for the first time. As I laid back in the chair and the lady worked her magic, she cast a critical glance over my face and said “Would you like me to do your top lip, too?”.
I was shocked. I’ve got blonde hair and am not very hairy, so it’s not like I’m hot on the heels of Tom Selleck in the moustache race. I politely declined, but when I got home, I realised upon gazing into the the mirror that I do indeed have a layer of barely-there, downy blonde hair on my top lip.
I spent some time looking into it and it seems that one in 14 women in the UK suffers with some form of hirsuitism, and that many more women feel that their level of hairiness affects their self-confidence. So why is hair removal in certain areas such a hot button for many of us?
A lot of it is to do with perceptions of WHERE women should have hair, especially white Western women. We think absolutely nothing of having our eyebrows shaped, waxing our legs and bikini lines, shaving our armpits. There are even whole movements of women growing out their pit hair and even dyeing it bright colours before sharing it on social media. However, mention upper lips or tummy hair and women seem a lot less forthcoming. Hair in other areas is viewed as shameful or masculine.
Here at Pure Beauty, we think that it’s about time that we started having more frank and open conversations, not only about the standardised image of beauty to which we all feel we’re supposed to conform, but also about the issues which makes us feel less than confident. Body image is so closely tied with mental health for many of us and allowing something which SO many other women deal with drag us down, for the sake of not having a conversation, seems silly to us.
So, this is us saying – women have hair in ALL sorts of places. From legs to armpits to top lips to tummies to nipples. Hair can grow ANYWHERE. Whether you choose to embrace it and dye it all colours of the rainbow or remove it using waxing, threading or even more permanent electrolysis, we salute you. Your hair is yours to do with as you please, we just ask that you try not to feel shame about it. Humans have hair, and that’s really all there is to it.
If you visit a salon to have your hair removed, remember; your therapist isn’t judging you or laughing behind your back, they’ve seen it ALL before. Professional beauty therapists can help you to achieve the look you want in a clean, hygienic environment and will boost your confidence in the process.
Last updated on 27/01/2019.