Let’s face it. Pride was one hairy beastie. All those dreadlocks must have really weighted him down – we think he looked much better after he had a hair cut.
And some of the guys have had a bit of stubble going on. But at least none of the girls had underarm hair…
Puberty – it happens to us all and when it happens you get hair growing in places you never thought you’d see it grow.
Puberty kicks in between the ages of 9-14 in girls and 10-17 in boys. Basically, the body is developing and changing to make us men and women.
Hormones rage around the body and at this time all sorts of weird things happen. Voices change, bodies change, the skin changes. But one of the first signs of puberty is hair growth.
Now this doesn’t mean that you will suddenly grow long hair like Pride. It means that hair starts to grow under arms, on the legs and arms and in the pubic region as well as on the faces of boys. As we get older the hair gets thicker and darker.
Some people don’t mind body hair at all. But a lot of western people have been taught that hair is pretty gross so they pluck, wax or shave it off.
If this is the case then why do we even have hair? It stems back to the early times when we needed hair to keep us warm.
Now of course, most of us have the luxury of keeping warm by wearing warm clothes or sitting near the heater so we don’t particularly need all that hair anymore.
There are some countries and some religions where body hair is not considered offensive.
But for those that live in countries where body hair is considered to be yuk, many girls start to shave their legs and underarms when they are teenagers and guys will shave their faces at the first sign of hair.
What happens then? Hair grows back thicker and more bristly than before. There’s not too much that guys can do other than grow a massive long beard and get mistaken for Santa Claus or a motorbiker but girls can opt for waxing instead of shaving. This method means that the hair gets thinner and thinner after each waxing.
Actually, some really hairy guys get their backs and chests waxed. And cyclists and swimmers often get their body waxed to make themselves more aerodynamic.
There are all sorts of ways to get rid of hair, most of them slightly painful and it is interesting to see how many people go to great lengths to get rid of body hair.
Some women grow facial hair and it is quite natural – it means nothing more than the fact you have more of one hormone than another. In this case it can be embarrassing but there are products that you can use to get rid of the hair – some women use a special cream, some get waxed and some get their hairs dyed. But what you should never ever do is to shave your face if you are a girl as the hair will grow back really bristly and much more noticeable.
Ever heard of a mono brow? That’s when people have one long eyebrow that goes straight across their browline – both eyebrows have joined in the middle. This is much more common in guys as they tend to be hairier than girls. Once again, there are different options, the most common being waxing or plucking with tweezers. In fact, a lot of girls pluck their eyebrows anyway to give them more shape.
Underarm hair is either seen as desirable or undesirable – there is no middle ground. People either grow their underarm hair and flash it around with pride or they get rid of any trace of it through waxing or shaving. There’s no right or wrong. It’s really interesting to notice what people of different nationalities do and that what is acceptable to one is totally unacceptable to another.
Every person is different and the most important thing is to be comfortable with who you are.
If you are going to get rid of unwanted hair though, it is really important to go to someone who knows what they’re doing to find out how to do it properly and safely – it’s so easy to cut yourself badly with a razor or to burn yourself or take off skin if you wax. And many girls overpluck their eyebrows until they have hardly anything left then use a pencil to draw it back in.
There are all sorts of services that beauty clinics offer and it is important to get advice before you do anything.
Fascinating Hair Facts
- The average male will shave 20,000 times in his lifetime
- Every eyebrow hair lasts between 3-5 months before it falls out
- The Ancient Egyptians thought that facial hair was a sign of neglect
- An eyelash lasts for around 150 days before it falls off
- The human body has the same number of hair follicles as a chimpanzee
- 5 months is the average amount of time a man spends shaving in his lifetime
- Aside from bone marrow, hair is the fastest growing human tissue
- The whole of the human body is covered in hair – apart from the lips, soles of the feet, palms of the hands and mucous membranes
- Ancient Egyptians used a mixture of sugar and water to remove unwanted hair in a method very similar to waxing.
Sugaring has been reborn and is used allover the world now.