the racist history of body hair, and yes i'm a hairy femme!

Written by: Tamar Simone Weir

Fuck the beauty Industrial Complex.

Let me just start there! In my childhood, I don't remember many beauty standards imposed on me in the household, but the energy outside the home was overwhelming with messaging, propaganda, and shame based ways to make you feel like you're not enough. Always. In the review, "Body Perceptions and Psychological Well-Being" several authors from Spain discuss the profound influence of societal standards and media portrayals on individual psychological states for youth and its larger impacts. In this article, they elaborate on how social media greatly influences peoples body image and mental health in a variety of nuanced ways. They delve into objectification theory which is how societal practices contribute to the objectification of bodies, particularly those of women, and delineates the profound psychological consequences of such phenomena. They also go on to discuss the impacts.... "This perspective not only alters how individuals perceive themselves but also manifests as a deep-seated societal issue where bodies are predominantly valued for their appearance or sexual appeal rather than their capabilities or individuality." I know that in my experience surviving puberty and being someone socialized as a girl, feeling objectified was a VERY common experience of mine and not exclusive to only me. This experience was deeply felt by many of my friends and peers, as we tried navigating the different societally imposed standards, and when we didn't adhere to them perfectly, shame and anxiety would take over as we were not able to meet these beauty standards. This article also goes on to elaborate another interesting theory, the social compassion theory which "posits that individuals engage in both upward and downward comparisons, assessing themselves against others who they perceive as either superior or inferior in certain attributes, including physical appearance. In the context of body image, the dynamics of social comparison can be particularly impactful"

Comparison among youth regarding beauty standards often leads to negative effects, especially for girls. Social media, advertising, and cultural expectations create unrealistic ideals of beauty, encouraging constant self-comparison. This can result in low self-esteem, anxiety, and body image issues. Girls may feel pressured to conform to narrow definitions of attractiveness, which can affect their mental health and overall well-being. These comparisons can also foster unhealthy competition, social isolation, and a sense of inadequacy, making it harder for young women to appreciate their unique qualities and develop a positive self-image.

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Below is a lil poem I wrote a few years back that echoes this feeling of insecurity that is imposed and then internalized through years of ingesting media.

Photo taken by: Diego Rosales (Oaxaca, Mx)

Title: Mamas Mirrors

Covering up the mirror because I was insecure was an act of love my mama did for me. I’d stare in the mirror, see something new in each look, regretting the extra stare that spewed..

“I'm too tall”

"I'm too skinny”

"I'm not pretty enough”

“I'm too hairy”

“Girls shouldn’t be this hairy”

“I'm not pretty enough”.

Leaving the mirrors and being followed by an exhausted silhouetted figure that was not my own, but mine. 

Mama gathered all the sheets she could find, a thick roll of sturdy duct tape, and a stepping stool, making sure to tape all four corners, fastened to perfection.

Green and brown tiled bathroom. Earthy tones touched with calming stones at the feet. Accents of mosaic by the bath with jets. 

For 14 days, I avoided mirrors. An instructional manual from the maternal manufacturer, clear directions, steering me of that silhouetted figure. 

I can't help but look, mirrors all around these days. I don't mind much, I fix myself up by wrapping my lanky arms around my chest, filling up my front side with warmth that didn’t used to be there.

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The history of body hair and beauty standards is deeply tied to racism and colonialism. Some of you may be thinking, that seems like a stretch, but it's really not.... Recent studies have showed that more than 99% of women in the United States voluntarily remove or shave their body hair. I know that in my early youth, I would do whatever it took to remove the hair that I felt was unnormal. I was mostly around white people, with blonde hair and when I looked at my own tan body with hair popping up in different places each month, I felt so put down and so othered. I wanted so badly to have blonde hair. To have the hair blend in with my skin and not be so visible, not blend in with the crowd and not be hyper aware of my physical appearance all the time.

I remember the first time I shaved, it was in my sisters blue bathroom. Blue tiles and a blue shower, we were in the ocean, and little did I know this would be a significant memory in my hair Journey. We sat on the bath mat, lined with blue stripes, and my sister began to help me shave. Showing me which direction to go in, and how to apply and lather the soap so that you did not hurt or cut yourself in the process. I remember being in awe of the way the razor was able to take off all the hair and create smoothness underneath. When we were finished I was obsessed, I was so smooth and "clean". And although I feel grateful for being supported and guided in this moment, I wonder now why these high value beauty moments have any value at all? Why are these key markers of "growing up" and "becoming a woman"? And how did we get here? Not all hair removal has been historically charted at such high numbers voluntarily. SO many of the ways that we are conditioned and the ways that make us either desirable or undesirable (for the societal standards and normative culture) is due to forced change.

Eventually I stopped shaving, but that was after years and years of shaving, and lots and lots of money later. Not to mention the time spent worrying and obsessing over if I got rid of each hair, and feeling the discomfort of the first few days when the hair would grow back in. "Over the course of their lifetime, women will shave 7,718.4 times and spend $10,000 related products."Now that's a big number, of course that's not true for all people, or representative of the whole story, but this statistic just gives us a little bit of insight into how vast the beauty industrial complex is, and how much money they make off of people, primarily femme bodies being insecure and feeling less than..... After I stopped shaving I felt so liberated with the extra time I had in the shower, and the freedom in knowing that when I packed my bag I didn't forget the razor, I just didn't need it. Or, the first time I felt confident wearing a tank top in public and showing my hairy ass armpits like yeah, here I am taking up space with every single hair....

"Yet several studies propose that “the hairlessness norm” imposes distinct new psychological constraints on women and girls, even as other longstanding legal and social restrictions are eased. The overall effect of the norm, social scientists suggest, is to produce feelings of inadequacy and vulnerability, the sense that women’s bodies are problematic “the way they naturally are.” Practices of hair removal, in turn, are said to produce “pre-pubescent-like,” “highly sexualized” bodies, which ultimately “may contribute to the increasing objectification of young girls.” I can say that in the early 2000's growing into my body and my teenhood, meant lots of inner dialogue about how my hair was not okay and that I was inherently dirty. This led me to go down the path of feminization. I wanted to wax my eyebrows, pluck my eyebrows, wax my mustache (that I hated so dearly), shave my legs, shave my stomach hair, shave my arm hair, and to only showcase my eyelashes, and hair on my scalp. So when my hair started falling out in chunks in middle school, you can imagine the fear I felt. One of the only places that was societally accepted to have hair, was failing me! I no longer had dark hair that curled at the end. Every morning when I woke up and looked at my pillow, strands and strands of hair would cover the entire pillow case. This lasted for months, until my mom realized I was allergic to the bullshit chemical ingredients in head and shoulders dandruff shampoo. Once I stopped using it daily on my scalp, my hair started to slowly grow back, but not before I had many low moments questioning my worth and beauty.... It was middle school, I was highly insecure, and everything felt so dramatic, so obviously I was able to heal and feel beautiful again, but this story always leads me to the same place of wanting to send love to that little hairy girl....

For centuries, Western beauty ideals have promoted hairlessness as a sign of femininity, cleanliness, and even social status. These standards were pushed onto women of color, whose natural body hair was often stigmatized or seen as “unfeminine” or “uncivilized.”

European colonizers used body hair as a way to “other” and dehumanize people from different cultures, especially those with darker skin. "Late-nineteenth-century medical and scientific experts extended these perceptions of degeneracy, linking hairiness to sexual inversion, disease pathology, lunacy, and criminal violence."They labeled body hair on non-white women as undesirable, reinforcing racist stereotypes and justifying discrimination. This legacy still shows up today in media, advertising, and even in everyday conversations about beauty.

1. Imposing Eurocentric Norms: European colonizers brought strict ideas about femininity and hygiene, equating hairlessness with purity and “civilization.” In contrast, many Indigenous and non-European cultures had different, often more accepting, attitudes toward body hair.

2. Pathologizing Difference: Colonial writings and pseudo-scientific studies often described the natural body hair of colonized peoples as evidence of being “less evolved” or “animalistic.” This dehumanizing language was used to justify colonial rule and the supposed need to “civilize” people.

3. Beauty Industry Expansion: As Western beauty products and practices spread through colonized regions, local populations were pressured to adopt hair removal routines. Advertisements and magazines in the early 20th century, for example, targeted women in colonized countries, promoting razors, depilatory creams, and waxing as modern and desirable. Not to mention skin whitening creams becoming very popular.

4. Assimilation and Social Mobility: In many colonized societies, adopting European grooming standards, including hair removal, became a way for women to access education, jobs, or social acceptance. Not conforming could mean facing discrimination and therefore less employment opportunities.

When we say colonialism reshaped intimate, everyday practices like grooming, we’re talking about a deep, lasting impact on how people see themselves and each other. Colonizers didn’t just enforce new laws. they set new standards for what was considered “normal” or “beautiful,” often at the expense of peoples diverse beliefs, traditions, and identities. For women of color, this meant that natural features like body hair, skin tone, and hair texture were suddenly seen as problems to be fixed, rather than celebrated. The pressure to remove body hair wasn’t just about fitting in; it was about survival, acceptance, and sometimes even safety in a society that valued whiteness and Eurocentric beauty above all else.

This legacy is still with us. Media, advertising, and even workplace policies often reinforce the idea that hairless, lighter-skinned bodies are the ideal. Women of color who don’t conform can face everything from subtle judgment to outright discrimination. That’s why challenging these standards is so powerful and NECESSARY!

Reclaiming agency over your own body and rejecting the idea that you have to erase parts of yourself to be worthy or beautiful is NECESSARY.

In short, pushing back against body hair stigma isn’t just a small thing or only a personal act, it’s a political one too. It’s about honoring your heritage, embracing your natural self, and refusing to let outdated, colonial ideas dictate how you should look or feel.

And I don't believe that you need to grow out all your body hair to feel liberation or to reclaim your agency, I know lots of people like to remove their body hair for other reasons, some being the physical sensation and feeling on clothes, or for sexual acts etc. But what I am saying is let's analyze ways that we view body hair on ourselves and on other people as either desirable or undesirable, and WHY? I do think that everyone at least once in their life should make a drastic hair change whether that be on your scalp or your body hair, if nothing else just for the sake of exploration and newness, or maybe for the deeper internal analysis of what is beauty for myself? and what remains when i shed the exterior layers that keep me in this version of beauty??

Femmes can be hairy too, and hair is our body's way of keeping us warm, & of protecting our skin. I identify as a queer femme and yes I am also hairy. My hair is part of me but it is not all of me.