We're not sure who still needs to hear this in 2020, but everybody has body hair [1] — yes, even some of your favourite celebrities. It's completely normal and nothing to be ashamed of, and in recent years, there have been a handful of stars who have publicly spoken about embracing their body hair in an attempt to normalise that fact.
Truth is, your grooming preferences is a deeply personal choice [2] and in a perfect world, it wouldn't be revolutionary for anyone to show off their leg, arm, or underarm hair. But because it's so highly scrutinised by people on Twitter, Instagram, and even in the media, we can't help but be proud of the celebs who are working to change the narrative around body hair among their millions of followers.
Read ahead to check out a few celebrities who have embraced the skin they're in — fuzz and all.
Emily Ratajkowski
In 2019, Emily Ratajkowski posed for a Harper's Bazaar cover where she showed fans her armpit hair. In the accompanying essay, she explained that hair removal is a personal choice for all people [3].
"If I decide to shave my armpits or grow them out, that's up to me," she said. "For me, body hair is another opportunity for women to exercise their ability to choose — a choice based on how they want to feel and their associations with having or not having body hair."
Amandla Stenberg
In October 2018, Stenberg showed up to the London premiere of their film, The Hate U Give, wearing a sleeveless black gown, not bothering one bit to shave or remove the hair under their arms — and we're here for it.
Marsai Martin
The Blackish star got real about her body hair in an Instagram post that she shared back in October. Alongside a photo of herself lounging in the grass wearing a burgundy button-down dress, Martin wrote, "Normalise girls having hairy legs. 😭👍🏾"
Rowan Blanchard
Back in February, Rowan Blanchard proudly showed off her armpit hair [4] in a photo shoot for Cultured Mag.
Scout Willis
Like Blanchard, Scout Willis frequently shares Instagram photos of herself embracing her underarm hair.
Julia Michaels
Fans recently applauded Julia Michaels on social media recently after noticing her underarm hair in her new music video for "Lie Like This." [5] The singer a few months ago that she was going to stop shaving her armpits for good: "Honestly, I'm not shaving my armpits ever again. I don't know why I ever did before. Social norms can eat an aubergine."
Cardi B
When Moschino shared a photo of Cardi B wearing a crop top after performing at the Grammys in 2018, a few fans unnecessarily made some comments about the rappers stomach hair [6]. "She needs to shave that stomach," one person wrote. "She better shave that stomach hair before modelling," wrote another.
Cardi B didn't publicly come out and defend herself against the criticisms, but thankfully she's continued to show off her stomach in countless music videos since — and that's a statement in and of itself.
Willow Smith
Willow Smith's underarm hair was visible in a 2017 video she shared of her shooting arrows. Months later on an episode of Red Table Talk with her mother, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and grandmother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones, she spoke a bit about why she's more comfortable not shaving [7].
"I mean I didn't really make the decision not to shave, I just kind of didn't shave," she said. "It takes too much time. I just want to get in the shower and get out of the shower."
She added later, "I'm going to be like my ancestors and just do what I need to do."
Halsey
Back in 2018 after sharing a few selfies on Twitter, a troll attempted to shame Halsey [8] by calling out the slight fuzz poking out from under her armpits. The user doctored the photo and put an "LOL" sticker over Halsey's armpit and wrote, "what the hell is this ?!!!"
Shortly after, the "Bad at Love" singer graciously responded, saying, ""t's an armpit you've put a sticker over. Not sure what else there is here to explain?"
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow [9] has been open in the past about not shaving or waxing her bikini line. Back in 2013, Paltrow attended a red carpet event wearing a sheer dress that she ended up having to go commando for. She opened up about what the experience was like a few days later during an appearance on Ellen.
"Well, let's just say everyone went scrambling for a razor," she told the host. "I work a '70s vibe. You know what I mean?"
Paris Jackson
In 2017, Paris Jackson took to her Instagram to share with her followers that she had been growing out her armpit hair [10] for the previous two months. Of course, her photo was met with some unsolicited criticism, to which she responded in a video saying, "I love hair, and sweat, and BO. I fucking love it," she added. "I think it's great. Some people think that it's like super disgusting, especially on girls, but every human body does it. It's natural. Get over it."
Miley Cyrus
In a now-deleted Instagram post, Miley Cyrus showed off her underarm hair [11] after she dyed it hot pink for fun. She later filmed herself waxing the hair off on her Stories.
Bella Thorne
After a paparazzi photo of Bella Thorne at the beach with unshaved armpits began to circulate in 2017, the former Disney star was quick to defend herself from critics [12], tweeting, "Hahaha don't they know I never shave?"
