There's nothing that makes us happier than seeing celebrities give a giant middle finger to patriarchal beauty standards and embrace their body hair on every platform, from social media to red carpet events. In the last year alone, we've seen a handful of stars — like Julia Michaels and Lourdes Leon — changing the narrative around body hair to their millions of fans, one selfie at a time. While the photos we've seen that celebrate hair on all parts of the body have been encouraging, we've also noticed many celebs seem to have a special appreciation for their underarm hair.
What people do with the hair on their body is a personal choice (and it should hardly be considered revolutionary), but in an era when people — specifically women — are heavily scrutinised by the public for their looks, it's hard not to praise those who show theirs off with pride.
Read ahead to check out several celebrities who have fully embraced their armpit fuzz.
Fans applauded Julia Michaels on social media last year after noticing her underarm hair in her new music video for "Lie Like This." The singer tweeted 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."
"There's something really liberating about doing the things that people tell you not to do . . . If it's something as simple as growing my armpit hair out, I'm down for it."
She later explained to POPSUGAR the reason behind her decision: "I had taken a trip with some of my friends and [my underarm hair] had started to grow out, and when I shaved it, I didn't feel like myself; it was really strange," Michaels said. "There's something really liberating about doing the things that people tell you not to do, and I get a kick out of that. If it's something as simple as growing my armpit hair out, I'm down for it. You'd be surprised at how many men comment on my social media still being like 'That's disgusting. You should shave it,' and it's like, why do you feel like you can comment on my body?"
Lourdes Leon stays largely under the radar, but in a rare selfie with her mom, Madonna, shared in April, the model let her unshaved underarms show freely.
Leon's views on body hair aren't surprising considering Madonna has also proudly shown off her armpit hair in selfies before. The pop legend shared the above selfie on Instagram in 2014 with the caption "Long hair...... Don't Care."
Ashley Graham has been open about her body hair in past Instagram posts and interviews. In the cover story for Elle's August 2020 issue, she shared that she stopped shaving when she was pregnant. "I haven't shaved my legs, my bikini line, or my armpits since my third trimester, and I don't care," Graham said at the time.
In November, she also shared a naked selfie to her Instagram Story where her underarm hair was visible, then a few months later in March, she followed up with a photo of herself in a minidress showing off her body hair again.
In October 2018, Amandla 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.
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, tweeting, "Hahaha don't they know I never shave?"
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.
"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."
Back in 2018 after sharing a few selfies on Twitter, a troll attempted to shame Halsey 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, "It's an armpit you've put a sticker over. Not sure what else there is here to explain?"
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.
"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."
In 2017, Paris Jackson took to her Instagram to share with her followers that she had been growing out her armpit hair 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 f*cking 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."
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Miley Cyrus
Image Source: Getty / Jamie Squire
In a now-deleted Instagram post, Miley Cyrus showed off her underarm hair after she dyed it hot pink for fun. She later filmed herself waxing the hair off on her Stories.
