You can follow my progress (with pictures and musings) on my blog, Tanya's Armpits4August and on Twitter @DecemberBliss.

 

Challenging Beauty Standards
The expectation that women do/must/should remove body hair, visible or not, is deeply ingrained in modern media and widely accepted standards of beauty to the point where it is actually deemed newsworthy if a famous women is seen in public with hair on her legs or armpits (Google Julia Roberts armpit hair or Amanda Palmer armpit hair). We are repeatedly told by numerous sources that we should be silky smooth and hairless, y'know, like a goddess).

Although my choice to remove my own body hair is all about how I feel about my own body, it struck me that I do actually notice when I encounter a women with visible hair on her legs and armpits and I'm aware that this alone means that I have been conditioned, at least to a certain degree, to believe that hairlessness is normal for women. This seems kind of crazy, since bodies grow hair naturally and it shouldn't feel unusual to witness a body in its natural state.

 

Challenging Personal Perception
On a personal level, I've always simply preferred how it feels to have no hair on my legs, underarms or ladygarden. I genuinely have no idea why at this point, other than it's a personal preference based on how I feel about my own physical being. It's something I've struggled to articulate and haven't managed to yet. I have no opinion about what other people do with their body hair, other than they should do whatever they want with it - that's their business, not mine.

Choosing not to remove my body hair for a month is a challenge to my perception of myself and I'm hoping will inspire me to give more conscious thought to something I've done for years without much consideration.

 

No Razing, Just Fundraising
I know people with PCOS and I believe that raising money and awareness for health issues that don't get much press otherwise is a worthwhile thing. I had pretty much decided to take part in Armpits4August before I even realised it was on a mission to raise money for charity - the fundraising part is secondary to the experience for me, but I'm happy to have an opportunity to contribute to something wider than my own personal bubble.