I actually can't believe that this is the second time in a month I'm embedding a clip from This Morning into the site - who knew Eamonn Holmes would become such a investigator into wimmins issues?
But to be honest this thing with Dublin student Emer O'Toole and her armpit hair is a bit silly now isn't it? We've seen this old line trotted out time after time: "I don't shave my armpit hair - gasp - shocking". Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, Kelly Rowland... they've all been snapped with such lush forestry under their arms that it couldn't have been accidental. But what grabs headlines on the red carpet kind of doesn't when it's just an ordinary person.
Lots of people don't shave under their arms through choice - there's a substantial amount of people out there who find armpit hair actually turns them on (a quick Google will show you that). Even putting kinkery aside, it's totally up to an individual whether they shave or not. For most of the year, in Ireland especially, your underarms don't see the light of day - they're covered up so no one would know if you shaved or not. But unlike legs (which most women don't bother to deforest until the sun comes out) I would hazard a guess that most of us shave under our arms all year round.
Why? Armpit hair smells unless it's super fresh and clean - but you can't be shower fresh 24/7 even if you use super strong deodorant (read the deodorant category for lots of reviews). You can bet your sweet ass this is why most women shave it off.
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Practical considerations aside, Emer says she wants to challenge "artificial gender norms". Then why, I wondered, is she wearing makeup? Though I did like her cheeky ways and compared to the artificial wan beside her she glowed with vitality and health.
So is underarm hair a feminist issue? Why do you shave/not shave your armpits.
