We all have it, all genders, and all races, all of us. So how did it become so taboo for women to let it grow, and how did perfectly smooth hairless legs, genitals and underarms become the ultimate symbol of femininity?

Before we have a conversation about body hair removal, maybe we should dive into why we have it in the first place. We could get really technical here, but the basic overview is that hair helps to regulate body temperature, which protects our brain and vital organs, and helps protect us from outside elements like dirt.

OK, so body hair is critical for body function. Got it. So why do we remove it?! Well, this is where things start to get complicated and potentially contentious. Historically speaking, the practice of body hair removal has been around for a really long time and can be traced back to ancient Rome and Egypt, but women’s routine removal of leg and armpit hair didn’t really take off until the early 20th century. During the Victorian era, femininity was defined by moral character, by the 1920s this had shifted, and the new feminine idea became focused on appearance and the body. Side note, this is when bras and dieting also started to be come the norm… starting to see a theme yet?

At the same time, companies like Gillette, who had successfully saturated the male at home shaving market, decided they needed new customers and turned their attention to women, and were quick to launch very successful advertising campaigns branding female body hair as offensive. So, couple these campaigns with rising hemlines and the mass production of women’s fashion magazines and you can see how it wouldn’t take long for the practice to really take hold, by 1964, 98 percent of American women were routinely shaving their legs.

Fast forward to today and the conversation around body hair has been changing. Female body hair in particular has become an icon of the feminist movement, the ultimate f**k you to the patriarchy, while the practice of male body hair removal has been becoming increasingly common. They even have their own term for it – manscaping. While we’re on the subject of manscaping, I’d like to say a special thanks to my husband… no one needs all that hair getting in the way, you know what I’m talking about people!

The fact of the matter is, body hair removal, or lack thereof, is a trend, albeit a pervasive one. And like all trends and fashions, whether you jump on the train or not is really up to you! I mean, let’s be real, what’s in today probably won’t be tomorrow, the '80s full bush vs the noughties Hollywood is a classic example.

Personally, I’m probably not going to be throwing away my razor anytime soon. Maybe it’s 100 years of cultural conditioning, or maybe it’s that I just like the way my legs feel when they’re smooth. The most important thing here is that if you do decide to remove your body hair, you do so because you damn well want to, not because you feel like you have to, and that you choose a removal method that works for you and your hair type.

Bottom line? Body hair is functional and normal, embrace it or don’t, that’s your call. But do me a favour, let’s drop the gender stereotypes, no one needs that kind of negativity.