The fellas have "Movember" and now it looks like the gals have "Januhairy." That’s right: moms now have a reason to ditch their razors for an entire month in the name of charity. Many would agree that shaving has to be one of the most dreaded tasks for women, but now ladies are being encouraged to let it grow. As a matter of fact, one campaign is trying to encourage women to embrace their bodies, with or without the hair. Here’s what you need to know.
According to reports, the Januhairy campaign wants women to quit shaving and waxing their bodies for the entire month of January and as you can imagine, it’s taken social media by storm. This campaign is the first of its kind and was started by Laura Jackson, a 21-year-old student from the University of Exeter in southwest England. She first came up with the idea last year when she was preparing for her drama degree. For her on stage role, she had to grow body hair. She says that she received a lot of negative comments from people who thought that she had stopped shaving her body hair, which led her to come up with this ingenious idea.
Laura told the BBC in an interview, “I realized that there is still so much more for us to do to be able to accept one another fully and truly. I just want women to feel more comfortable in their own beautifully unique bodies. This isn't an angry campaign for people who don't see how normal body hair is. It is an empowering project for everyone to understand more about their views on themselves and others."
An Instagram page was even set up for "JanuHairy", which has racked up over 9,000 followers and counting. The social media page features posts of women feeling pretty darn liberated and unashamedly about showing off their body hair for the world to see. Because it’s not like a lot of us really do religiously shave our legs during the cold winter months anyhow, right?
Laura says that while she is amazed of all the support she’s received so far, she still plans to take a razor to all of her excess hair on February 1st. She added that a good shave can feel “cathartic,” kind of like when you have your hair cut, roots done, or taking off chipped nail polish. There’s no denying that she’s right.
For more on Laura's charity, check out her Just Giving page right here.
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