NO BOUNDARIES BEAUTY

Underarm hair is in and G-strings have taken over the beach. Female beauty ideals have shifted to a more inclusive space, with all ages permitted access, but do they even want it? Three writers find out

- HARRIET WALKER

It’s a warm day and I’m moving house. Heaving boxes, I am not really aware of how I look until I catch one of our removal men watching me lift a plant. He quickly turns around, but he has definitely noticed. I’m not sure who is more embarrassed.

“Surely the whole point is that you don’t care if people notice?” my husband had said to me the day before, as I stubbornly kept my jacket on. “Or that you’re proud of it, even?”

He is right. My body, my choice. And I choose to keep my jacket on.

Let me explain. After a few extended bouts of wintry low standards, forgetfulness and lockdown laziness, I decided to grow out my armpit hair. I told myself it was a political act – a low-effort, practical one, just the way I like them. It would be good for my toddler daughter to see female body hair, I said to almost everyone I met, because I had no other news after several lockdowns and a maternity leave.