Taryn De Vere

WRITER , PARENTING COACH AND PERFORMANCE ARTIST

I became aware of my body hair when I was 11. A boy in my school told me that my leg hair was gross. I felt disgusted by my own body hair. I went home and asked my mum if I could shave my legs. She said I was too young. I decided to do it anyway. As I grew older and became more influenced by culture and media and my friends, it was all just constantly reinforcing that same message: our body hair was disgusting. Through childbirth and pregnancy, I became more comfortable with my body. The first thing I stopped shaving was my pubic area. Not shaving my underarms was the biggest challenge. It took a long time to get comfortable with raising my arms, I was so self-conscious. I decided to post a picture of myself on Twitter, showing my underarm hair, because I’m always posting pictures where I look quite glamorous. I felt I had a responsibility to make sure young girls and women know that these women exist and that it is a possibility in the menu of life. I had a lot of positive responses from people who told me they were fully supportive of what I was doing. What works for me isn’t going to work for everybody. Body hair is totally a matter of choice and I’m really happy and comfortable with my choice and my body at this point in my life.