The woman who refuses to shave
Macey feels empowered after ditching her razor and embracing her body hair
SHE’S been confronted by strangers who decry her as ugly and disgusting and fit to be thrown in the trash. Macey Duff’s only crime? Ditching her razor to embrace what she calls her true self. The result has been hair – everywhere. And Macey wants to spread the message that to treasure the tufts nature has bestowed on us is beautiful and feminine – all the things society has taught us it isn’t.
e 19-year-old is part of a growing trend to banish bald armpits, legs and bikini lines and revel in the growth flowing from every follicle – but that hasn’t stopped people treating her with revulsion.
Macey doesn’t care. “I’m empowered by the doors it’s opened for me,” she says.
Allowing her hair to grow freely has left her happier, less stressed and more inspired, the teen adds.
“Before I stopped shaving I didn’t really know who I was – now I know myself intimately. This has been a journey towards deep self-love.”
It all started with a family trip to the beach. The Duff family had moved to Hawaii from Nevada in the USA and were spending lots of time soaking up the island sun. One day Macey’s twin sister, Ally, spotted a woman in a one-piece swimsuit, proudly displaying the thick hair on her legs, in her armpits and around her pubic area. The sisters were stunned. “My world shook when I witnessed a woman with body hair for the first time,” Macey recalls.
“I couldn’t describe the relief I felt knowing there were women out there defying the standards placed on us to appear beautiful and sexy – even worthy.”
When Macey later saw another woman on Instagram post a picture of her dark leg hair, she felt compelled to jump on the no-shave bandwagon.
“I felt inspired and soon experimented with growing out my own body hair,” she says.
It’s been four years since she last reached for a razor and Macey has no plans to go back. “I love it – although it was weird at first, to say the least.”
MACEY was just 10 years old when she first started shaving. “For what reason? Just because it was something all the girls around me did. Because we were taught it was what women should do,” she explains. “I’d shave any time my hair began to grow. I was fearful of anyone even glancing at my armpits, legs and bikini line if I had any visible stubble.” She eventually grew fed up, longing to reject society’s parameters of what’s considered attractive for women. “I was silently despising myself for not being who everyone wanted me to be. I was angry and frustrated,” she says. “I had no idea at the time I could question or defy them.” But as she grew older the questions became louder. “I asked myself why couldn’t I just be myself, why did I keep doing this? Is this seriously what this world expects of me? “I struggled to comprehend why I needed to shave for someone else’s comfort and pleasure.” Macey, a dancer, finally took the plunge in 2016. Since then Ally and their older sister, Johannah (21), have come on board too. “My family was very supportive,” Macey says. “My mother eventually was also inspired to stop shaving her armpits. Many friends were inspired and empowered by this and some of them stopped shaving too.” But not everyone was supportive of Macey’s fuzzy armpits and furry legs. After one of her pictures went viral on Facebook, the negative comments came pouring in and Macey soon found herself at the centre of hurtful memes. “I took a picture of myself, expressing my body hair, so content and confident. Not thinking too much of it. Two years later I saw this image of myself come up again and I reposted it.” A few days later she woke up to a direct message from a friend telling her the post had gone viral.
“I was taken aback by the amount of hatred,” Macey recalls. “I honestly had no idea people had such a strong feeling towards this body I so deeply loved.”
The photo was shared to other social media platforms and the online hate continued.
“At first I felt sad and confused. But I had an epiphany and I realised that although their words were painful, I was planting seeds. Overall I feel grateful and blessed that this image was shared so widely.”
GROWING her hair was uncomfortable during the first few weeks, she says. The stubble was prickly and itchy because she’d become so used to shaving. All Macey wanted to do was get rid of the hair. But she pushed through and after a month it was smooth sailing.
“I developed a very personal connection with my own body – I felt this intense awareness.”
Yet the surge of empowerment she felt at breaking a beauty taboo soon turned to humiliation when she was out in public, she says.
“I had a complete stranger stop in front of me and verbally express disgust at my body hair.
“I’ve had people point at me and whisper to [the] person they’re with, then start laughing. I’ve been told, ‘ You should’ve been thrown away in the trash’ and that I was ‘too ugly’ and ‘too disgusting’ to ever have a partner.”
She now confronts the disapproving stares and cruel comments by simply “smiling and giggling at their audacity”.
“I know I’m worthy and beautiful, way beyond my physicality,” she says.
Macey often shares snaps of her bushy body bits with her 17 000 followers on Instagram and although she still has plenty of online bullies, she takes it all in her stride.
“My advice to anyone who wishes to break society’s perception of beauty is to be gentle on yourself. Stop beating yourself up, and embrace what nature gave you, if that’s what you want to do.”
“Don’t let harsh words get you down. Question the status quo and unlearn old ways. And remember, you’re strong and everyone is born with beauty.”