Hair, body hair everywhere, and a big bush especially there;
A thousand come to one’s funeral when murder we dare.
While we want luscious locks and a head thick of hair,
It soon thins and we’re left dealing with those that make others stare.
Can one count the hours spent waxing, tweezing, or shaving?
Image what we could have achieved in that time — anything!
While a new study has revealed that almost half of us hate the idea of hair removal, it also found that women who shave spend eight weeks over their lifetime managing unwanted hair and spend an average of over $30,000 on waxing unwanted hairs. So why then, were we designed with so much fuzz in the ‘wrong’ places? Why are we hairy? Do our armpits, upper lips, and legs have hair for a purpose? Most women have more body hair than wanted, and those who suffer from PCOS or hormonal imbalances can have thicker, darker hair due to extra testosterone. Don’t feel bad though ladies; according to The Economist, the average man spends more than a month out of his lifetime shaving his beard!
It turns out that those irritating tweeze-worthy hairs that peek from out from under your nostrils or between your eyebrows actually have a function! Scroll down to see why it’s actually great to have body hair —
1. Body hair keeps you warm.
No, really. Think back to the O-G times – cavemen and women only had their body hair (and perhaps some animal skins) to protect themselves from the harsh elements. Even when the body is cold, goosebumps cause hairs to stand on end, trapping heat between them and close to the skin to preserve warmth.
It also provides protection from the sun — wherever allowed to blossom freely, body hair has the effect of shading your delicate skin from the sun and harmful UV rays. It’s also why our scalp has so much hair – it is the one body part constantly exposed to the sun.
2. Those nose hairs..they keep you healthy.
Although unsightly, nose hairs prevent foreign material, such as dust, debris, and allergens, from getting into the nasal passages or the lungs. This dense cluster of hairs filters the air you breathe, preventing toxins and foreign materials from entering the body, thereby playing an integral role in the immune system and acting as one of the body’s first defensive barriers.
3. Furry brows? They protect your eyes.
Our brows and brow ridge prevent moisture, mostly salty sweat and rain, from flowing into the eyes. Brows also shade the eyes from sunlight, allowing our senses adjust to changing conditions. Even our eyelashes trigger blinking to protect anything from entering our system, similar to our nose hairs.
4. Body hair (follicles) helps the skin heal.
We’re each born with 5 million hair follicles and each one has masses of blood vessels, nerves, fat, and stem cells around it. Stem cells constantly renew themselves allowing the skin to heal more quickly, a property that is lost as we age.
5. Even our pubes are always on the defensive.
Pubic hair provides a cushion against friction that can cause skin abrasion and injury on the groin. It also provides protection from bacteria and other unwanted pathogens, from reaching the skin. If you think about it, pubes are actually a great natural defense against STDs that have topical symptoms like genital warts or herpes, which is transferred during an outbreak through skin-to-skin contact, so there’s just another reason to let it grow wild!
So, next time you’re in the shower and pressed for time, think about all these reasons and forego the razor and use that time for something more purposeful like meditation. If you want to be meticulous about your hair, try trimming your unsightly hairs and prevent waxing which can leave pores open to airborne microbes resulting in irritation or infection.
Interestingly enough and on a related note, the structure of pubic hair is also very similar to cotton fibers, which is why we make our organic tampons, 100% cotton menstrual pads and hypoallergenic panty liners with this extremely breathable fiber that also helps prevent irritation. If you ever pull apart the fibers of our Maxim cotton sanitary pads and compare them to other leading natural and conventional brands, like we did in this video with our absorbent core test, you’ll be able to see for yourself the structural difference between cotton and those cotton-like fibers other companies use – rayon, viscose and wood pulp. Cotton fibers are longer and linear by nature, whereas synthetic copy-cats like wood pulp are comprised of smaller dust like particles. This seemingly minor difference in composition actually makes a huge difference in the comfort, breathability and hypoallergenic factors of menstrual care products, that just like pubic hair, can help serve a purpose.
References:
http://www.harpersbazaar.co.uk/beauty/hair/news/a41199/women-spend-cost-waxing-hair-removal-lifetime/