When female celebrities such as Bella Thorne and Julia Roberts raise their arms in the air, armpit hair isn’t what anyone expects to see. It, however, is a growing trend that females – especially of the millennial generation – are embracing more and more.
Between the ages of 2013 and 2016, a research agency called Mintel determined 18 percent of women ages 16 to 24 stopped shaving their armpits. According to the New York Times , sales in the hair removal industry supports these numbers with a drop of roughly five percent between 2015 and 2016.
On Saturday, Thorne put Roberts’ armpit hair in a throwback photo on full display for her 18.4 million Instagram subscribers. Accumulating over 650,000 likes and over 13,100 comments, most couldn’t help but give their thoughts on females not shaving their armpits.
“Being natural is not unclean!!! But rubbing in people faces that don’t approve is priceless but also not the best to be honest but who cares at this point,” one of Thorne’s followers chimed in.
“Beauty is subjective…I find it quite hot that’s why my armpits are in their full natural glory,” a second said in support of Thorne’s picture.
A third added: “I love how some people here act like this is such a crime.”
While Thorne’s followers gave a lot of love and support to the armpit hair picture, there were many who found the picture “disgusting.” Several Instagram users opted to leave nothing more than vomiting emoticons to express how they felt about the picture.
One individual claimed armpit hair wasn’t a man versus women issue, but an issue of hygiene.
“It is not about shaving for men, it is about hygiene, even men started shaving,” the individual continued to explain.
Several others agreed that both men and women should save their armpit hair because it was “disgusting” and “smelly.”
There were even a few individuals who questioned whether it was real pit hair because they could “see thread.”
According to a report from by Insider , Thorne put her own armpit hair on display earlier this year. At the time of the report, many of Thorne’s followers took to social media to admit that they could “care less” about her pit hair.
While – according to MTV – Julia Roberts is often the first female celebrity that comes to mind when discussing the topic of armpit hair, she is far from the only female in the spotlight to jump on this trend. Lourdes, Miley Cyrus, Jemima Kirke, Michelle Rodriguez, Drew Barrymore, Britney Spears, Paris Jackson, and Madonna have only proudly flaunted their unshaven armpits at one time or another.
