Throughout modern history, many famous women have taken the ‘bold’ move of leaving the house with hairy pits.

Photographed and gawked at, they either got over shaving, took inspiration from that European stereotype people love to poke fun at, or don’t care what society has to say.

Closer to home, during the winter months many women grow out their hair only because shaving is such a lus and it gets covered up anyway.

But when summer rolls around, a whole lot more women will have “forgotten” to remove that “unsightly” hair – at least that’s according to analysts Mintel.

Their recent report showed that almost one in four young women has stopped shaving their underarms.

Shock, horror.

The research went on to state that “there has been a steady decline in millennial women removing hair from their legs and underarms,” reports The Telegraph.

In 2013 95 percent of women aged 16 to 24 said they removed hair from their underarms. In 2016, this had dropped to just 77 percent.

Leg-shaving is also falling out of fashion – in 2013 92 percent said they shaved their legs, a proportion which had fallen to 85 percent in 2016.

Industry figures show that sales of shaving and hair removal products fell by 5 percent between 2015 and 2016, from £598m to an estimated £567m.

And what’s to blame? Associate director in beauty and personal care at Mintel, Roshida Khanom, pointed fingers at the “wellness movement”.

Shaving foam and hair removal creams have already taken flak for being bad for the skin and then, well then, there’s clean eating.

“Clean eating is behind some of those changes. They’re worried about causing irritation from their skin because of these products.

We can also see that they’re doing other things instead – so 29 per cent say they’re adding steps to their skincare routine.

There’s also some pushing back against societal expectations of what women should look like.

No shit.

On the flip side, men are just getting into the scene. Here are some interesting facts from the same Mintel report:

Growth in menswear is outstripping growth in women’s clothing. Figures show that the menswear market grew by 2.8 per cent while sales of women’s clothes grew by an estimated 1.3 per cent – the lowest level in five years.

Men’s increasing interest in image has driven growth in sales of conditioner, the report added. 70 per cent of men aged 16-24 now say that they use conditioner, an increase from 44 per cent in 2015.

If you, like me, find yourself growing unwanted hair more because of laziness, laser removal might be the answer for you, no?

Otherwise, let those hairs fly free!

[source:telegraph]