This January Movement Challenges Women To Rethink Their Body Hair

Many people use the month of January to try out lifestyle changes, like going alcohol-free for “Dry January” or abstaining from animal products for “Veganuary.” But one January movement you might be less familiar with is “Januhairy.”

A portmanteau of “January” and “hairy,” Januhairy is a movement that encourages people to put their razors down and let their body hair grow out for the month ― and then perhaps year-round if they enjoy the experience. While Movember and No Shave November aim to raise awareness around men’s health and cancer, Januhairy is about challenging societal beauty norms, especially for women and femme-presenting people.

“It’s a way for us to question body hair standards and why we follow these societal norms that make us feel like body hair isn’t beautiful or feminine or acceptable on a woman’s body — despite being acceptable on a man’s body — and it challenges the feeling that our body hair is innately gross when it’s just hair,” Esther Calixte-Bea, a body hair activist and visual artist, told HuffPost.

Indeed, Januhairy founder Laura Jackson launched the movement just before January 2019 to raise money for a body-image-focused organization called Body Gossip, and to empower women to stop shaving, waxing and lasering ― or at least question why they might feel they have to.

“I think it’s an interesting way for women to try to grow out their hair in a collective way, as a form of resistance, as a form of self-experimentation, and as a playful and fun form of rebellion,” said Breanne Fahs, a professor of women and gender studies at Arizona State University and author of “Unshaved: Resistance and Revolution in Women’s Body Hair Politics.”

In many ways, Januhairy serves as a reminder that women removing