Even though most of us have body hair, it seems to be a touchy subject, generally.
In my family, for instance, shaving our legs was a right of passage and we couldn’t wait to get rid of it all as soon as puberty hit.
For others, things may have been different.
Calixte-Bea, also known as “Queen Esie” on Instagram recently went viral when she shared that she wore a bikini for the first time on the Ivory Coast and felt a freedom she had never felt before.
With a series of pictures she said:
Bikini at the Beach for the FIRST TIME
While in Ivory Coast, I had challenged myself by mainly bringing clothes that showed my chest hair; shorts, dresses & skirts to also let my hairy legs out unshamed.
My family and I decided to go to the beach.
I remember being so nervous.
I fully accept and love my body hair but I had never worn a bikini, and no one has seen a hairy woman at the beach.
I looked around and saw a very hairy man relaxing in the shade, not a care in the world.
But I’m a woman, that has to be shaved especially at the BEACH ! Have my “summer body ready”! Wearing a bikini while hairy meant that I had to be ready for the stares & comments.
I arrived at the beach knowing this was going to be a big step for me and that hairy women had shared their concerns with me about going to the beach hairy and I still hadn’t done it yet.
I put on my bathing suit and reminded myself that “Hey I love my body hair, this is me, who cares what anybody thinks.
THIS IS MY BODY!” I walked out of the changing rooms still wearing the cover up until I got close to the beach and finally took it off Proudly! I walked around the beach, ran on the sand, played with the waves and had so much FUUUUN! Yes, people stared even pointed at me, gesturing to their friends that I had a lot of hair on my thighs. A family even stared in shock for over 10 mins.
And I decided to smile and wave at them, as they stared at my armpit hairs. Why be offended by stares when I would have done the same in their place.
In the end, it really wasn’t so bad. I now feel a Freedom I had never felt before & Love myself even more
This is my Summer Body!☀️
Last year Queen Esie was on the cover of Glamour’s self-love issue and she said she began growing chest hair when she was 11-years-old and felt she had to remove it for her elementary school graduation.
View this post on Instagram
“I realized I was different from other people because I was very, very hairy compared to other girls,” Calixte-Bea said. “I was struggling with that. In high school, I was always hiding it, even in college and university.”
Years of insecurity began impacting Calixte-Bea’s mental health which lead to a “dark moment” where she knew she had to do the self-work to embrace her body hair. In the Self-Love issue, she credits prayer and self-work with helping her “unlearn the detrimental ideas” that made her feel as though her body hair was something that wasn’t feminine and needed to be hidden or removed.
Calixte-Bea has “gotten used to” her body hair and has set out on a personal and artistic mission to normalize body hair and redefine femininity.
She uses the personal mantra “we wear our body hair with class” to help reframe her relationship with her body and body hair.
We love that Queen Esie shared her story! Whats yours? Do you shave religeously or do you allow your hair to flourish?
Comment below!
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