How to Cut Your Own Hair at Home Long, Short, Wavy, Curly, Kids, Bangs

Table Of Content

• Here's The *Right* Way To Trim Your Own Hair At Home, According To Experts
• How To Trim Bangs
• How to cut layers in long hair:
• Dark Stag Steel Bevelled Razor Edge Barber Scissors, £28.95

The W8less is also easier to use in a bathroom without convenient outlets, since its 8-foot cord makes it usable farther away. If you have curly hair, opt for the Rusk CTC Lite, which offers the same performance and warranty as the W8less and comes with a diffuser to help define curls. The key is to start small with a few careful snips — and to go slow.

Here's The *Right* Way To Trim Your Own Hair At Home, According To Experts

You can always take more hair off, but you can't add back what you've already chopped! If you're cutting your hair while it's wet, remember it will look even shorter once it dries, so snip with extreme caution. In fact, if your strands are curly or you're wavy-haired, only cut your hair when it's dry so you can get a better idea of what the final look will be. If you have straight hair, you can cut while it's wet or dampen it with a spray bottle first to get the cleanest, sharpest lines possible. While a salon appointment with a trained hairstylist is the safest way to go for any kind of haircut, sometimes you gotta do it yourself—and that’s okay.

Tips for Cutting and Coloring Your Own Hair at Home in 2020 - Self

Tips for Cutting and Coloring Your Own Hair at Home in 2020.

Posted: Tue, 07 Apr 2020 07:00:00 GMT [source]

How To Trim Bangs

If you’re also trimming bangs, style them how you typically wear them on your forehead. Focus on trimming your hair—don't try to completely restyle it. When in doubt, you can always wait and book an appointment with your favorite stylist once you're fully vaccinated and they have time to see you. Below is our best trimming advice, along with some links to tutorials that will help you with the basics. Many stylists are now offering virtual haircuts, using video calls to guide clients through a cut.

How to cut layers in long hair:

If you cut your hair when it’s wet, there’s a chance that the hair will jump when it’s dry – especially if your hair is curly.’ And this can result in too much being taken off. Before you start trimming your hair at home, find a tutorial that most closely matches your own hair length and hair type, so you can get the most accurate guide. And to make sure you’re getting expert information, Brown says to choose one created by an actual hair expert or stylist. So if you want to skip these steps (since they’re going to be different for every hair type), keep scrolling for the best tutorials on trimming your own hair. But if you want expert advice (and you do!), keep reading first.

Anyone with straight hair can use these foolproof methods to make sure your DIY cut is nice and even. Bring hair to the front and snip at an angle or straight, depending on if you prefer a rounded or blunt shape to your cut. Take the ponytail and pull upwards on the hair tie until it's only an inch or two away from the ends. If you have a lot of layering, you can secure extra elastics every few inches until the ends are easy to hold taut. If you're looking to trim your hair or even cut off a few inches of hair, one method streamlines the process for first-timers.

Dark Stag Steel Bevelled Razor Edge Barber Scissors, £28.95

An undercut style is by far the easiest haircut to try at home and it can make a huge difference in managing and cutting thick hair. Learning to trim the nape of your head will also be useful if you’re trying to maintain or grow out a pixie cut. The best thing about this style is that it’s really easy to do and if you didn’t get it right the first time, you can simply wear your hair down and no one will notice (if you don’t go too bold, of course). Ashley Streicher, stylist and co-owner of Los Angeles’s Striiike beauty studio, recently posted this helpful, step-by-step guide to trimming bangs. (Yes, cut them dry.) Notice that Streicher also recommends using nail scissors for DIY bang trims.

How to keep kids entertained while you trim

The Joewell Craft X Series 6.0 pair from Sally Beauty is made of steel, claims to be comfortable to grip in the hand, and they’ll evenly trim the hair with a sharp blade. Bring one section forward at a time, and determine how much you want to take off—we suggest a quarter of an inch to half an inch. (Cut a little less than you think you should.) Trim off the length and then snip the ends to add texture and blend everything out.

Step 1: What You Need + Tips:

To revive curly hair, Witherspoon recommends Aveda’s Dry Remedy Moisturizing Masque, which, customer reviews say, does a great job of diminishing frizz. The formula contains fruit oils, lavender, bergamot, and flower essences, so it smells great, too. For a similar mask at a fraction of the price, Mocarski suggests Aussie’s 3-Minute Miracle Moist to smooth split ends.

Hair-cutting tools

When parting hair like this, Marjan likes to use the arches of her eyebrows as a guide to determine the outermost edges of the section. Then, you might want to take a deep breath and relax your hands. So, if you've recently visited a pro and your hair still feels relatively healthy, you can wait a little longer to snip your ends. Fortunately for the curly-haired of you out there, hairstylist Mel of Manes by Mel is here to talk you through trimming your own hair at home.

But if it is getting to the point where your bangs are driving you insane, chip into them with extra caution since bangs are the frame to your face. You can check out our helpful how to cut your bangs at-home guide here. If you have straight or wavy hair, Arrunategui suggests smoothing out your hair first with a flat iron. Even if your hair is straight, you may have a cowlick, dents from the way you slept on it, or kinks at the roots from not washing your hair. The idea is to get the hair smooth and dry so that no ridges form or hair shrinks up.

Try to put off your trim until you can see your stylist, Mocarski says, but if you truly cannot wait, she thinks this video by New York stylist Brad Mondo isn’t as “terrible” as many other online tutorials. The cut requires basic tools, can be done alone, and works well on long, straight hair. When you become comfortable with the scissors and become less afraid of experimenting, you’re ready to start other techniques and cuts. "Use the comb as a guide for a straight line, then cut upwards with the scissors." But whatever you do, be patient and keep your cuts minimal.

(So much!) Besides the potentially devastating aesthetic outcomes, a trained professional has a certain set of tools and skills (plus a view of the back of your head) most of us do not. They know how to add layers, give you a prim and pinprick-sharp bob, or snip those bangs to perfection. Craft or kitchen scissors simply will not work for this type of DIY project. Also a powerful flatiron, alligator clips, and a comb (wide tooth for curly hair, fine-tooth for straight hair). We're well into Lockdown 3.0 now and those are the big hair-centric questions raising thair controversial heads again.

Why Do We Have Pubic Hair?

Table Of Content

• When to See a Healthcare Provider
• WOMEN DIDN'T ALWAYS SHAVE THEIR ARMPITS.
• causes of loss of armpit/pubic hair
• The Real Reason We Have Armpit Hair
• Is there a way to safely remove the hair?

Their findings reveal the existence of a naturally-occurring inhibitor secreted in developing hairless skin which blocks a signaling pathway, known as the WNT pathway, that controls hair growth. While fairly common, ingrown hairs can become quite painful and possibly lead to infection if left untreated. If having hair is so crucial to the function of our bodies, why have we been removing it for hundreds of years? This is a pretty recent obsession.” Jablonski estimates the practice of body hair removal started about only 500 years ago. Since giving birth to her son in January, Ashley Graham has been documenting the realities of postpartum life on social media. In many of the pictures she’s sporting underarm hair, no comment needed.

When to See a Healthcare Provider

Female Celebs With Armpit Hair: Photos of Stars Unshaved - Life&Style Weekly

Female Celebs With Armpit Hair: Photos of Stars Unshaved.

Posted: Mon, 10 Apr 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

It may also be due to a malfunction in the hypothalamus and/or pituitary glands in the brain, which control hormone levels. PCOS is often treated with birth control pills, which suppress ovulation, regulate the monthly cycle, and decrease male hormone production. Maintaining normal body weight can often help the condition.

WOMEN DIDN'T ALWAYS SHAVE THEIR ARMPITS.

According to Agbai, genetics, hormonal shifts, stress, underlying medical conditions, nutritional deficiencies, and scalp inflammation are notable factors. If you are stopping shaving to allow your razor bumps to heal, you should allow about 3-4 weeks of not shaving. If you are looking to decrease shaving as a long-term solution, even shaving every other day instead of every day can decrease the chances of a razor bump forming. Razor bumps typically appear within a day or two after shaving or hair removal, and they can last for a few days or up to a few weeks. Some people may be more prone to razor bumps than others. If you do develop razor bumps, there are a few ways to recognize them and get rid of them quickly.

causes of loss of armpit/pubic hair

“I realized I didn’t have a good enough answer,” Hunt says. She grew out her armpit hair, and found it “much more sexy and natural”. Among both celebrities and the masses, female body hair is sprouting all over. Ilana of Broad City has exposed her underarm growth; so have Jemima Kirke and Zazie Beetz. In January of this year, Laura Jackson, a British college student, ran a campaign called “Januhairy,” urging women to grow out their body hair and post selfies on Instagram.

How do I know which type of hair loss I have?

DeWanda Wise Explains Why She Dyed Her Armpit Hair for ‘She’s Gotta Have It’ - Hollywood Reporter

DeWanda Wise Explains Why She Dyed Her Armpit Hair for ‘She’s Gotta Have It’.

Posted: Fri, 31 May 2019 07:00:00 GMT [source]

“Hair is really, really useful.” Most mammals, including our closest relatives, the bonobo and the chimpanzee, are covered in hair. So for us to not have much body hair now is pretty noteworthy, Jablonski says. Now, before we talk about the what of body hair, we have to speak to the why.

Researchers from Firmenich, a company in Geneva, set out to understand the subtle nuances in body odor to better market deodorant products to consumers. In their 2009 study, published in Chemical Senses, they discovered that your unique bouquet may be different depending on whether you're a cisgender man or woman. Women's sweat contained higher levels of an odorless sulphur-containing compound that produces a pungent oniony thioalcohol when combined with the bacteria in the underarm. Men's sweat held higher levels of a fatty acid that produced a "cheesy" scent when the bacteria of the armpit came in contact with it. While teenagers often exist in a funk so tangible you can almost see it, most children do not begin to have stinky pits until their tweens.

WOMEN'S PITS SMELL LIKE ONIONS AND MEN'S LIKE CHEESE.

Other animals send out chemical signals called pheromones to attract mates. We still don't know whether pheromones exist in humans, but plenty of evidence indicates we are highly sensitive to each other's biochemicals. If pheromones do exist, body hair around the groin and armpits could be a likely place to find them. But as "civilized" people, we believe the process of finding a partner lies in our hearts and minds—not in our armpits. Back before modern conveniences like showers, shaving body hair may have been considered a way to reduce odors, infections, and pests.

Loss of Armpit/Pubic Hair Symptoms, Causes & Common Questions

By the Roaring Twenties, many women's pits were as hairless as the day they were born. It’s common knowledge our natural scents play a role in our attractions; just think of how someone might seem made for you on a dating app, but in person your expectations fall flat for seemingly no reason. We fit, or don’t, with others partially based on how our bodies react to the scent of theirs, and that scent is caused by pheromones. A study published in 2018 showed that the natural pheromones of our partners make us feel calmer and less stressed.

I am usually late to catch on to shifts in the zeitgeist; this one came to my attention just recently. While watching the HBO show High Maintenance, I noticed that Lee, the protagonist’s hip and beautiful love interest, was sporting hairy armpits. Therefore, as the theory goes, pubic hair may trap pheromones, increasing how attractive we appear to potential sex partners.

None of this means that there is necessarily anything wrong with choosing to trim or remove your pubic hair, however. It’s simply an indication that there isn’t a strong medical argument for removing it. Therefore, it reduces the irritation that friction can cause, for example, when you exercise. Not removing this hair considerably reduces the possibility of ingrown hairs, which can cause pain, discomfort, and infections. Such sex hormones make the apocrine sweat glands begin to function.

More specifically, it is theorized by some that the hair exists for the purpose of getting soaked in potent mate-attracting pheromones. Most of the time a swollen lymph node in the armpit is little more than a sign of a cold or flu virus attacking your body. However, it can also be an early symptom of inflammatory breast cancer, an aggressive form of cancer that is best treated when caught as early as possible. Other areas that may swell in this cancer are your breast itself, and around your collarbone. If you have these kinds of sudden swellings, it's a good idea to see a doctor. The researchers plan to engineer a deodorant that would kill only the stink-producing bacteria, instead of the entire armpit microbiome.

How to Cut Your Own Long Hair: 9 Easy Methods with Video

Table Of Content

• How to Trim Your Own Split Ends
• How to Cut Your Own Hair at Home and Get Salon-Level Results
• Small scissors for trimming your own bangs
• How to trim your split ends on dry hair
• How to cut your own hair at home – the guide to getting it right
• Separate Your Hair into Sections
• Twist Hair to Cut Your Own Bangs

Getting a perfectly even DIY cut can be tricky, but this tried-and-true method for achieving layers at home is great for beginners. Smooth hair into a ponytail at the top of the hairline near the forehead (hence the "unicorn ponytail" method), pull hair forward and snip ends. The sharper the angle, the more drastic the face-framing layers will be. Before you get started, you'll want to invest in a pair of razor-sharp styling shears designed specifically for the task, like Equinox Professional Shears, for the best-looking cut (and the healthiest hair) possible. Dull edges on household scissors could potentially give you even more split ends (plus, ew, cross-contamination).

How to Trim Your Own Split Ends

It goes without saying that different hair types require different techniques. If you have afro-textured or curly hair and like to wear it natural, do not cur your own hair in straight lines – is not going to have the desired effect. Instead of trying to tame your curls into one single length, go with the flow of your hair. This is a good guide for blending short haircuts and dealing with cowlicks, and here's a tutorial for classic shaggy toddler haircuts. When in doubt, you can always use a mixing bowl (or a headband). By high school, a bowl cut is not going to help their social standing.

How to Cut Your Own Hair at Home and Get Salon-Level Results

How to Cut Men's Hair - Best Haircut Tips 2020 The Strategist - New York Magazine

How to Cut Men's Hair - Best Haircut Tips 2020 The Strategist.

Posted: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 07:00:00 GMT [source]

It is important to do the bare minimum to keep this experience as foolproof as possible. The idea is to keep your hair from looking stringy or too outgrown. Start with small cuts as you can always take off more hair, not vice versa. Regal Gentleman has us covered with this in-depth how-to video. Give it a good watch, take things slowly and you'll have his short back and sides trim sorted in no time. Designed for barbering, the Dark Stag scissors use hollow-ground blades that give precise cuts.

Small scissors for trimming your own bangs

Just make sure you have sharp hair shears, a thorough tutorial featuring your own hair type, and expert advice (like…everything above), and when in doubt, cut less, not more. If you have long hair and you’ve been wondering how to cut your own hair in layers, bobbles are the answer. To DIY the so-called ponytail haircut, simply scrape your hair into a pony at the front of your head, comb the ponytail, and chop the tips off straight across with scissors or clippers. Some point-cutting added, and voila – you have a haircut with long layers! This works for hair of almost any length, starting from lob cuts and ending with mermaid locks.

How to trim your split ends on dry hair

Quarantine Cuts: How to cut your own hair - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Quarantine Cuts: How to cut your own hair.

Posted: Tue, 21 Apr 2020 07:00:00 GMT [source]

For tighter curl types ranging from 3C to 4C, try sectioning your hair, gently detangling, and using firm pressure to keep it from moving too much as you trim. This tutorial and this tutorial are both great options for highly textured hair. Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time).

How to cut your own hair at home – the guide to getting it right

As my hairstylist Angela Layng says, "We never make our best hair decisions when we're stressed." Additionally, the stylists I've interviewed emphasized the fact that home haircuts can quickly go awry. Just take a look at the videos of people trying to give themselves bangs. First of all, think hard about whether you really want to do this. So unless your hair is truly driving you buggy, our experts recommend waiting until you can get a professional cut.

Separate Your Hair into Sections

If you have thick, curly hair, cutting your hair at home is all about sectioning your layers and making minor cuts to your ends for healthier hair to extend the length between professional trips to the salon. This style is layered with bangs, but you can also just trim the ends of your hair using the same technique. With straight and wavy hair, O’Neil recommends to section hair by splitting your hair and placing each side over the shoulders, drawing your hair all the way to the front.

Using a clipper is a nearly foolproof way to maintain short hair; if you use the right guide comb, you’ll get the right length. Its motor is extremely powerful yet pleasingly quiet, and its casing is lightweight but durable. In a pinch, Wahl’s Peanut Clipper & Trimmer is another good choice. Though we tested it for our beard trimming guide, it should work just fine for the hair on your head, as well. In testing, we were consistently impressed by its durability and power.

Recommendations

If you have very curly hair, try a DIY Deva Cut, another technique that requires dry natural hair. Instead of brushing out your hair, just separate the curls with your fingers. Read on for valuable advice that will make your haircut a success. Then watch handpicked video tutorials that will teach you how to cut bangs, layer your hair, buzz cut your own hair, and even get a bob or a pixie cut at home. There are plenty of ways to change your look without being extreme or doing something you may regret.

Split ends are rife, layers have grown out, fringes are morphing into curtains, action needs to be taken, but is cutting your own hair at home really the way forward? Ah the humble haircut, how we took you for granted BC (before COVID, of course). While some of us managed to nab an appointment in-between Lockdown 1.0 and 2.0 or had the fortune of living in a Tier 1-3 area – we are all now faced with the same restrictions in Lockdown 3.0. Again, our beloved hairdressers and beauty salons will close their doors and for many of us, we’ll be taking our beauty maintenance in-house. Which means more DIY manicures, several sheet masks and perhaps a haircut at home. If it’s the latter you’re considering, remember to always tread, or rather snip, carefully.

Gently pull the scrunchie down the length of your hair, being careful to not pull it to one side. If your hair is especially long, you might want to pull from the bottom as shown in the second photo. This method is a little trickier, and I don't do it often, but it's doable.Leave 3-4 inches of hair below the scrunchie. At just £8.99, these hairdressing scissors are an absolute steal.

Committing to DIY bang trims—and this tutorial for straight hair is a great place to start. If you want to take some of the weight out of your hair, you’ll need a pair of texturizing shears (also known as thinning or layering scissors). And, for those going for a pixie cut, get some good clippers and a few different size attachments. The type of trim you'll want depends on your curl type (check your curl type here). For looser 2A to 3B curls, you can probably follow this tutorial, where you work with dry hair and trim curl by curl at an angle to ensure voluminous results. To hold back sections of hair you don’t want to cut, Patrick recommends these simple clips from Conair.

Everything Youve Ever Wanted to Know About Body Hair The Science of Beauty Podcast

Table Of Content

• Keeping Your Armpit Hair May Have Health Advantages
• Why do people remove it?
• Is armpit hair the same as pubic hair?
• It prevents other discomforts or diseases
• IT'S NOT YOUR SWEAT THAT STINKS.
• Reasons people remove it
• The Real Health Benefits of Not Shaving Under Your Arms
• Benefits of Armpit Hair Shaving

But it's also an important juncture that protects important lymph nodes and soft tissue. Mental Floss spoke to microbiologist Alex Berezow, a senior fellow of biomedical science with the American Council on Science and Health, about this often overlooked spot. Cushing syndrome is a hormonal disorder that occurs when there is too much of the stress hormone cortisol in the body. It can be caused by taking steroid medications commonly prescribed for asthma or arthritis, or by problems with the glands in the body that are involved in creating cortisol. Symptoms can vary from person to person but often include easy bruising, a "hump" on the back, and stretch marks.

Keeping Your Armpit Hair May Have Health Advantages

In particular, they’re chemicals the body naturally produces and releases to act as scent signals, especially in the opposite sex. Not only are more women — including celebrities — refusing to shave, wax, and laser their underarms, but they’re going one step further by bedazzling (pitjazzling?) the area. There’s unicorn armpit hair, glitter armpit hair, braided armpit hair ... One of the biggest benefits of removing armpit hair is decreased armpit odor. One study aimed to find out if armpit hair affects body odor, and if so, to what extent. Before the study began, researchers theorized that removing armpit hair would be the best way to minimize armpit odor.

Why do people remove it?

Smooth skin isn’t the only benefit you can expect from shaving. Ultimately, a person needs to determine how they feel about the decision and do what makes them happiest. My two best friends and I stopped shaving in high school. For me, this decision was not explicitly about feminism, but about an allegiance to my idea of authenticity (not to mention my allegiance to laziness).

Is armpit hair the same as pubic hair?

If you’re into removing your pubic hair because it makes you feel great, go for it. “A lot of women just like how it feels and find something aesthetically pleasing about it,” says Dr. Ross. Whatever makes you feel good is awesome, as long as it’s something you actually want to do. There are various reasons why people might decide to remove their pubic hair, but a lot of them are rooted in sexual health myths.

It prevents other discomforts or diseases

Part of the reason people have armpit hair is due to hormone changes—especially surrounding puberty. While keeping or removing your armpit hair is very much a personal choice and one that shouldn't be judged either way, there's a lot of pressure for women to keep their pits smooth. Why are women expected to remove their armpit hair if it has so many uses? "There's this false association that hairlessness equals cleanliness, but that's not actually true as long as you're clean," said Gohara. While armpit hair has uses, that doesn't mean you are obligated to keep it if you don't want to. You should know, however, that shaving your armpit hair can lead to issues.

Dungeons and Dragons movie's armpit hair breaks a movie taboo - Digital Spy

Dungeons and Dragons movie's armpit hair breaks a movie taboo.

Posted: Sat, 01 Apr 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

IT'S NOT YOUR SWEAT THAT STINKS.

Maggie Rogers Shares Her Skin & Hair Routine On Tour - Refinery29

Maggie Rogers Shares Her Skin & Hair Routine On Tour.

Posted: Fri, 01 Feb 2019 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Learn more about the best ways to safely remove the pubic hair here. Pubic hair is normal, and the amount of hair in the pubic region varies from person to person. There is no standard for the amount, the thickness, or the area that pubic hair will cover. ” I cried to my husband, as though I’d unexpectedly spotted a T-shirt emblazoned with the name of my favorite obscure band. For the past couple of decades, I have seldom shaved my armpits.

It might grow in like mine, which is coarse and curly — a luscious pit Afro, if you will. Or it could crop up as sparsely as Justin Bieber’s mustache. Hair can only grow so long; it’s not like you’ll be able to fishtail your pit hair by summer’s end. Tired of sweating excessively or dealing with sweat stains on your clothes?

"When you shave, you can get irritation, folliculitis, rashes, inflammation, and even infections from dirty razors," Dr. Mona Gohara told the outlet. She added that there is no "biological reason to remove that hair." Facial hair, armpit hair, and pubic hair are all the same type of hair, called “terminal hair.” It starts growing as fine hair (vellus hair), and at puberty starts to change and progresses to a coarse hair. It sheds often and therefore the longest armpit or pubic hair would be less than 6 inches. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, it’s completely normal to shed anywhere between 50 to 100 strands of hair per day. However, if you’ve noticed more strands falling out of your head than normal, you may be experiencing alopecia, the medical term for hair loss.

Benefits of Armpit Hair Shaving

Merely going out in public with female body hair takes a different sort of courage. You’re less likely to hear direct insults, but more likely to get funny looks, unmediated by a screen. But she remembers thinking something was afoot when dyed armpit hair became fashionable a few years ago. One of the pioneers of that micro-trend was Roxie Jane Hunt, a hairstylist in Seattle. Since its launch in November 2017, Billie has positioned itself as explicitly feminist.

While it may seem totally useless, armpit hair does have some pretty specific uses, according to esthetician Marta Camkiran. This is called hyperhidrosis, a condition that causes people to sweat excessively from their hands, feet, and armpits. By leaving the armpit hair intact, you’re helping trap odor, since moisture (sweat) attaches to hair. This is because the armpits release an odor containing pheromones, a naturally-producing chemical that plays a role in sexual attraction. Sensitivities to androgen levels also influence where terminal hair grows on the body, for everyone.

Although there’s no definitive answer, plenty of theories abound as to why human beings have hairy armpits and pubic regions, one of which seems pretty reasonable. "Deodorants change the composition of the microbiome," Berezow says. "The secretions our armpits make don't stink. Bacteria break down the compounds, and those breakdown products stink," says Berezow. The bacteria that live in the moist crevices of your armpits interact with your sweat, which contains volatile fatty acids and odorous steroids (among other compounds). That creates a product known as thioalcohols, whose oniony, meaty scents you're likely familiar with if you've ever been stuck in a crowded elevator, subway, or gym at peak workout time.

Shaving, perhaps the most common method, can cause damage to your underarms. It can cause inflammation, itching, , folliculitis, and razor burns. Worse, if you’re not the most conscientious about your , cuts from razors could lead to infection. The biographical comedy series Naked Director discussed some pretty serious topics, from show business to politics to sex. One issue that it casts to light probably inadvertently is . The show is about the Japanese adult entertainment industry.

Trends around keeping or eliminating body hair change over time, but the habit of shaving off the hair that grows on us has been around since before any trends existed. Rumor has it we’ve been grooming away our body hair for over 100,000 years, starting by plucking it out (ouch) one by one, then later moving to actual tools. Did you know there are approximately five million hair follicles on the human body? And each one of those follicles serves a number of significant roles when it comes to the overall function of the human anatomy. So why exactly have we been removing our body hair for the last few hundreds of years? Well, you can chock that up to societal and cultural norms.

That natural inhibitor is Dickkopf 2 (DKK2) – a protein that is found in specific embryonic and adult tissues where it plays a variety of roles. Researchers tested plantar skin from mice – roughly the equivalent of the underside of the human wrist – and found that DKK2 was highly expressed. Furthermore, when they genetically removed DKK2, hair began to grow in this normally hairless skin region. Eyebrows, on the other hand, provide an entirely different purpose than that of underarm or pubic hair. “Our eyebrows allow our expressions and moods to be determined or communicated from one person to another, even at a great distance,” says Jablonski.

Then dermatologist Kavita Mariwalla stopped by to chat about what’s going on beneath the surface, and share the pros and cons of the many ways to remove body hair, if you so choose. Either way, after reading the below — and hearing even more on our episode — you’ll never look at your body hair the same way again. You should remember that hair alone isn’t responsible for the body odor that can occur in this area.

Because pubic hair appears during puberty, it is often a physical sign of sexual maturity and may once have served as a visual cue for prospective mates. Other theories as to the purpose of pubic hair include trapping pheromones. However, most well-controlled scientific studies have not shown any compelling evidence for this. As social conventions ease and expand, the armpit hair trend may be here to stay. Just seize the moment and embrace whatever makes you confident. You know that not everyone will approve, and some will let you know it.