For the longest time, body hair, especially armpit and leg hair, has always been considered female celebrities’ major flaw in their character design. That is, according to societal norms, it’s an eye sore, to say the least, and gross and unattractive, to say the worst. Under no circumstances should they show even a tiny bit of growth in those areas lest they risk hurting their hard-earned fame.
However, that doesn’t mean women always followed the rules.
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Back in Old Hollywood, there already have been a few who rebelled against this antiquated taboo – Sophia Loren, Helen Mirren, Madonna, Grace Jones, Lisa Bonet, and Julia Roberts. They embraced the au natural look – furry pits and hairy legs – and didn’t give an ounce of f–ck whether people would hate them for it or not because women do have hair.
When the early 2000s came in, big stars like Britney Spears, Beyonce, and Drew Barrymore joined the no-nicks-no-cuts team. In the 2010s, more and more celebrities have embraced the DGAF attitude that helped de-stigmatize women’s body hair. The list includes Miley Cyrus, Paris Jackson, Gigi Hadid, Ashley Graham, Rihanna, and Cara Delevigne, to name just a few.
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As we charter on the 2020s and move forward, the conversation about body hair (as part of the larger body positivity movement) has gone a long way. And hairy sightings have become quite normal sceneries.
Let’s look at our favorite armpit and leg hair moments over the decades. Sit tight. We have a long list for you.
Sophia Loren (1955)
Unlike other actresses during her time, Sophia Loren had never felt the need to conform to any beauty standard. She lived her life how she wanted to, which meant letting her armpit hair fully display confidently. Her natural beauty had already transcended any ‘standard’ and overshadowed any hesitancy to accept her bushy armpit hair.
Loren made armpit hair sexy and redefined the bombshell aesthetic. She stood as a pioneering example in a time when women were afraid to show more skin than they should be, let alone skin with unshaven hair.
Helen Mirren (1968)
Before actress Helen Mirren even became famous, she had already been out and proud with her armpit hair. In 1968, she revealed her underarm in one of her scenes as Cressida in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre’s production of ‘Troilus and Cressida’ in Stratford, England.
Madonna (1984)
Aside from being a badass singer and performer, Madonna is also a badass rule breaker. She had been breaking the outdated rule that women shouldn’t have hairy underarms since 1984.
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar in 2011, she shared that she saw how popular girls behaved to get the boys they liked and knew she couldn’t fit into that. So, she decided to do the opposite – no makeup, hairstyle, or shaving. As many of us know, she has been serving looks ever since then. Look at this armpit selfie she took in 2014!
Lourdes Leon
That’s why it’s unsurprising that her daughter, Lourdes Leon, has followed in her footsteps. In 2017, she shared a photo of her and her then-21-year-old confidently showing her hairy pit. Then in 2018, she made headlines twice – at the Gypsy Sport Runway and Vogue’s Fashion Fund Event – for ditching the razor and featuring her thick, hairy legs.
Then in 2022, Lourdes turned heads with her Calvin Klein campaign, which showcased her armpit hair.
Grace Jones (1985)
Grace Jones’s style is often described as eclectic and gender-bending, and her underarm growth complements that. In the photo, she is in a glittery white tube-like dress with her armpit hair in its full glory when she attended the 1985 Fashion Aid event in London, and she never really shaved it over the years. In 2015, she exposed her unshaven armpits when she debuted her three-day concert at Vivid Sydney Festival.
Lisa Bonet (1990)
Actress Lisa Bonet has also never shied away from showing off her bushy pits, even when everyone feared being exposed of having them. Needless to say, she really made it look so good.
Julia Roberts (1999)
Who could ever forget Julia Roberts’ iconic unshaven pit during the 1999 premiere of ‘Notting Hill’ in London? The actress wore a glittery sleeveless red dress, waved, and exposed the bush.
In an episode of ‘Busy Tonight,’ Roberts explained what happened in that moment. She said that it was all very vivid in her memory, but it wasn’t so much a statement as what others thought it was. She was just being herself. “I think I just hadn’t really calculated my sleeve length and the waving, and how those two things would go together and reveal personal things about me.”
Nevertheless, the positive impact of that image on body hair remains unmatched.
Juliette Lewis (2002)
If there’s one thing you should know about Juliette Lewis is that she knows how to rock a party dress with underarm hair. In 2002, she wore a black backless dress while attending the afterparty for the New York City premiere of “Enough” with her armpit and hair sticking out in clear view.
Then in 2005, she walked down the red carpet of Kerrang! Awards in London, fearlessly tussling her shag hairstyle with her hairy armpit in full view.
Britney Spears (2003)
Britney Spears was all smiles as she flipped her hair and exposed her armpit hair at the 31st Annual American Music Awards. And it was clear that she didn’t care that paparazzi would capture that shot.
Paris Hilton (2004)
You’d think an ‘it girl’ like Paris Hilton would give so much thought about every inch of her appearance to look perfect. But she, too, had her carefree side. In fact, her armpit, which had a bit of fuzz, was seen when she hosted the Blackjack on the Beach held in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Drew Barrymore (2005)
Drew Barrymore stunned everyone with her simple black low-cut dress in 2003 with her underarm fuzz in plain view. And until now, she still doesn’t make it a habit to remove her armpit hair. According to a video she uploaded last April 2023 on Instagram, she had been going on three months with her fuzzy pit.
Alyssa Milano (2005)
Alyssa Milano wasn’t too worried that her armpit hair would get photographed when she attended the Xbox launch event in LA back in 2005. She even wore a tube top for that.
Years later, she still hadn’t changed her mind about it. Here’s proof.
Beyonce (2008)
Queen Bey also rocked the armpit hair look during the 2008 New York City premiere of “Cadillac Records.” And she did so with so much ease – as if wearing armpit hair was like a casual Tuesday.
Kelly Rowland (2008)
Another Black beauty who slayed the fuzzy pit game was former Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland. She made body hair in style at the 2008 InStyle Best Beauty Buys Awards in London.
Mo’Nique (2010)
Award-winning stand-up comedian and actress Mo’Nique wasn’t hiding her hairy legs at the 2010 Film Independent Spirit Awards in Los Angeles. In fact, she was flaunting it. Speaking with Barbara Walters in 2010, she said that she tried shaving one time, and it ended up being an uncomfortable and painful experience. Not to mention that when it grew back, it was thicker.
Lady Gaga (2011)
During the 2011 MuchMusicVideo Awards in Toronto, Lady Gaga went gaga with her performance outfit. She wore an extra long wig in turquoise and matched it with turquoise armpit hair and groin bush. It may be fake, but it cannot be argued that this look served and made an impact.
Gabby Hoffman (2014)
Gabby Hoffman took center stage four years after Mo’Nique flaunted her hairy legs at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. This time, however, the display was a fuzzy armpit. To perfectly match it, the actress even wore a fuzzy outfit too – and in black.
Hoffman talked in 2013 about her decision to embrace body hair: “People are obsessed with actresses being hairless, fatless Barbie dolls. They can’t imagine that people would want to be anything other than that. It’s a further comment on the culture at large that people assume we were making a statement.”
Miley Cyrus (2015)
This list wouldn’t be complete without Miley Cyrus. The singer-actress has always been a free spirit (we all know that), and one of her many choices in life was to skip trimming her pit hair. And when she debuted her unshaven pit, it drew negative reactions from fans. It was even called ‘disgusting’ at one point.
So, Cyrus responded in the most Miley kind of way: by dyeing her pit hair pink. She documented the process and posted a photo series of her, color expert Justin Anderson, and their armpits in full view on Instagram.
Of course, she didn’t forget to post a photo of the final product. “It’s Friday and I have pink pits.”
Scout Willis (2015)
The middle daughter of Hollywood icons Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, Scout Willis, wasn’t shy even a little bit when she sported her armpit hair during the “Impossible 8×8” Universal Lab launch event in London. However, she found the whole focus on her armpit – which was totally normal – quite disappointing, especially since her photography was also exhibited at the event.
Here’s another view of her armpit hair in a gorgeous casual selfie:
Jemima Kirke (2015)
Kirke attended the 2015 CFDA fashion awards and wore a red two-piece created by Rosie Assoulin with her armpit growth clearly on the view. And she trended because people felt offended that she dared to pair the stunning outfit with hairy armpits. But just like Cyrus, Kirke wasn’t one to give a f–ck about these things, and she simply retweeted one tweet that already hit the nail on the head.
In her interview with the NY Daily News, she shared that she only started doing it because her sister did it first, and she thought it looked good. And she once again rocked her armpit hair in 2017 at the opening night of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
Lola Kirke
Speaking of her sister, Lola Kirke, here is a photo of her confidently rocking her lengthy fuzzy pit at the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards in 2017.
Like Jemima, Lola also received public backlash for keeping her pit hair, but she was so cool about it. She shared with Teen Vogue, “Hairlessness is equated with consumption. And when a woman defies the ability to be easily consumed, that’s threatening because when we consume them, we’re able to control them.” She definitely refused to be controlled by anyone.
Amandla Stenberg (2017)
The actress graced the red carpet of the European premiere of “The Hate U Give” in a plunging, backless gown by Valentino with her unshaven armpit hair. She even highlighted it when she posted the photo with #armpit.
Gigi Hadid (2017)
Supermodel Gigi Hadid officially joined the fuzzy club with her 2017 shoot with LOVE magazine. In the Instagram video, Hadid was dressed in her Tommy x Gigi collection – a deep red sports bra and tight shorts – proudly flexed her biceps and casually broke the beauty taboo by showing her armpit hair.
It came unexpectedly and invited a lot of debate about whether it was intentional and whether Hadid really pushed boundaries with the gesture. Nevertheless, it was still a move that made positive waves.
Paris Jackson (2017)
Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris didn’t hesitate to put out a photo of her hairy legs on Instagram, refusing to be bullied by those who shamed her for doing so. She simply addressed the fact that there were a lot of angry reactions, but she wasn’t sweating at all.
She also walked the red carpet with her armpit hair in full glory and looked absolutely stunning.
Rihanna (2018)
Rihanna’s casual selfie on Instagram featuring her hairy legs was the perfect advertisement for body hair. After she posted that, many of her fans vowed to stop shaving.
Leandra Cohen (2018)
Manrepeller’s – a style website – founder Leandra Cohen received many hate comments after she shared a snap of her OOTD down below with Manolo Blahnik miles and Aurelie Bidermann ankle bracelets. Why the hate? Well, that is because the photo came with her legs which were evidently unshaved.
Cohen responded with a post of her legs freshly shaven and a message that said she didn’t intend to make a statement. She just felt lazy to do it and added that having differing opinions doesn’t need to lead to disrespect. Cohen also said she still wanted to encourage her fans to always be considerate of those who embrace body hair.
Emily Ratajkowski (2019)
Actress Emily Ratajkowski had everyone’s jaws dropping with her sexy Harpers Bazaar editorial photo shoot, where she fearlessly exposed a dark patch on her underarm.
In the editorial that came with the photo, Ratajkowski said that shaving her armpit or growing it out was something that only she could decide for herself. She also added. “For me, body hair is another opportunity for women to exercise their ability to choose — a choice based on how they want to feel and their associations with having or not having body hair.”
For her, her body hair makes her feel sexy, so she chooses to fully embrace it despite the standards put on her as a celebrity and as a woman.
Bella Thorne (2019)
Bella Thorne is considered a controversial celebrity figure. One of the many things people find disagreeable with her is her body hair practices. In fact, a troll even once implied that she should shave her legs, to which she fired back that she would never. She really made good with that statement when she rocked her leg hair at the grand opening of On The Record at the Park MGM in Las Vegas in 2019.
Ashley Graham (2021)
Ashley Graham is a champion of the body positivity movement. One of her philosophies in life is that anyone should have the freedom to do whatever they want with their body: ‘shave what you want, wax what you want, leave what you want — do what works for you.’
In this photoshoot in collab with personal care brand Flamingo, Graham proudly showed off her armpit hair, hoping to inspire more women like her to wear their body hair confidently. She wanted to convey the message that should they choose to shave, it was also perfectly fine to do so.
Julia Michaels (2021)
During the 2021 Grammy Awards, singer Julia Michaels was all out and proud to strut down the red carpet with her armpit hair. A year earlier, she tweeted that she wouldn’t be shaving her pits again. She also shared that she didn’t know why she never did before. “Social norms can eat an eggplant.”
Rachel McAdams (2023)
Actress Rachel McAdams made a personal request that her images be minimally edited and that her armpit hair be on full display for her photoshoot with Bustle. The actress wanted it to be as authentic as it could be. “This is my body, and I think that’s so important to reflect back out to the world,” she said.
That’s a wrap on our favorite celebrities who proudly showed off their armpit and leg hair! See you on our next rundown.
