There’s a new movement in town and it’s getting hairier by the day. Januhairy is a new campaign by student Laura, and is taking the internet by storm.

Laura says that she grew out her body hair for a performance as part of her drama degree course, all the way back in May 2018.

She said that she had found some of the process quite challenging and that it had a fundamental impact on her that really opened her eyes to the taboo of natural body hair on a woman.

Although difficult to begin with, and after a few weeks of getting used to it, Laura actually started to like her natural hair. She certainly didn’t lament the lack of uncomfortable episodes of shaving.

Although Laura felt liberated and more confident in herself, it turned out that some of the people around her didn’t really understand why she wasn’t shaving or didn’t agree with shaving her natural body hair. Through this, Laura realised that there is still so much more for us to do to all be able to accept one another fully and truly.

The penny dropped and she thought of Januhairy and thought she would try it out. At the very least it’s a start and should raise some awareness of the issues around body pride.

So far, Laura has recieved a large amount of support from her friends and family, even though she had to explain why she was doing it to a lot of them and the reason why this is important to do.

When she first started growing out her natural body hair, Laura says that her mum suspected her of a less noble motivation “Is it you just being lazy or are you trying to prove a point?”, she asked.

But Laura’s riposte was why should we be called lazy if we don’t want to shave? And why do we have to be proving a point? After talking to her Mum about it and helping her to understand, Laura’s Mum saw how weird it was that she had even asked those questions.

If we do something/see the same things, over and over again it becomes normal. Both Laura and her Mum are now going to join in with Januhairy and grow out their own body hair which is a big challenge for her as well as many women who are getting involved.

This isn’t an angry campaign for people who don’t see how normal body hair is, but more an empowering project for everyone to understand more about their views on themselves and others.

Laura leads the rallying call – Let’s get hairy. See https://www.instagram.com/janu_hairy/ for more information