A 28-year-old Polish woman by the name of Sonia Cytrowska started shaving her body hair at the age of 12. According to The Sun, Sonia said that she began shaving her body after seeing hairless women on TV and in magazines. In a similar article done by Unilad, Sonia admitted to spending more than three hours a week shaving her body hair which ultimately left her insecure about her natural look.
Society, along with social media, has placed upon us a whole bunch of gender roles and norms. Whether it be the man playing the ‘breadwinner’ or the woman being a ‘stay-at-home mom’ these ideas and roles are not only antiquated but sexist. And nowadays, almost ironically, it is the use of social media that has dictated the beginning of the end of these gender norms and roles.
But Sonia has rejected all of these gender roles. More than a year ago, she decided to stop shaving and showcase her ‘Body Hair Movement’ on her Instagram page as well as on her blog.
In her blog, Sonia wrote: ‘Body hair movement is women who have not shaved their body in a joint project with me. The same women thought it would be easy, but they got scared of the partner’s reaction. They have realized that they are dependent on the opinions of others and are afraid of loneliness and rejection. Have they abandoned their resolve to accept their natural body to keep in touch with people who love them for being…unproblematic?’ In the article done by Unilad, Sonia explained how initially her husband was uncomfortable with her ‘au natural appearance but after some time he got used to it and even began to love it.
The Sun‘At first, my husband was shocked because he’s known me for eight years and I was always shaving all my body. And actually, he prefers a shaved appearance but we talked a lot, I explained to him that it is so important for me, to live with my natural body hair and he decided to accept me and support me.’ She continued: ‘My husband, who ‘did not like me like that, yet he did not try to divorce me, decided to change his standards of beauty for me and treat these changes as challenges and not an attempt on his aesthetics.’
The SunOn her Instagram page, which has more than 7,500 followers, she spoke about living a double life and also documenting her journey to embracing her razor-free body. In an interview with The Sun, she spoke about revealing her body positivity journey online to her thousands of followers but not opening up to her closest friends. She also spoke about the difficulties of ignoring people’s thoughts and opinions of her.
She said: ‘But it is still hard when I meet new people, for example when I was searching for a new job or going to lectures at university. Sometimes there are days where I don’t care what anyone in this world is thinking about my body hair because I fell in love with my natural body and I believe that every woman should have a choice.’
The Sun
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