waxing in the summer, what for?

In 2019, we shared with you on Facebook the video of young women testifying about their reasons for no longer waxing.
A year later, containment has gone through this and allowed many to break free from beauty standards. Hair removal is one of them: so, how is it to break free from this step (said to be compulsory by many) before summer?

Injunctions that are put in place young

First, it is about freeing yourself from injunctions that you learned early on. When puberty arrives, little girls are quite quickly told to hide these hairs, which become a source of shame. Gaëlle, 26, remembers those late childhood years: "It's always been a complicated relationship: my mother was very complexed by her younger hair and she transferred that complex to me a bit. Plus I was doing the gym on a younger age, and even though I was only with girls, there was a lot of judgment around that. The competition was done in a leotard, so our trainer when we were little told us to remove hair, especially our jersey … even if we didn't really have any hair at that age! It was something that really shouldn't be seen. "
These injunctions are also often maintained by the family: mother, big sisters. Fleur recounts how she stopped waxing, then “I re-shaved for the summer mainly under pressure from my mom and I haven't shaved since September.”
It is often a non-linear path, which starts with a pragmatic observation: it hurts, it takes time and it costs money!
Young women relate skin problems irritated by shaving, another solution to make their hair disappear … Hair which is removed to please the eyes and others mainly.
Gaëlle says: “When I started dating boys, first sex it all became an obsession, suddenly razor sharp but clearly it damaged my skin a lot, with ingrown hairs, cysts and I on the way."

Even when you stop waxing, this internalized gaze can remain present:
“At times there is the pressure of my boyfriend and the inner pressure to feel pretty (especially since I have very white skin so it shows and I have always been very complexed by my leg hair as I am. Brown" recognizes Manon. Fleur emphasizes that not waxing becomes a demand when you are the only one really doing it: “For example, when I go on vacation with friends, there are always girls who don't shave their armpits or legs, but really nobody! it still takes a little effort to not care! “

The importance of friends and benevolent looks to free oneself

This effort to make fun of external looks is very well described by Daphné: “It was difficult especially at the beginning: a huge mental load to go out in the street without being shaved and I thought about it a lot. I sometimes thought to myself that if I shaved there now, it would take less time and energy than it costs me to go outside. But as it was a demand, I continued anyway and I'm happy! I realized myself that my standards of beauty had naturally changed, that it didn't bother my partners. Already that made a selection at the level of my partners: if someone doesn't like it, I don't want to hang out with that person! "
Manon, who no longer waxes her legs, goes in the same direction: “Even if we encourage you not to wax, it does not apply in real life: in the subway girls' legs are nickels!
So I hope to emulate and set an example for the younger generations to show them that you don't have to suffer and tear off a part of your body to please the dominant thought! "
The effort made at the beginning leads to more comfort. This liberation of the body also creates the conditions for liberation of the body of others, with the possibility of creating new models. “I feel good since, I feel as if I was listening to myself, it is rather rewarding to have succeeded in doing it: there are a lot of people who are starting to come to see me (because as it has been a long time for some .es I'm a bit the reference); a lot of girls who come to me to tell me that it encourages them to do it, it has pushed them to question the diktats of beauty, I find that even more motivating and cool! ” adds Daphne.

Gaëlle emphasizes the importance of discussing it with close people, who support and reassure:
"With the support and discussions I can have with my friends, my boyfriend, and fed up with torturing my skin that society imposes on us, little by little, I make peace with my hair, and I let them live . There is still a long way to go for full acceptance, but I am happy to tell myself that my hair is no longer a source of anxiety and shame on a daily basis. "
Without wanting to make a new diktat, we can leave the last word to Indira:
“I admit that I did not assume 100% my hair on my legs and even less on my jersey during the summer, but in the end I had no comment, to see the contrary, I had comments that we find it good to leave your hair alone. But I was especially encouraged by my boyfriend who is hairy and encouraged me to keep my hair and he did well … Adopt the hair! “