Planned Parenthood

Someone asked us:

Is it true that not shaving your armpits is unhygienic? Because I’m a girl, my mom opposes my decision to stop shaving for a while. She says not only that it’s unhygienic, that it will make me sweat more and will ruin my shirts. Is any of that true?

A lot of people have strong opinions about body hair — for both men and women — but the reality is there’s no “right” or “wrong” way for anyone to handle their body hair. There are many different cultural and religious reasons people chose to (or not to) remove underarm hair, though neither way is cleaner or healthier, regardless of your gender. It’s 100% a personal decision.

Keeping your underarm hair is not unhygienic and will not make you sweat more. In fact, some theories say that underarm hair actually helps pull moisture and odor-causing bacteria away from the skin, keeping you fresher. On the other hand, there are plenty of women AND men who feel cleaner or more comfortable with bare pits, so they opt to shave. It really just comes down to personal preference. And as far as staining your clothes goes, it’s not sweat that causes those yellow armpit stains, but the aluminum-based chemicals found in many antiperspirant products.

Bottom line: do what makes YOU feel best.

-Kendall at Planned Parenthood