Female armpit hair is, unfortunately, a subject of much controversy.
In the not so distant past, it was pretty much expected to be perfectly shaven at all times. However, an increasing number of women are shunning this outdated, patriarchal ideal and doing what they should have always done with their body hair: whatever they want.
Last year, Women in the World reported that one in four millennial women no longer shave their armpit hair.
Now, the latest woman to publicly ditch her razor is 24-year-old singer Halsey, who appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone with - gasp - a little armpit hair showing. Thankfully, the majority of her fans have been absolutely loving her au natural look.
"No photoshopped armpits! Hell yes!" wrote one fan.
"I wish my stubbly armpits looked that hot," added a second.
"Why do I love the fact that she has regular armpits," commented a third.
"I love how they didn't photoshop your armpits, it makes me so happy," said a fourth.
But unfortunately, not all reactions to Halsey's unshaven pits were positive.
"Why are girls not shaving their bits? I'm confused," wrote one social media user.
"Why the armpit hair," questioned a second.
"The hairy armpits are a bit much. But you're still gorgeous!" added a third.
"I thought you were a millionaire just buy some wax," said a fourth.
The haters, however, were soon rebuked by armpit hair defenders.
"Have you guys ever seen a woman?" questioned one user. "Our armpits are not all smooth and it's something normal!"
"This is literally what it looks like after 2 days of not shaving the armpits for us ladies with dark body hair. Some of y'all act like she has been growing it out for weeks," wrote a second.
"I love the armpit hair so much. Disappointed by the people in the comments telling her to shave or 'letting her know it's there.' She knows it's there, her photographers do too. Conscious liberation," remarked a third.
The 24-year-old's armpit hair wasn't the only point of controversy the cover prompted either. She was also accused of deliberately darkening her skin and by extension cultural appropriation.
"Cultural appropriation at its best,"
"Someone tell her that she's not black,"
"So she wants to look 'completely natural' by showing hair in her armpits but still spent thousands [of dollars] getting that UNNATURAL tan,"
In a 2017 interview with Playboy, Halsey said that she is biracial, with Yahoo reporting that her father is African American and her mother is Caucasian.
"I'm white passing. I've accepted that about myself and have never tried to control anything about black culture that's not mine. I'm proud to be in a biracial family, I'm proud of who I am, and I'm proud of my hair," she said.
"I look like a white girl, but I don't feel like one. I'm a black woman."
