Well Armed
9 years ago by
I’m brunette. I’m lucky I’m not super super hairy but, even so, I’M BRUNETTE.
I’ve always had a little peach fuzz on my arms, and it’s never bothered me. I’ve occasionally marveled at the perfectly smooth arms of some of my friends. It’s pretty, after all. And I’ve also had a few friends who removed their arm hair. That was pretty too.
But I didn’t want to have one more thing to worry about – I’ve got enough areas to wax and shave as it is. And what about when it grows back? You can hide your legs between waxes, but your forearms?
So the other day, I wanted to take a photo of a bracelet for Instagram, and I said to myself – nope, that won’t work. Too much hair. So, the idea of removing my arm hair came back to me, leaving me all alone with my phone in hand and two existential questions in front of me:
– Should I go ahead and try it at least once, just to see if I happen to love it?
– Is Instagram going to drive us all insane? (To which I answered: YES)
What do you think? Have you tried removing your arm hair before? What about when it grows back? Do you think I should do it just so I can tell you how it goes?
Translated by Andrea Perdue
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Nooo don’t worry about the peach fuzz! It will lighten up a bit in the sun this Summer so it won’t be as noticeable!
I’m brunette too, but I’m lucky my body hair is very fine and light, but STILL I manage to worry about it (especially my upper legs), and I think me and you and we just shouldn’t if objectively it isn’t too bad (and even when it is… one tends to notice it more on oneself and one is always more critical on oneself than on others).
So don’t! Enjoy the short sleeves, the bracelets and the sun!! And let’s all not worry :)
“one tends to notice it more on oneself and one is always more critical on oneself than on others”
I couldn’t agree more! I have light skin and dark hair, and I try to just let it go. It’s not easy some days, but having an arm full of prickly regrowth sounds worst.
I also selfishly really want you and all the famous people I see to never ever shave your arms. I was bullied as a teenage, and one of the things they focused on was my hairy arms. Being told to your face that no one will ever love a hairy women is poisonous. Clearly they were wrong in my case, so maybe we should all stop worrying about it so much?
“one tends to notice it more on oneself and one is always more critical on oneself than on others”. This is so true!
Garance, les récentes photos de ton passage à Cannes ont (encore une fois) démontré à quel point tu rayonnes dans ta féminité d’une femme de 40 ans. Rien à changer ni à enlever ! Garde ta fraîcheur et le réalisme qui t’habite depuis 2006 et ne succombe pas à Instagram !!!
Brazilians actually also lighten their peach fuzz and have fun with it contrary to wide belief that they wax off everything! Just launched in the U.S. Try Brazilian Golden Body Veil from Sol de Janeiro ;) xoxo
I’m Portuguese – I know your pain ;) Luckily, my arm hair hasn’t been bad at all, but other places…. yes! Daily, yes. Maybe just get a tan and let the sun lighten the hair – I wouldn’t want to start bothering with a removal to maintain. You are fine, love! And yes – instagram will be the end of girls like us xo
Warm Regards,
Alexandra
http://www.littlewildheart.com
I am also a brunette, discreet amount of hair in my arms, during the summer I take charge and wax it all out. Surprise! It doesn’t hurt much, and it lasts a long time. I notice less hair and the growth back is much slower than before. Highly recommended!
I am brunette too. And I always get rid of my arm hairs!! Using steadily an epilator (I actually use it also for legs and arm pits..!!) and it works very well. And as soon as the first hairs begin to grow, with the epilator I can take them immediately off. Right in 5 minutes at the most, without waiting for a complete growing and a wax. I’m so used to see my arms polished, that I can’t really stand hairy arms, on me and on the others.
Sometimes I see pictures of women very well dressed and really elegant…..but if I notice hairs on their arms….the thing gets worse the whole look to me.
By the way…I’m from Italy.
Je suis brune à la peau clair et malheureusement, j’ai plus hérité de la pilosité de mon père que de la peau imberbe de ma mère ! Quand l’été revenait, c’était atroce ! Je ne voulais absolument pas montrer mes bras ! J’ai d’abord commencé par utiliser de la crème décolorante mais ça faisait un sacré budget estival ! Finalement, j’ai tenté l’épilation ! Quel plaisir de voir pour la première fois mes bras totalement imberbe ! Cela fait maintenant 10 ans que je le fais et je ne regrette pas. Comme je suis assez phobique du poil, je fais ça à l’épilateur électrique toutes les semaines. La repousse n’est pas dérangeante. Avec le temps, les poils sont moins nombreux et surtout moins épais. Je pense que je ne pourrais pas arrêter !
We need to stop being so judgmental about ourselves and other people! Peach fuzz on your arms or on your face or anywhere else is not a big deal.
The idea of shaving or waxing my arms gives me the heebie jeebies. Prickly arm hair is not the bees knees. My arm hair is pretty light so I wouldn’t do it. :]
// ? itsCarmen.com ?
Garance ne change rien, t’es superbe! Sérieux, tes dernières le prouvent suffisamment, pourquoi chercher encore à effacer, corriger, modifier …CHANGE RIEN T’ES AU TOP ;)
I’m only telling you because I struggle with the same problem (if we can call it that). I wax my arm hair during summer. I try to do it once a month. I have peach fuzz too so it’s not thick. When it grows back it is the same fuzz sometimes I think it’s even softer. During fall and winter season (I’m from LA we don’t have winter) but during the colder part of the year I keep my fuzz. I’m saving up for laser removal. It bothers me enough to want to remove it.
Moi je l’avais fait il y a des années parce que je bossais comme serveuse quand j’avais 16-17 ans et que ça me gênait (mais il faut dire que je suis un peu dingue avec les poils) et Garance, sache-le : une fois qu’on commence difficile de s’arrêter. Parce qu’après les bras sont beaux, certes, mais surtout ils sont doux, mais douuuuux. Tu te retrouves même à te caresser les avants-bras d’un air rêveur quand tu te mets de la crème. Bref. Évidemment ça repousse mais je les trouve désormais plus clairs et moins nombreux (et je ne le fais pas tous les mois !)
Get laser hair removal done on your arms! I did and it’s been amazing
NON NON NON ! Tu es magnifique, pourquoi t’imposer une corvée en plus ? On a pas assez de choses à faire comme ça, il faut se rajouter d’autres contraintes ? ;)
Je suis aussi brune, j’ai du duvet sur les bras, et j’aime ça. Je trouve ça normal. Pour une fois qu’une partie de notre corps n’est pas stigmatisée quand elle est au naturel…
Alors garde tes bras tels qu’ils sont, tu pourras comme ça débattre de la question avec tes copines !
On est d’accord, c’est bon ?! ;)
I’ve thought about it but never done it. Neverheless, my mom shaves it with laser and it’s quite great. She’s so happy. With less sessions than she expected her arm hair is removed and when some rebel appears you just have to use some hair removal cream or a razor (best thing about laser? -I have it on my legs, armpits, mustache area and groin- You have an excuse to not use wax anymore!)
ça ce serait plutôt l’américanisation qu’instagram qui parle, non ? Je suis plutôt comme toi, à détester le moindre poil qui dépasse. Mais alors, les poils sur les avant-bras ne m’ont jamais dérangés (j’ai aussi hérité de la pilosité de mon père BRUN alors que je suis BLONDE –‘), je trouve ça même joli, charmant. Et un bras sans poil me fait froid dans le dos à vrai dire ^^’ Bon puis en France, je n’ai pas vraiment l’impression que la pratique soit hyper répandue, si ? Enfin bref, comme les autres, j’aurais plutôt tendance à te dire de rester comme tu es :) (mais en même temps, de tenter l’expérience juste pour nous la raconter, je trouve ça trop drôle =D)
Noo don’t wax your arms. Why don’t you just bleach the hair? And in the summer the sun will take care of that for you! I’m blonde so both my leg and arm hair is very light, I think as long as it’s not black, nobody but you sees it.
In the summertime, I bleach mine! It makes a world of difference and lasts a few months, and grows back in very subtly. Try it! PS – I love how honest/transparent you are. One of the reasons I’ll keep coming back
Après les dents pas alignées de je ne sais plus qui, le petit duvet des bras de Garance ! Les filles, vous devenez toc toc hein ! Il doit effectivement commencer à faire trop chaud à New-York ! :D
Et puis c’est joli comme tout le duvet quand on est bronzée !
(ceci dit j’aime bien ce post parce que j’ai appris la façon toute mignonne de dire ça en anglais, ou américain peut-être, “peach fuzz”, c’est joli).
Exactement! Cette quête de la perfection ressort pas mal sur le blog (dents, poids, alimentation, detox, poils…). C’est sympa par moment, on apprend des choses, mais quand même… ce qui était bien ici c’était la simplicité et l’imperfection justement.
I’ve tried it a couple of times, having my arms waxed. I don’t have a lot of hair on my arms, but here in Dubai, where uber-grooming is natural and women go for full-body-waxes every two weeks, I felt like trying it. The feeling afterwards was amazing. But I’m too lazy to keep it up and since I only felt but didn’t really see a difference… there’s no need really.
Bonjour Garance,
Je lis ton blog quotidiennement mais c’est la toute première fois que je commente. (Donc au passage, bravo pour ton blog que j’adore!)
Je suis également brune avec la peau claire, et j’ai des poils, normalement, sur les avant-bras. L’epilation est un sujet récurrent chez nous toutes, mais il faut aussi se rappeler -je pense, que c’est NORMAL d’avoir des poils. Notre corps a été conçu comme ça. C’est plutôt anormal d’être complètement imberbe, comme nous le montrent les magasines et le reste du monde de la mode, surtout sur les bras non ?
Oops. So sorry, Dore Studio!
I think I’ve accidentally posted a comment that is isn’t even mine! I was scrolling through the comments on my mobile, and – without even pressing copy and paste – somehow, it seems my comment had been successfully sent.
Seeing as I didn’t actually type anything, and was scrolling to reach the bottom of the page, please could you delete my comment that appears immediately prior this post to you, that says it’s from me? I have no idea what the comment says, as I didn’t even see what I pressed on that was copied. And once you’ve deleted that one, please could you delete this one? I’m so sorry about that.
The only legitimate comments I’ve made on our hairy arms are where I think Garance should stay with her natural peach fuzz, and being Chinese with small eyes, followed immediately by my comment that the man who can’t sleep due to his itchy body hair is one hundred per cent right to remove his!
Of course you shoud wax your arms. It makes them super smooth and you only need to do it once every 4 weeks in the summer. Your growth will actually reduce with time. Indian girls wax their arms…I’ve been doing so from the time I was 17.
DONT! My niece did it once and it came back a lot darker, don’t don’t don’t!
I also want to note that for all the people who say “don’t do it” obviously don’t know what it’s like to be very hairy.
Melissa, the thing is that Garance said that she is not super super hairy :)
Haha! I’ve been wanting to do something about my arm hair for ages (fellow brunette here!) as me and my younger sister both feel self-conscious about our forearms. She’s in high school and always laments that her arms seem hairier to her than most of her guy classmates’. Ridiculous.
My roommate uses her epilator on her forearms and says she only has to do it about every other month or so and it does absolutely not look weird when her hair is growing back. Plus, after a while the hair supposedly thins out a bit, I don’t know about that, though. My plan is to try it this summer, too. I just have to find my epilator. I got one for Christmas but stashed it away immediately after I turned it on for the first time and heard that cringeworthy buzzing sound it made! Absolutely foreboding. So first, I have to figure out how to get over the sound. Any ideas? Maybe pop on my headphones? ;)
I’ve actually shaved my arms in my middle school days (I blame crippling low self esteem and also being Armenian). I can’t say that it grows back thicker, but bald arms just look so WEIRD. It’s normal to have hair on your arms!! Now my arm hair is a light shade of blonde which look like golden thread in the right sunlight. My advice is to learn to love it! <3 If it wreaks havoc on your self esteem, then consider waxing it. Just remember it's a natural part of the body!!
xoxoxox, Naomi | http://bunnyandfawn.blogspot.com
Je rêve ou quoi? Garance “la bombe” cherche la bébête ou c’est juste pour avoir un sujet de discussion? On ne peut pas dire que les poils sur tes bras sont omniprésents quand meme!!! C’est tellement dommage que nous les femmes passons tellement de temps à nous effacer finalement. Pas de rides, pas de gras, pas de poil, pas de sourcil, pas de vêtement “sheer ” (reference au poste d’hier). La femme s’est libérée des carcans imposés par la pensée masculine pour, je crains, les remplacer par d’autres imposés par elles-mêmes! Je ne trouve pas ça cool du tout!
C’est tellement dommage de voir les femmes se comporter comme des poules sans tête! Il y a quand meme des limites a ce qu’on peut faire a notre corps … c’est naturel d’avoir des poils et il faut arrêter de se soumettre aux influences des réseaux sociaux et cette l’industrie de traitements destinés généralement aux femmes. Je suis entièrement d’accord avec le commentaire de Ruby.
Nooo! Keep it :) Post the photo and let the haters of hair hate! I don’t think anyone should decide for us whether or not we are beautiful naturally <3 I've had people tell me I should wax mine, just because they are gloriously light brown fuzz. I said nope. Don't try to change me. It only adds to our insecurities when we give in! Worrying about the hair on our arms is such a silly little thing. Love every little bit of your natural self.
Waxing the hair doesn’t hurt much and will last months unlike other areas of the body. Seems like after a wax the growth is dramatically reduced for the entire season, not just a few weeks. It’s worth a try, it’s not like it will grow back prickly or anything.
It’s hard to remove your hair once and for all. Eventually some of it will grow back. But it is worth trying. Hope you get the result you want.
Personally I choose to only shave legs and armpits. I rock a 70’s vibe where most women have a Brazilian. I just can’t be bothered with all the maintenance and once you start you can’t stop. And my man couldn’t care less!!! Vive Le fuzz!!
Pour ce petit duvet brun des avant-bras, moi je pratique la décoloration, une fois par an vers le printemps-début d’été quand je commence à dénuder mes bras, et je trouve que ça suffit à estomper la visibilité des poils pour tout l’été. J’utilise la crème Blondépil, ça fait un blond ni roux ni jaune, mais naturel. Franchement ça fait vraiment la différence, sans être une corvée de plus, puisque ça me prend donc 20mn par an! Et sans engagement puisqu’on peut ne jamais renouveler l’expérience.
Bleach!! I use the Jolene bleach. it last for a really long time, and it grows back subtly (moreso i imagine than waxing), it doesn’t hurt at all, and it doesnt look weird or unnatural at all! (I mean this is subjective, but really i dont think it’s bad looking )
no need to wax, just do the laser…. just perfect!
J’avoue que ta pilosité ne m’a jamais sauté aux yeux et un petit duvet c’est plutôt joli après tout. Mais si ça te gêne vraiment, pourquoi pas?
J’épile mes avant-bras à la cire assez régulièrement, surtout en été. Pas du tout pour des raisons esthétiques mais parce que je déteste mettre de la crème solaire dans mes poils. J’ai l’impression de devoir les “peigner” après, beurk.
Au début, j’avais peur de la repousse en mode cactus mais j’ai été agréablement surprise: ils repoussent à l’identique voire moins nombreux, et assez lentement.
Donc no stress, essaye et tu verras bien! Mais pas au rasoir, par pitié… si tu fais ça, c’est le début de la fin.
Non! C’est une mauvaise idée!
Je suis comme toi, brunette et décemment poilue. J’ai voulu essayer une fois l’épilation à la cire des avant-bras… Les premiers jours, c’était génial! J’adorais et j’étais vendue à l’idée. Mais une semaine plus tard, lorsque ça repousse tout doucement… Ce fut l’enfer! La peau me démangeait, c’était irrité, et puis c’est devenu rugueux jusqu’à ce que ça retourne à une longueur naturelle. Plus jamais!
Je suis d’accord avec Ruby un peu plus haut, ce sont les femmes qui s’imposent toutes ces contraintes. Quel dommage !
Chere Garance, profitez de la vie et ne vous souciez ni de vos poils sur les avants-bras, ni de votre “corps normal”.
(Je viens de relire le post sur Cannes.) Je reprends cette phrase terrifiante : “Il faut de la force pour resister a la pression de la minceur quand on travaille dans la mode”. What ??? Mon sang de rebelle n’a fait qu’un tour !
J’ai oublie de dire que les dessins sont de plus en plus beaux, je viens de voir celui sur Instagram : magnifique !
In high school I was getting ready for the prom, trying on my dress. My mother noted that I had a lot of arm hair(I’m blond) and I should probably do something about it. She decides to wax it for me (she had no previous waxing experience) and it turned out all patchy and I had to shave the areas she missed and then all of the hair grew back at different intervals. The lesson here is just don’t bother,
Hello and good day to you! When I was going through puberty, I once shaved my arm hair and it grew back stubbly and rough, but eventually softened back up. I was so self conscious about it. I think if you feel bad about yourself, you should reflect on why you do – are you afraid of what others will think? That’s not a good reason to change anything about yourself. If you want to remove your arm hair, do it for yourself and not anyone else.
Definitely worth it if it bothers you. I wax my arms every month or so and my self-consciousness about them has disappeared. I don’t find it at all painful. It does “stick up” a bit weirdly when it grows back, but I never let it get long enough for it to look weird. It also grows back much more slowly and sparsely with time – more so than with any other body part I’ve waxed. There is something a little unnatural about hairless limbs but as the alternative is noticeably-haired arms (for brunettes at least), I go with bare :)
Je n’ai jamais fait attention aux poils de bras de qui que ce soit. Je suis une brune à peau claire et à poil dru (j’ai vraiment l’impression de parler d’un cheval à me décrire comme ça… on va dire que j’ai une robe “isabelle” ! ;)
(hem, l’objectification du corps ne fait pas du bien on dirait)
Enfin bref, personne n’a jamais fixé mes poils de bras d’un air choqu
I told my sister yesterday how much I regret lasering my arms years ago. I hated it when I was younger. And every now and then I get the same feeling scrolling through Instagram or standing next to a guy I like. But when I see someone like Leandra Medine who writes about embracing it makes me all warm and – haha – fuzzy. To be honest… I like a little hair on women’s arms! I think it’s sexy.
* Same peach fuzz, light skin and dark hair… but that’s not ideal for laser so not all hairs are gone which is just weird looking.
When I was 11 my first ex-boyfriend got all his friends together to call me “hairy” and tease me for having hairy legs. The bullying was so horrible that finally I told my mom and begged her to let me shave.
The next Monday I strutted into gym class with the first smooth legs of my life! They saw me and started to shout “Hairy!!! Hairy arms!!!”
I vowed that day that I would never shave my “hairy” arms and I never have! The truth is that we don’t worry about this stuff until the world tells us to, and nobody has ever been distracted from real beauty by a hairy arm.
So of course I am on team “save the arm hair and post the picture.” Anyone who is truly disturbed by your arm hair has their own issues to work through!
suis d’accord avec les commentaires disant qu’il faut peut-être arrêter avec l’américanisation option “rien qui dépasse, soyons tous parfaits”
quelle corvée, en plus…
Dear Garance,
just don’t bother! There are so many much more important problems around. My arm hair used to bother me a lot when I was a teenager and then I stopped to think about it. As a person having a real influence on so many young girls instead of removing your arm hair you should them that it’s completely fine and natural thing!
Please post that picture on Instagram! We all do with #peachfuzz :)
But. Soft arm hairs is so natural! Who will it bother? I have never, ever thought to myself: “man that woman has a lot of arm hair”. (I have however thought when a friend did shave her arms “Eek it’s so slippery!”). I say acceptance of the cuddly fuzz.
Do it Garance. I have for a number of years now. I was teased at school for having hairy arms. I now wax them myself after getting others to do it. When I backpacked around Europe I had to do it myself and that’s how I started to wax my own arms. I have REALLY hairy ape arms – you could comb them hahahaha. I went to the doctor about it but I’m apparently normal. They grow back fine so don’t panic. They aren’t wirey or anything. I’m not self conscious any more and happy about my arms being on show.
I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you. I wax my arms because my arm fuzz is a bit more fuzzier than I care to have all year round, but I don’t think “arm hair removal” is obligatory or necessary. Waxing doesn’t really hurt as long as you don’t do it right before your period.
If I were blonde, I really wouldn’t bother waxing a lot of body parts but my hair actually darkens my complexion, so I am pretty much neck deep in it by this point.
I’m so sick and tired of all the things women are influenced to believe are necessary to look “right”. I’m glad to see others express the same view in the comments. I wish we could all just take just a little bit of our attention away from our looks…
no, definitely do not remove it. I simply bleach it with blonde color and it stays so for about 3-4 weeks. Pas de problem ????
I bleach as well by using two Brazilian methods – one is just hydrogen peroxide in spray bottle I bring to the beach and put on my arms/stomach for a bit then wash off by getting in the water (test before doing!).
The other just came out which I used after a particularly long winter in Boston – the Sol De Janeiro body bleach called golden body veil maybe – a little strong but very happy with results.
J’ai essayé une fois l’épilation des avant-bras… oui c’était joli, mais la repousse, l’horreur. Après, pendant quelques années, j’ai fait la décoloration en institut. C’était super! De jolis poils quasi transparents sur les bras, le paradis. Jusqu’au jour où, je ne sais pour quelle raison, j’ai mal réagi et j’ai fait une méga allergie au produit décolorant. Depuis je n’ose plus le refaire, alors j’essaye de relativiser et de me dire qu’il y a des choses plus graves dans la vie et que tout le monde s’en fout, je suis brune, j’ai des poils sur les avant-bras, c’est pas dramatique.
Voilà ^^
Célestine
Mais enfin Garance ! C’est quoi ce délire ? vos avant-bras ne méritent aucune épilation AUCUNE ! Quand on commence apres c’est sans fin ! Vous êtes magnifique et on vous adore pour votre naturel. C’est si rare !
Quant aux poils pour une photo, y a photoshop !!!!!!!!!!!
Bien à vous.
Bleach!
I use philips electric epilator, and when they grow back they look fewer each time! I do it like once in three to five weeks for five minutes after a shower, on dry skin and that’s it. They grow back at a different speed each so you never have the amount you did before starting and it looks very natural. And I can’t put up with pain, and this is a pretty low pain method, otherwise I wouldn’t do it – just to be clear – on the legs and up /:)/ I use only razor exactly because of the pain. I highly recommend! You only have to be careful for the next 12 hours to not put water or any lotion on them, because it irritates the skin and can make it appear in red dots.
Garance, je suis moi même brune et poilue des bras. Ils ne me dérangent plus ! ça a été le cas et j’ai essuyé les critiques dans mes années collège / lycée. Et j’ai donc à cette époque tout rasé oui oui rasé avec un rasoir jetable. C’était bien net… pendant 3/4 jours puis ça repoussait mais pas dru, ni plus noir et plus nombreux qu’à l’origine … j’ai arrêté de faire n’importe quoi et je vis très bien avec mes poils au quotidien. Bon là j’ai un mariage sous peu et une (très belle) robe sans manche et très honnêtement ça fait pas super joli donc je pense à les décolorer. Après coup, je me dis que les bras sans aucun poil ça fait pas du tout naturel et que ça ne me plait même pas (pour le voir sur toutes mes soeurs brunes et épilées) ! Garde tes poils ! le soleil va s’en charger ! bisous.
Non surtout pas !! Un petit duvet sur les avant bras n’a jamais tué personne, et les petits défauts, ça a aussi du bon parfois!
http://www.pardonmyobsession.com/
I used to do it in my 20s, because I was so super-duper self-concious. Either the hair on my arms became less visible or I stopped giving a flying thing about it, but at least I don’t have to suffer through an absolute agony of another waxing appointment. Besides, arm hair growing back in between waxes – bleh…
Don’t stress about arm hair…it is really nothing!!! Even if it’s dark, it looks good. I hope with the strong Cara Delevigne eyebrow look coming in, people will relax about women having dark body hair, too. It’s a look!!! Go with it!!!
Worrying so much because of something so trivial, and even worse, culturally defined (and so sexist!) is just stupid. If famous instagrams propagated natural, healthy bodies, maybe there would be no shame in having normal, hairy arms. You have the power to influence, don’t succumb to the stupid pressure.
S’il y a bien un conseil de ma maman que je suis depuis toujours, c’est celui de ne ja-mais! s’épiler les avant-bras. Elle a commencé à le faire assez jeune et, à 58 ans, elle regrette d’avoir mis le doigt (ou le bras) dans cet engrenage.
Par contre, c’est clair, pour les photos de bracelets à mettre sur le blog, il vaut mieux attendre d’avoir un peu blondi au soleil d’été…
Je viens de me souvenir qu’il passe en ce moment dans nos pubs en France, une pub donc d’une voiture, où on vante les sensations que procure ladite voiture à la conduite. Et à un moment, on voit un travelling du volant à un bras, et sur ce bras, les poils qui se dressent d’émotion, et, peut-être même de plaisir. Et ce bras, c’est, c’est ….roulement de tambour…..UN BRAS DE FEMME !
Alors même si dans la pub ils en jouent, on aura l’air fine sans poils aux bras.
Oh, don’t we have enough things to worry about already? Why create even more unrealistic female body image instead of celebrating our bodies the way they are?
Tu cours après quoi? Une perfection lisse et sans aspérités? Toi qui disais que tu commencais à accepter ton corps, je vois pas l’intérêt de te rajouter un problème d’épilation juste pour présenter un bracelet sur une photo. Photoshop ça sera peut-être moins contraignant, encore que je vois toujours pas l’intérêt.
Moi, je suis brune, aussi, et ma peau est très claire. Je me rase les avant-bras et ca marche hyper bien! Oui, les poils repoussent, mais il y a 2-3 jours entre les rasages et ca coute une seule minute sous la douche. Je suis absolument pro-rasage et contre l´épilation! bisous!
Did you do it?! I have to say I’m surprised by all of the negative comments… I shave my arms and it’s NBD. It takes 5 seconds and I only do it once a week because the re-growth is barely noticeable. It makes me feel silky smooth and confident and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that!
Épiler les avant bras ? Mais je ne savais même pas que ça se faisait! ( à part cas médical de dérèglement hormonal )… Je ne crois pas que cela se fasse beaucoup en France , enfin pas à Marseille. Mes poils deviennent blonds en été, je trouve ça joli. Il faut relire le passage de “Nana” de Zola dans lequel il dit : ” et lorsque Nana levait les bras , on apercevait, aux feux de la rampe , les poils d’or de ses aisselles…” Et tout le passage n’est que célébration de sa sensualité. A méditer …pendant une séance d’épilation…
i bleach my arm hair and I LOVE IT! ;)
I think worrying about arm hairs is such a first world problem. You have a lot more important thoughts to consume your time with. Don’t waste your time worrying about such a trivial aspect of your looks. :)
Non, là stop, assez. Vous ne croyez pas que notre corps vit déjà assez sous contrainte pour en rajouter d’autres ? Ce blog est mondialement connu, et si ça ne vous donne pas l’obligation de vous montrer parfait, ça vous donne l’obligation de ne pas rajouter des complexes aux jeunes filles qui vous lisent. Ce blog s’éloigne de plus en plus de la Garance naturelle que j’aimais tant, et se rapproche de plus en plus de ce perfectionnisme américain névrosé. Sincèrement, ce post me déçoit, et j’espère, j’espère vraiment que je ne suis pas la seule.
Non, vous n’êtes pas la seule. Moi aussi je dis stop. Là Garance tu vas trop loin.
Idem, ma première pensée a été de me dire que ce n’était pas elle qui avait écrit ce post. Je suis également choquée de la superficialité de ce blog. Je ne viens plus aussi souvent et je crois que je vais finir par ne plus venir.
I’m brunette too, and lucky me, not super super hairy too, even so, I’M BRUNETTE too.
I forget about remove my arm hair and during summer, I let the sun be my ally!
Being a brunette I definitely have some hair on my arms, it’s not too bad and lightens in the summer but it’s there. On that note, I’ve never even thought of removing it. There are so many other things/parts of my body that I stress out about that I just can’t let a little hair into the mix!
xo
styleontheside.com
Okay, a man’s perspective. I remove my body hair when I shower(good shave foam, sharp razor, carefulness…) partly for aesthetic reasons, also for comfort. I’m a typical European mongrel, my body hair grows like black* wire, right down onto my toes and fingers. I feel it’s unsightly, it’s really uncomfortable and itchy**, so it goes.
Thing is, it has to be your own choice. Whatever you freely choose for yourself, that’s fine.
*yes, alright, mostly grey nowadays
**to the point, on warm nights, it can stop me sleeping; not welcome
J’ai également un petit duvet des avant-bras, à l’inverse ça m’a complexé à une époque, maintenant je l’adore et il fait partie de ma signature corporal, je pourrai l’enlever mais je ne l’épile pas comme un signe de rébellion ;-)
Pitié non! Une amie a fait ça quand elle était petite et depuis elle doit s’épiler tout le temps. Perso je suis brune et j’adore mes poils de bras l’été (oui ça peut paraître un peu bizarre). Après j’ai une peau qui bronze très vite et des poils qui blondissent très vite ce qui donne de beaux reflets. Et puis stop aux photos aseptisées d’Instagram!
I used laser on all body hair and I never looked back. :-)
No, no, no!! I’m heartbroken to read about all of this material for self hatred. It’s just arm hair, I know, but it’s a sign. Do men worry about arm hair? Not really. Look, I’m brunette, I’m hairy, I’ve spent a lifetime hating my body, hating what nature gave me, wishing I was blonde and luminous and HAIR FREE. But you’re in a position in image culture to make a change. So what? Peach fuzz? Peh! So what? Humans have hair. And humans with hair can be lovely.
Non.mais.n’importe.quoi ! S’il-te-plaît, s’il-te-plaît, s’il-te-plaît … Résiste ! Prouve que tu exi-istes ! Blablabla, tu connais quoi mais vraiment, si on doit encore se coller des doutàlac’ comme ça à 40 ans, on a quelles chances d’arriver un jour à s’assumer à 100% au cours d’une vie ?! T’es beeeeeelle ! Lâche l’épilateur ! Lâ-cheu !
Hello Garance,
I think if you’ve never felt the need to shave your arms, I don’t think you really need this. A peach fuzz is something everyone has (unless they really shave daily) and it’s perfectly fine. As for me, I sometimes wax my arms, but I do it only around winter, when I wear a lot of clothes and my hair is a bit darker. During the spring/summer season the sun helps to lighten it up and it looks ok. Do how you feel, but don’t think you’re somehow expected to do that. We should really relax, as the society is getting more and more crazy. Like with those Jenner’s lips – so many girls are getting injections right now. It’s INSANE.
http://stylestandpoint.com
If it’s peach fuzz, a stray hair or fifty, or much hairer than any of that on our arms or legs, keep it all.
I’m dark haired and olive skinned in summer, yellow in winter (being of Chinese descent), and I really, truly have never noticed if a girl is hirsute on her arms – or even her legs. Honestly, I completely agree with people here who’ve said “leave your arm hair alone”, and with you, when you say that Instagram is driving you crazy with its ability to be zoomed in and scrutinised.
More than anything, though, I’m in support and afreent with everyone who’s said that anyone who’s bothered by looking at arm hair has their own issues. And it’s theirs- and we don’t have to make it into our issue.
Those of us who’ve been teased for what we and others perceive as more- or too much- hair on our arms, and say that people with little to no perceptible hair on their arms have it easy and don’t understand: I have this to share- being Chinese, my eyes are small, my mouth likewise, cheekbones high and planes of my face are flatter than my western and Indian girlfriends- and what appears to be no hair at all on my body except for on my head, and private areas – all of which have led me to be teased profoundly at school as a child and as a teenager- having other girls (God, we humans- women- are so cruel to each other) scream out at me, “Ugh- you’re a hairless rat!”, plus all the other usual racial slurs from boys and girls, that abounded all those years ago when Chinese were a rarity- let alone a minority- in what was at that time, a very un-cosmopolitan Australia. It’s so different now, though. And, thanks to my parents and a generally optimistic and cheerful view on life, I’m actually comforatble with how I look.
And honestly- that’s life! We are all going to be teased at some stage in life… Because, that’s life! “We can’t please all of the people all of the time”. So, let’s make the choice to remain unaffected by it all- and at the same time- celebrate absolutely everything that genetics has blessed us with.
I love this blog for its honesty, transparency and kindness. I also love it for its call to be happy in our own skin. However, perhaps what we need to also celebrate more often is being happy in our own skin AND our hair on arms and legs and head as we were blessed with- not how we THINK others see us.
To that end, Instagram isn’t driving us mad- we LET Instagram drive us mad! (That’s why I haven’t an Instagram, Twitter or whatever other type of associated account- just Facebook, to access websites more easily and post occasionally).
Just post your arm adornments on your natural arms, Garance!
I just read the post from the gentleman whose body hair interfered with his ability to sleep at night– and I completely support his decision to remove his body hair! If it interferes with your sleep like that, it HAS to go: otherwise, no!
I’m a brunette too. Lucky for me I got my mom’s sensitive light skin and my dad’s arab dark hair. In other words, fun times in the hair department!! Wax away baby :) To be fair, it does help a lot if you wax properly and consistently – I definitely have a lot less arm hair now than when I was a teenager. When I absolutely didn’t have time to go get a proper salon wax, I used to bleach to lighten it so it wouldn’t show as much! Oh the things we do for our looks… :)
I’m very white with very dark arm hair and I’ve been shaving them for 20 years now. It’s no big deal at all it’s two swipes of the razor per arm when I take a shower.
sauf si tu ressembles à un singe et que depuis 40 ans ça ne t’a pas dérangé, ne le fait pas. Moi je le fais depuis mon adolescence (une vingtaine d’années donc), la repousse est sans problème, très peu voyante, pas piquante puisque je le fais à la crème dépilatoire une fois de temps en temps. C’est beau c’est net c’est facile
D’apres mon experience , la meilleure solution est le lazer. Sahant que les duvets des bras et des cuisses sont tres difficiles a faire partir totalement et qu’il faudra pas mal de seances. Personnellement e trouve que les duvets sur les bras font partie de ces details qui foutent tout par terre… a eviter a tout prix !
Je suis châtain clair, j’ai, ou plutôt, j’avais des poils sur les avant-bras: STOP. Pour plus ou moins les mêmes raisons, j’ai épilé. Malgré leur teinte claire, malgré que j’étais sûrement la seule à les voir, malgré toutes les autres manières de photographier un bracelet qu’attaché au poignet, j’ai préféré tout enlever :P et franchement… c’est le kiff. La repousse ça va finalement, je connais pire. Même en été, c’est jouable et je me sens beaucoup plus à l’aise, alors c’est tout ce qui compte ;) ça ne te coûte rien d’essayer ! A bientôt !
40 years ago being completely hairy was the norm. then we had to shave our armpits. and then our bikinilines. and then our legs. and then all of our pubic hair. and the fuzzy hair above our lips. and half of our eyebrows. and now our armhair? where will it stop? are we not allowed to have any hair anymore? it’s so silly, there is no rational reason for all of this, it’s just society pressuring us into it. and it’s mostly women pressuring each other (perhaps not even directly, but the only reason you’re thinking about doing it is because others are doing it, right?). I think, as you story proves, social media has a lot to do with it. in normal life, no one looks at your armhair, but on a close-up picture on instagram we will. but do we really want to take it so far that we’ll wax our arms for the perfect instagram picture?
this may sound extreme, but I sometimes feel like we’re not allowed to be human anymore. we have to wax and botox and exercise and juice-fast our way to becoming this perfect creature. how far are we going to push each other? where will it end?