Challenging the Razor: A New Definition of Beauty
What if beauty wasn’t about smooth skin and polished perfection? What if the very thing women have been taught to hide is actually a symbol of power? That’s the provocative message behind Ben Hopper’s photo series, Natural Beauty — a raw, honest, and refreshingly bold challenge to the long-standing stigma against female body hair.
This isn’t just about letting hair grow. It’s about unlearning centuries of conditioning. Hopper’s photos aren’t here to shock — they’re here to wake us up. The message is simple: nature isn’t the enemy, and the most rebellious thing a woman can do might just be… nothing at all.
The Hairy History of Beauty Standards
Before beauty aisles were stacked with razors and wax strips, body hair removal was already ingrained in culture. From the Stone Age — where sharpened seashells scraped skin raw — to ancient Egypt’s meticulous grooming rituals, humans have long equated smoothness with status.
Charles Darwin added his spin in the 1800s, linking hairlessness to sexual selection and evolutionary desirability. According to his theory, the less hair you had, the more advanced — and attractive — you seemed. And just like that, hair-free skin became a social currency.
But let’s be real — this wasn’t just science. It was strategy. A clean canvas meant control. And for women, especially, the expectation became crystal clear: remove your hair or risk being seen as unfeminine.
Video: “Natural Beauty” Photo Series Challenges Restricting Female Body Hair Standards
The Birth of “Feminine Duty”
By the early 1900s, marketing campaigns and fashion trends doubled down. Sleeveless dresses hit the scene, and suddenly, underarms needed to be smooth. Magazines urged women to eliminate “unsightly” hair. The message stuck like wax: beauty meant bare.
Fast-forward to now, and that “duty” still lingers. Most women feel they have to shave — not out of preference, but pressure. As Heather Widdows, author of Perfect Me, explains, “There’s something deeply fraught about that.” And she’s right — the issue runs deeper than razors. It’s about freedom of choice.
Enter Ben Hopper: A Lens Against the Norm
London-based photographer Ben Hopper decided to challenge this outdated ideal. He wasn’t just curious about why female armpit hair was taboo — he wanted to show it in a different light. And he did just that through his daring black-and-white photo project, Natural Beauty.
Hopper juxtaposed fashion-forward women with the raw reality of unshaved armpits — creating striking contrasts that made people stop and question everything they thought they knew about femininity. As he put it, “You have a very specific kind of beauty standard for women — and I wanted to stretch that image.”
Empowerment in Every Strand
For the women involved, this wasn’t just a photoshoot — it was a personal revolution. Kyotocat, one of Hopper’s featured models, described it as “liberating.” Letting her body hair grow felt like reclaiming space in her own skin. “It felt like I was replenishing some kind of primal power,” she said.
Sophie Rose leaned into the discomfort — and found humor in people’s reactions. “I enjoyed people recoiling in disgust. It was funny,” she admitted. Because when the shock fades, what’s left is authenticity — and the confidence to own it.
For Gabriela Eva, growing armpit hair for the shoot was about self-awareness. “It made me feel vulnerable at first, and eventually empowered,” she said. Now, she embraces her body as it is. No edits. No apologies.
Video: untabooing female body hair 🍒🍑 | tiktok nessa.may.8 #shorts #bodyhair #girls
Not a Statement — Just Real Life
But here’s the twist: for some of these women, the choice wasn’t even about activism. Sienna, one participant, shared that growing her hair didn’t necessarily make her feel “empowered” — just comfortable. And that’s the point. The act of not shaving doesn’t need to be a rebellion. It can simply be a return to what’s natural.
Emilie Bostdt echoed this in her reflection. “The fact that something as ordinary as body hair is considered a political act… that’s exactly why I decided to grow mine,” she said. Because when something basic becomes controversial, it’s worth questioning who benefits from the rulebook — and why it was written that way in the first place.
It’s Not About Hair — It’s About Freedom
Ben Hopper doesn’t want to convert everyone into razor-free rebels. He just wants people to have options. “I’d like people to just question [beauty standards], the whole thing,” he explained. And maybe that’s what makes this photo series so powerful. It doesn’t preach. It simply presents a truth — and invites you to look a little closer.
Because underneath the surface, it’s not about armpits. It’s about agency. The right to choose how you look, feel, and show up in the world — without shame or expectation.
A New Kind of Beautiful Is Rising
We’re living in a moment where beauty is finally being redefined. Social media is flooded with unfiltered skin, silver strands, stretch marks — and now, armpit hair. What used to be hidden is being brought into the light, not for shock value, but for solidarity.
Natural Beauty isn’t a trend. It’s a movement. One that says beauty isn’t about removal — it’s about revealing who you truly are.
Conclusion: True Beauty Doesn’t Need Approval
At the heart of this photo series is a bold, brilliant idea: beauty standards are not fixed. They’re not facts. And they’re not rules we have to follow. Isabel Madow proved it by rewriting aging. Now, Ben Hopper’s subjects are doing it with hair.
So the next time someone says something “isn’t feminine,” ask — who told you that? And who profits when you believe it?
Because here’s the truth: power doesn’t always look polished. Sometimes, it grows wild and free — and dares the world to catch up.
