My Hairy Pits

I have hair in my armpits. As an American woman this is fairly unusual, depending on the circles one runs in. My legs have been unshaven for years now. I stopped shaving regularly in my mid-teens for novelty's sake (and what a novelty it was); which mutated into shaving them once every couple weeks during the summer in my early-twenties until present day (28). The winter?? Forget about it. What's the point? But during all this time, I faithfully shaved my armpits every-so-often, perhaps 3-4 times a month. Really faithful, right?

I've recently discovered benefits of hairy pits and I'm going to use this space to explain why.

Starbeans was born last summer: July 30th, to be exact. We co-sleep, so I've spent a lot of time breast-feeding while lying down (in bed). Until the cold winter months, most nights were spent with just a bra, no shirt. This all gave me plenty of time to sniff my own pits and start formulating theories.

My hypothesis is as follows: I believe that bare skin assists in breeding the little bacteria in the armpits causing the acrid scent of B.O. Think of all those little knooks and crannies, skin-on-skin, allowing the moisture to do its thing.

Consider the facts:

• I shower at night
• Going to bed, I would smell fairly inoffensive
• Skin on skin, as the night wore on, so would the stench
• Frequent feedings were spent awake, sniffing and hypothesizing
• By morning, it was like I never took a shower
• Tom's of Maine was powerless against the force of my B.O.

I decided something needed to change; I didn't have to take this. It was all very unpleasant! So I took action: to test my theory, I stopped shaving those few times a month. As my hair grew, what were my findings? My pits were much less offensive - my B.O. had been muted. I swear it! And so it is. I think the hair gets in the way of the bacteria's happy stomping grounds; it's a lot more work for those little buggers to move around and multiply.

• I'm happy
• Starbeans is happy
• My pits are happy (& hairy)

Why not slather on more Deo for my B.O., you say? Well, I've found that the more I cut out artificial fragrances and perfumes, the less tolerance I have for them. I used to roll my eyes when my Aunt Laurel would run from the room, arms flapping and eyes watering; but now I understand it. I just can't take it, and why should I have to?

I'd rather go au natural.