Have you ever wondered what it would be like to stop fixating on getting your eyebrows shaped up, removing your mustache, or other stray hairs on your face? Well one woman in Copenhagen actually did just that. For one year, a young lady named Eldina did not remove any of her facial hair. She documented the journey on social media, and her content has gained a lot of attention and positive reactions. Would you be able to stop removing your facial hair for a whole year? Find out more about her journey and how this bold decision changed her life.
Eldina took her time deciding to stop removing facial hair. She mentioned that it was a gradual process. “I wouldn’t say it’s something that happened suddenly, but I became increasingly frustrated with having to remove hair for no apparent reason. I see men go outside without removing hair, so why do I have to? I realized that I could spend my time much better. I’m not against shaving or removing hair, but it’s the expectation that every woman should do it all the time that annoys me.”
Many times, we feel pressure to live up to societal beauty standards, which are really impossible to meet and can be very stressful. It causes many people to feel they are not beautiful, it lowers self-esteem, and creates a negative self-image if they do not look like the status quo.
Her courageous decision is inspirational to other women and even men, in a message that you don’t have to worry about your facial hair so much to appear attractive. “A lot of women have written me and told me that they also feel pressure to remove all of their body hair, even though they don’t want to. But they feel pressured by society to do so, or have been bullied for having hair on their bodies,” she said.
Eldina’s message resonates with a lot of different people, but especially with other women. “A lot of women have written to me, saying that they felt like they were the only woman with facial hair or with prominent body hair. Where in reality, there are so many, and having body hair as a woman is not an extraordinary thing. I have gotten maybe 100 negative messages from men, and maybe 4-5 from women,” she said.
Eldina hopes that her content will help to change beauty standards and make more people feel like they are beautiful. Beauty is more than skin deep, but also it is important for us to all know that all kinds of people, physical attributes and appearances are beautiful also. “I think that the beauty standards are super random. They change all the time. Something that’s very important now could be completely irrelevant in 10 years. So I can’t see why there is such an expectation for people, especially women, to fit into these standards,” she said.
So what would Eldina’s advice be to other people looking to improve the way they feel about themselves? “I think my advice would be, that if people don’t like you, you can always find new friends. You can always find other groups of people who will accept and value your thoughts and feelings. And do you really want to be liked for someone you’re not? I think it’s always a good idea to reflect on why you’re doing what you’re doing. And is it what you want, or are you doing it because of fear?” She has created a wonderful movement that will hopefully encourage more people to embrace themselves unapologetically.
