19 Celebrities Normalizing Body Hair (Because Yes, Everybody Has It)

We're not sure who still needs to hear this in 2023, but everybody has body hair — yes, even some of your favorite celebrities. It's completely normal and nothing to be ashamed of, and in recent years, there have been a handful of stars who have publicly spoken about embracing their body hair in an attempt to normalize that fact.

The truth is, your grooming preferences are a deeply personal choice and in a perfect world, it wouldn't be revolutionary for anyone to show off their armpit hair, leg hair, stomach hair, or any other body hair. But because it's so highly scrutinized by people on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and even in the media, we can't help but applaud the celebrities who are working to change the narrative around body hair with their millions of followers.

From Haley Lu Richardson and Julia Michaels to Miley Cyrus, Cardi B, and more, keep reading to check out a few celebrities who have embraced the skin they're in — fuzz and all.

Haley Lu Richardson

Haley Lu Richardson embraced her armpit hair while on vacation in an undisclosed tropical location. The star casually shared a few photos of her lounging in the water in a colorful flower-printed bikini and rectangle sunglasses, signaling that everyone has body hair and it's OK not to remove it.

Alyson Stoner

In September 2023, Alyson Stoner — the actor, singer, and dancer most widely known for her appearances in Missy Elliott's "Work It" and "Gossip Folks" music videos (as well as the tribute two decades later at the 2019 MTV VMAs) — opened up about how body hair is directly tied to body image. In an Instagram post, she wrote, "I present to you my reclamation of beautiful, natural body hair! The only narrative I heard growing up on set and in society was that hair on female bodies was unsightly, disgusting, and embarrassing. I shaved, lasered, waxed, tweezed.. instead of it being an empowered choice and personal preference, every hair had to be eliminated or else my 'womanhood' and desirability were at stake!"

She adds that these days, she lets her body hair grow for "a few weeks, a few years, shaving occasionally, shaving never, manicuring some places, waxing everywhere (ok prob not)" without looking at it from a place of internalized judgement. She continued, "I finally understand that body hair is sexy on everyone, if that's what feels true and good to you!"

Emily Ratajkowski
Getty | Gotham

Emily Ratajkowski

In 2019, Emily Ratajkowski posed for a Harper's Bazaar cover where she showed fans her armpit hair. In the accompanying essay, she explained that hair removal is a personal choice for all people.

"If I decide to shave my armpits or grow them out, that's up to me," she said. "For me, body hair is another opportunity for women to exercise their ability to choose — a choice based on how they want to feel and their associations with having or not having body hair."

Ashley Graham

Ashley Graham has been open about her body hair in past Instagram posts and interviews. In the cover story for Elle's August 2020 issue, she shared that she stopped shaving when she was pregnant. "I haven't shaved my legs, my bikini line, or my armpits since my third trimester, and I don't care," Graham said at the time.

In November that same year, she also shared a naked selfie to her Instagram Story where her underarm hair was visible, then a few months later in March 2021, she followed up with a photo of herself in a minidress showing off her body hair again.

Julia Michaels
Getty | Kevin Mazur

Julia Michaels

Fans applauded Julia Michaels on social media in 2020 after noticing her underarm hair in her new music video for "Lie Like This." The singer tweeted a few months ago that she was going to stop shaving her armpits for good: "Honestly, I'm not shaving my armpits ever again. I don't know why I ever did before. Social norms can eat an eggplant."

"There's something really liberating about doing the things that people tell you not to do . . . If it's something as simple as growing my armpit hair out, I'm down for it."

She later explained to POPSUGAR the reason behind her decision: "I had taken a trip with some of my friends and [my underarm hair] had started to grow out, and when I shaved it, I didn't feel like myself; it was really strange," Michaels said. "There's something really liberating about doing the things that people tell you not to do, and I get a kick out of that. If it's something as simple as growing my armpit hair out, I'm down for it. You'd be surprised at how many men comment on my social media still being like 'That's disgusting. You should shave it,' and it's like, why do you feel like you can comment on my body?"

Amandla Stenberg
Getty | David M. Benett

Amandla Stenberg

In October 2018, Stenberg showed up to the London premiere of their film, "The Hate U Give," wearing a sleeveless black gown, not bothering one bit to shave or remove the hair under their arms — and we're here for it.

Phoebe Bridgers
Getty | Frazer Harrison

Phoebe Bridgers

From music videos to red carpet events, the singer and songwriter has always proudly showed off her armpit hair. The prime example? Her latest appearance at the iHeartRadio Awards in 2023.

Lourdes Leon
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Lourdes Leon

Lourdes Leon has always embraced her body hair, whether that's on the red carpet or in a photo with her mom, Madonna. On April 10, the two posed for a selfie where Leon wore a stunning green dress that showed her armpit hair.

Madonna
Getty

Madonna

Leon's views on body hair aren't surprising considering Madonna has also proudly shown off her armpit hair in selfies before. The pop legend shared the above selfie on Instagram in 2014 with the caption "Long hair...... Don't Care."

Marsai Martin
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Marsai Martin

The "Blackish" star got real about her body hair in an Instagram post that she shared back in October 2021. Alongside a photo of herself lounging in the grass wearing a burgundy button-down dress, Martin wrote, "Normalize girls having hairy legs. 😭👍🏾"

Rowan Blanchard

Back in February, Rowan Blanchard proudly showed off her armpit hair in a photo shoot for Cultured Mag.

Cardi B

When Moschino shared a photo of Cardi B wearing a crop top after performing at the Grammys in 2018, a few fans unnecessarily made some comments about the rappers stomach hair. "She needs to shave that stomach," one person wrote. "She better shave that stomach hair before modeling," wrote another.

Cardi B didn't publicly come out and defend herself against the criticisms, but thankfully she's continued to show off her stomach in countless music videos since — and that's a statement in and of itself.

Willow Smith

Willow Smith's underarm hair was visible in a 2017 video she shared of her shooting arrows. Months later on an episode of Red Table Talk with her mother, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and grandmother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones, she spoke a bit about why she's more comfortable not shaving.

"I mean I didn't really make the decision not to shave, I just kind of didn't shave," she said. "It takes too much time. I just want to get in the shower and get out of the shower."

She added later, "I'm going to be like my ancestors and just do what I need to do."

Halsey

Back in 2018 after sharing a few selfies on Twitter, a troll attempted to shame Halsey by calling out the slight fuzz poking out from under her armpits. The user doctored the photo and put an "LOL" sticker over Halsey's armpit and wrote, "what the hell is this ?!!!"

Shortly after, the "Bad at Love" singer graciously responded, saying, "It's an armpit you've put a sticker over. Not sure what else there is here to explain?"

Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow has been open in the past about not shaving or waxing her bikini line. Back in 2013, Paltrow attended a red carpet event wearing a sheer dress that she ended up having to go commando for. She opened up about what the experience was like a few days later during an appearance on Ellen.

"Well, let's just say everyone went scrambling for a razor," she told the host. "I work a '70s vibe. You know what I mean?"

Paris Jackson
Instagram | parisjackson

Paris Jackson

In 2017, Paris Jackson took to her Instagram to share with her followers that she had been growing out her armpit hair for the previous two months. Of course, her photo was met with some unsolicited criticism, to which she responded in a video saying, "I love hair, and sweat, and BO. I fucking love it," she added. "I think it's great. Some people think that it's like super disgusting, especially on girls, but every human body does it. It's natural. Get over it."

Miley Cyrus
Getty | Robert Kamau

Miley Cyrus

In a now-deleted Instagram post, Miley Cyrus showed off her underarm hair after she dyed it hot pink for fun. She later filmed herself waxing the hair off on her Stories.

Bella Thorne
Getty | Phillip Faraone

Bella Thorne

After a paparazzi photo of Bella Thorne at the beach with unshaved armpits began to circulate in 2017, the former Disney star was quick to defend herself from critics, tweeting, "Hahaha don't they know I never shave?"

Alok Vaid-Menon

In late 2021, Alok Vaid-Menon shared an Instagram series surrounding body-hair acceptance. The poet captioned the inaugral post, "at 8 years old i developed an acute case of trichotillomania: a compulsive urge to pull out my body hair. a few years later i began to use my sister's razors and shave off all of my body hair. a decade later when i started my transition, so many people told me that i would be more 'believable' if i 'just shaved.' i had spent so many years coming into myself and yet here i was, once again, being told that i was the problem."

They continued, "i remembered my sister and mom being told that they were 'mannish' for having arm hair and a slight mustache. i remembered all of the brown women i knew who were made to feel like they were never feminine enough. i resolved then and there not to remove my body hair because i believed in the femininity of my hairy brown foremothers."