ADVERTISEMENT
If there's one thing the whole R29 beauty team likes to swoon over, it's pastel hair. We've cheered on celebrities who have taken the purple plunge. We've given tips galore on turning yourself into a unicorn-head. We've even taught you how to go from pastel princess back to your natural hue. But, for all of our obsessing, there's one direction we never saw the trend going in.
Gird your loins, folks: The ladies are dyeing their armpits pastel.
It's true. All over Instagram and Tumblr, women are showing the results of their decisions to go shave-free. But, instead of flaunting the hair Mother Nature gave 'em, they're dyeing their underarms all sorts of fun colors.
Apparently, this "trend" isn't all that new. "It's been around for a little while," says Anna Biotics, who started the Instagram page Lady Pit Hair, which documents the underarm hair of those who identify as women, about a year back. "Some of it just happens to be colorful," she says.
Biotics first dyed hers a year or so ago with some friends. "We had some bleach and some purple dye, and we just went for it," she says. And, while the results may be aesthetically pleasing, there are some setbacks to the process — just like with your regular strands. "If you use bleach that's too strong, it burns. The dye gets everywhere," she says. And, she adds, "Every time your armpits sweat, you get colored pit stains." (Look, you can even sweat like a unicorn!)
When asked why ladies are doing this, she says: "Why not? It's definitely part of an alternative culture that's doing something different, but most people just do it for fun because they can." She notes that a lot of people who hop on the pastel-locks trend like to dye their pits to match, taking that ever-tasteful "carpet matching the drapes" joke to a whole new level.
But, there are also some who do it to raise awareness for causes. "Some of my followers have dyed their underarms pink for breast-cancer awareness," Biotics says. And, it's a creative way to flout cultural body-hair norms.
Click through to check out some of the dye jobs from Lady Pit Hair and others.
ADVERTISEMENT