![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/i-proudly-embrace-my-hairy-chest-as-a-woman/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/0_SOCIAL-Esther.jpg&description=Body hair activist Esther Calixte-Bea has opened up about the cruel judgement and racism she's faced as a hairy woman - and how she learned to love and embrace her body after years of trying to hide it away The first time Esther felt ashamed of her body hair was as a child. "I was in elementary school and my friends saw the hair on my stomach," she recalled. "Their reaction wasn't positive, they were shocked. In that moment, I knew that having body hair was not normal or that I had to remove it." "I grew up in a predominantly white neighbourhood and school a few minutes from Montreal. My hairiness was a burden. I wouldn't go swimming because I didn't want to spend so much time removing my body hair to then seeing it grow back after two days, getting ingrown hair and scars. "I remember constantly lifting up my shirt making sure it was properly covering my chest hair because I was so afraid someone would see it and that I would get bullied," she told the Mirror. But now, aged 26, Esther Calixte-Bea has learned to love her body hair, and she's inspired countless other women to do the same through her work as a visual artist and body hair activist. Esther, also known as Queen Esie, first described herself as an activist in 2019 when she saw a comment left on her Instagram describing her efforts as such. She said: "I had never heard of this term before and felt like it perfectly described what I was doing on social media." In the same year, she created the Lavender Project, which she describes as "a self-photography self-liberating" exercise. For the project, Esther lovingly made then modelled a lavender-coloured dress with a deep V-neck, showing off her chest hair for the first time. "I wanted to share my story and start a discussion about femininity, female body hair and beauty. I wanted to show people that you, as a woman, can be beautiful with your body hair," the activist explained. What followed was a brilliant example of the positive change social media can affect){kind=link}
Body hair activist Esther Calixte-Bea has opened up about the cruel judgement and racism she’s faced as a hairy woman – and how she learned to love and embrace her body after years of trying to hide it away
The first time Esther felt ashamed of her body hair was as a child. “I was in elementary school and my friends saw the hair on my stomach,” she recalled. “Their reaction wasn’t positive, they were shocked. In that moment, I knew that having body hair was not normal or that I had to remove it.”
“I grew up in a predominantly white neighbourhood and school a few minutes from Montreal. My hairiness was a burden. I wouldn’t go swimming because I didn’t want to spend so much time removing my body hair to then seeing it grow back after two days, getting ingrown hair and scars.
“I remember constantly lifting up my shirt making sure it was properly covering my chest hair because I was so afraid someone would see it and that I would get bullied,” she told the Mirror.
But now, aged 26, Esther Calixte-Bea has learned to love her body hair, and she’s inspired countless other women to do the same through her work as a visual artist and body hair activist.