The Comments 1 Woman Received After Showing Off Her Armpit Hair Will Infuriate You

Grown-out armpit hair has experienced a surge in popularity among women. Yet sadly, ladies who choose to flaunt theirs still face a shocking amount of backlash. Laura Defalle, a Belgium-based student, worked with Florence LeCloux Photography on a photo shoot meant to fight back against body shaming, proudly displaying her underarm hair. While the beautiful image above went viral, it ended up being a major source of contention.

The photo of Laura — which is her profile picture on Facebook — received over 7,000 comments. Many of them were rude, including images of razors and remarks such as "You made me throw up 146 times." She ended up reaching out to feminist groups for support and then finally received some positive comments. That said, she addressed the more aggressive backlash in a follow-up post.

"I'm a girl who decided to do what she wanted with her body . . . we often say that . . . we no longer have need of feminism, that women have enough rights . . . No," Laura said. "In Belgium, a country that calls itself free and developed, when a woman wants to say no to waxing, she will be punished."

This calls to mind the experience of Adele Labo, who started the #PrincessesHaveHair movement after being teased for refusing to shave.

Laura ended up waxing away her armpit hair, but because she chose to, not because bullies made her feel that she had to. "Sometimes I shave, sometimes not, the important thing is that it's my choice." According to BuzzFeed, she had anticipated some abuse, but not of this magnitude. Regardless, Laura will be leaving the images and comments up for all to see. "I want to show all the violence that comes from a girl saying no, for once, to traditional standards of beauty," she said.

Though it's disheartening to witness so much hatred over women just being themselves, there is a silver lining. As more images of girls celebrating their body hair go viral, they empower other ladies to do the same. With time, we hope that a little bit of fuzz is no longer a stigma, but just a fact of life.