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If you thought hairy legs and hairy armpits were strange, you’re in for a treat with the latest wacky beauty trend that has hit the fashion scene

Netilie Marozva Lifestyle Reporter
Most bizarre fashion trend alert-armpit colouring. If you thought hairy legs and hairy armpits were strange, you’re in for a treat with the latest wacky beauty trend that has hit the fashion scene. Pink, orange, blue or green, the choices are endless. We are not talking about crayons, we are talking about dyed armpits.

The trend has garnered attention around the world, especially from women. It has also rocked the Zimbabwean fashion scene as evidenced at the recently held Zim Colour Run.

An American YouTube user, Destiny M, attempted the trend on herself after she was inspired by a photo of a woman with pink pubic hair and posted the results online.

Her video posted on September 17, 2014, has since been viewed by over 75 000 people. In a blog post of her own, she explains that coloured armpits represent the freedom to make her own choices, which is pretty empowering. Most people since then have been trying this trend.

However, the results are not really pleasing in our own country where most people are not used to such wild and bizarre fashion trends. As can be expected with any new trend, especially one that provokes traditional views of femininity, there has been a fair amount of criticism from women and men alike on social media.

Most of these critics, not surprisingly, have described the practice as “disgusting”. Several people in the streets of Harare failed to understand and accept the concept of dyeing their underarms in the name of fashion.

They considered it as immoral and disgusting since it is just not acceptable to see one’s underarms let alone dye them.

Sharon Chitanga, who is a vendor in the CBD, said that most people were adapting to foreign trends without even considering whether they are valuable to their cultural norms or not.

“Most people, especially women, have abandoned our cultural beliefs due to the Western fashion trends. How can armpit colouring be considered as fashionable. Letting the armpit hair grow is not even appealing, what more coloring it.” Chitanga said.

Some people regarded it as something that can only be done by attention seekers. A normal person with morals would never dye their armpits and walk around, they said.

Loice Dambakurima, who is a shop assistant in an upmarket shop in Belvedere said that she had seen many people who come to the shop with dyed armpits and she regarded them as the wild type.“Most of the people who come here with dyed armpits are not just ordinary people but the wild type who come to buy clothes that match their personalities.

“I think it is not a trend for just anyone but a certain type of people with a personality to match it.” Dambakurima said.

Some men expressed shock and disgust at the new trend and they could not believe that such a bizarre thing exists.

“It is bad enough that some women are taking high risks of changing their hair colour. Now some of them want to change the hair colour of their armpits? I am shocked and disgusted. That is not sexy at all. Excuse me for being old-school, but I like women without any hairy armpits.”

However, according to some fashion icons, dyeing armpits is much more than a simple “hot trend”, it is about body positivism. It is not about coloured pit hair, but about stepping outside the box and making independent style decisions that feel right to you and encouraging people to celebrate their bodies and their unique differences, as they are.

One of the fashion icons, Melisa Murigwa, who owns a beauty salon in the CBD describes armpit colouring as a way to encourage women to make conscious choices about their bodies.

“It is all about experiments with your personal sense of style and just accepting who you are and normalising the concept of the natural hair that grows on women’s bodies.” Murigwa said.

Another fashion conscious teen, Loice Zvevanhu said that every woman should be free to make choices with their bodies no matter what people say. “Every woman should embrace her body regardless of prescribed social stereotypes that dictate what we ought to look like. There is nothing wrong with armpit colouring as long as you feel comfortable with it.”