Julia Roberts' Armpit Hair Launched A Global Hygiene Debate — And We'd Be Ashamed To Have It Today

Given how much chatter Julia Roberts' appearance at the 1999 "Notting Hill" premiere generated, you would think that she wore something completely inappropriate or did something so shocking that people couldn't wrap their heads around it. In reality, though, all she did was walk the red carpet without shaving her armpit hair. While some speculated that Roberts was taking a stance on women's beauty standards, others expressed their disgust and questioned her hygiene.

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In one Reddit thread discussing the red carpet outfit, someone questioned why women were deemed "unhygienic" for not shaving their body hair, but men didn't receive the same label. While that is true, Roberts notably wasn't trying to make a feminist statement. Addressing the so-called 'scandal' during a November 2018 appearance on "Busy Tonight" (via Allure), the "Pretty Woman" star said, "I think I just hadn't really calculated my sleeve length and the waving and how those two things would go together and reveal personal things about me," she continued. "So it wasn't so much a statement as it's just part of the statement I make as a human on the planet for myself." 

Still, the fact that her armpit hair remains a point of discussion over two decades later is a sign that people continue to believe myths about body hair. To get the biggest one out of the way: armpit hair is not unhygienic. Chatting with GMA Network, Dr. Bea Chan, medical director of The Skin B Clinic, said that armpit hair "itself isn't unhygienic." Although hair could accumulate sweat and bacteria throughout the day, it wouldn't lead to any hygiene issues as long as people bathed regularly and applied deodorant.

Chatting with Byrdie, dermatologist Dr. Mina Amin professed that there were health benefits to not shaving your armpits. Dr. Amin explained that one of the many things that happen to your armpits if you shave them every day is that you increase your risk of developing ingrown hair and razor burns. Additionally, the nicks we get during shaving could also be a gateway for MRSA bacteria to enter our system. 

So, by avoiding shaving altogether, the risks of developing these issues were minimized. Dr. Brendan Camp, a dermatologist, explained another benefit to leaving your armpit hair untouched, saying, "Underarm hair acts as a dry lubricant to minimize friction. Friction, heat, and sweat during exercise or on particularly hot days can cause irritation of the delicate underarm skin." Dr. Camp also made sure to note that you also reduced your risk of contracting folliculitis by avoiding shaving. 

Moreover, Dr. Amin confirmed that the idea that shaving your armpits makes you sweat less wasn't rooted in scientific fact since sweat production was controlled by glands that were unaffected by hair removal. Research has indicated that more and more women are becoming aware that shaving hair does not equate with hygiene. According to a study by Mintel (via The Telegraph), in 2013, 95% of women between the ages of 16 and 24 reported that they practiced hair removal on their underarms. A mere three years later, that number had fallen to 77%, indicating that nearly one in four women under the age of 25 did not follow the practice anymore. With all this in mind, we can only hope that Julia Roberts' armpit wouldn't spark the same hygiene discussion these days.