‘I’m a woman with a hairy chest and it makes me feel sexy’

A woman who feels more confident than ever since embracing her chest hair is making it her mission to normalise body hair for all women. Esther Calixte-Bea, 26, says she spent years feeling suicidal before choosing to retaliate against trolls by embracing her natural beauty.

The activist’s hardships have fueled her mission to encourage other women on the internet to grow their body hair unapologetically.

Since ditching the razor, the content creator says she feels “sexier than ever” and plans continued exposing the hair on her legs, torso, and armpits, regardless of the response she receives.

Esther has previously taken to Instagram to say that she wishes to help “more people realize that they can redefine beauty for themselves outside of society’s rules & beauty standards”.

She has previously made headlines after hitting back at trolls who tear her for having a hairy chest online, where she now openly embraces the look.

“I wanted to share my story and start a discussion about femininity, female body hair, and beauty,” The activist told the Mirror. “I wanted to show people that you, as a woman, can be beautiful with your body hair.”

Esther’s journey began when she started experiencing hair growth on her chest from a young age, which caused crippling insecurities and led her to opt out of sports like swimming.

A common cause for excess hair growth on the body in women is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which can cause hirsutism – a name for male pattern hair growth in women.

Lea Jorgensen, another body hair activist, was 33 when she opened up about the hair growth that ensued from her hormone imbalance.

Jorgensen began noticing hair growth on her body shortly after her PCOS diagnosis at age 15, causing her to cover up in shame.

Talking to Inside Edition, she said: “Shortly after I noticed it, a classmate noticed it, and she pointed it out and then there was this cluster of kids who really teased me relentlessly about it.”

Alas, the hair growth positivity movement appears to be gaining momentum online, where more and more women are joyfully embracing their excess body hair.