If you've never given much thought to your arm hair, it may be hard to imagine what it's like to be unhappy with your own day in and day out, but that's precisely the self-consciousness experienced by countless women moving from childhood into adolescence. One such person is Nicole, who recalls, "My arm hair was pointed out to me ever since I can remember." A hairless body was the ideal she saw in the media, and years of taunting by peers reminded her that she didn't meet it. "'Hairy' was my nickname," she tells Allure. "There’s nothing clever about that, but it continued to echo into my adulthood. When I’m wearing a strapless dress or when I have a tank top on, all I can see is my arm hair and I’m reminded of how ugly I felt."

The average human body boasts some 5 million hair follicles, and generations of beauty standards across many cultures have dictated that on femme-presenting bodies, some of this hair is acceptable and some of it is not. Body hair has been censured and policed, giving rise to hair-removal rituals requiring immense time and resources: shaving, waxing, laser hair removal, electrolysis, and more.

As the body-positivity movement has gathered momentum in recent years, though, body hair, especially on legs and armpits, has begun to enter the mainstream, with celebrities and Instagram influencers applauded for flaunting theirs. Arm hair has been discussed far less, but that's not to say it doesn't inspire strong feelings in those who have it, which is to say all of us. And growing acceptance of body hair doesn't mean everyone is embracing theirs. Nicole, for one, chooses to shave her arms. "It just makes me feel good," she explains. "And I think it would be more disempowering for me not to shave them just because there's some movement that I feel forced to be a part of."

Allure asked her and six others to show off their arm hair in intimate photos, as well as share their thoughts on it and their body image more broadly. From a woman facing family pressure to remove her arm hair to a nonbinary individual navigating the role their hair plays in their gender expression, they prove that our relationship with our hair is as personal as it is cultural.

Amber Venerable, 34