Shaving cuts, creams leave an awful rash, wax is sore and messy, and tweezers' OUCH! So what does a girl do with all of her unwanted hair? Well for fans of the hirsute woman, hair is a very attractive feature, the more you have, the sexier you are!

So how did such social conditioning, stating that body hair on women is unnatural, begin? One probable possibility is that a company that manufactures razors realised in the 1920's that they were only selling their product to half the population (men). A government study was then commissioned, (endorsed by the razor company) which found that having hairy armpits was unhealthy for women, then had it published in the fashion magazines. Beginning as a health concern, shaving soon became fashionable, and common-place for women. Today we find ourselves shaving, plucking, depilitating, waxing, bleaching and praying away all of our body hair other than that on our heads and a slight covering of the pubic area. These days if women let their underarm hair grow then they may be labeled as a hippie or a feral.

While many women feel embarrassed about their body hair, the pressure can be greater for the hirsute woman. Hirsutism is the presence of excessive body or facial hair. The condition varies from being mild and hardly noticeable to being obvious. Often hairiness runs in families, and is more or less common in certain cultures. Certain medications, such as anti-epilepsy drugs and some oral contraceptive pills, can cause it. Uncommonly, it can be due to a hormone imbalance, or to cysts or tumours of the ovaries or adrenal glands.

Measures to remove the excess hair can range from the usual cosmetic measures (such as bleaching, waxing and shaving) and treatment with depilatory creams or electrolysis, to medical treatments with drugs. These drugs, however, are not without side effects, and your doctor will discuss the risks of treatment and weigh them against any likely benefit. It will probably take at least 3 months for you to notice any difference in your hairiness, and for most women the hair grows back once they stop taking the medications. You could of course disregard the social pressure and accept and love your body as it is. Hair and all!

Pam Winter first became aware of her body hair at Junior High School from the teasing comments of other students " That day will remain forever etched in my mind. I remember looking in the bathroom mirror and seeing the hair... I began to thoroughly look at my body in the mirror, and what I saw shocked me. Besides the standard pubic hair I had hair all over my butt. It was fur-covered. My lower back was covered. I was embarrassed to tears."

Pam dealt with her hair in a number of ways, and after nothing seemed to work she accepted it. She then ran a personal ad as a hairy woman. In three months she received 1800 responses! Shocked by such a high response, she decided to do something, and so created Hair To Stay magazine (still the only magazine for lovers of natural hair). Hair To Stay magazine began with just 500 issues, which then sold out, and now has a print run of 10,000. Hair To Stay magazine provides an outlet for hirsute women, and satisfies the need of fans of the hirsute. "Many men have dreamed of a hairy woman their entire lives, even worried they may be "gay", and couldn't talk about it. I provide an open forum and acceptance."

Featuring photographs of readers, encouraging women of all shapes and sizes to send in their photos so long as they're hairy. "I think all women are beautiful, hairy ones more so. If men want model thin beautiful models, let them get Vogue. My magazine features women as women are - fat, thin, etc."

Hair To Stay has readers from age 21 to 88, many men, and some women, from all aspects of society. With the Internet spreading the word this phenomenon may indeed be growing! Which is welcome news to hirsute women everywhere.

For many this love, fascination and desire began with adolescent experiences, peeking on a family member and being pleasantly surprised to see luscious pubic hair. Or at school, sitting behind a girl who had hairy forearms. "Many older men remember the women of their youth who were natural and hairy and didn't look like little children." For some men it feels natural, for others the appeal is in the taboo aspect of it. Comments such as those below have been made of the au natural body:

"The sight of it, the touch and feel of it is the biggest sexual turn on in my life!"

"I find women with super hairy bodies fantastic, but what I like the best is women with facial hair. There's something about a women with a thick moustache and beard that I find extremely sexy."

"Mostly because it is a natural, earthy thing. It's the way things are supposed to be. But, I have to confess, because our society shuns them, I guess they become more desirable!"

"Body-hair is natural and beautiful, and it is only our upbringings that say it is not."

Fashion magazines first promoted the idea of female shaving, which has lead to people taking it for granted that women should shave and men should not. Some celebrities don't shave their underarms on occasion, which is greeted with mixed reactions. Patti Smith flaunted underarm hair on the cover of her album 'easter'. Portia De Rossi can be seen with underarm hair in Australian movie Sirens, Jodie Foster in Nell, Pam Grier in Escape From LA, Juliette Lewis in Natural Born Killers, Tara Fitzgerald in Sirens, Demi Moore in The Scarlet Letter, Elle MacPherson in Sirens, and Marilyn Monroe, to name just a few. The seeds are there for it to become fashionable, and even commonplace again. Finding natural body hair on a woman attractive can be seen as a fetish by some, but considering it is the natural state of things, we may wonder if shaven, bare skin isn't the real fetish here.

Research has shown that the same woman viewed with, and without (to different audiences) was interpreted as "feminine and attractive" when she was shaven, and "strong and active" when she was hairy. Reinforcing the view that to be sexy you should be shaven. Hair To Stay magazine has faced some harsh criticism, one complaint that stands out is that from the boyfriend of a woman who chose to be hirsuteƒ "Thanks to your disgusting site she looks like a hairy man (like the models you show)." He then continues that a woman is "supposed to be hairless and smooth" and that their natural body hair makes them look "masculine and disgusting". Obviously the man is quite happy if his girlfriend's thoughts are conditioned by the mainstream ("normal"), yet not happy when she is inspired by someone like Pam Winter to question her thoughts.

Interestingly, some men (who were previously not fans of body hair) have dated women with hairy underarms and found sexual pleasure in the higher level of pheromones. When one man asked his girlfriend to shave her armpits for the first time, their sex life suffered from it. Once the hair began growing back, so too his libido returned. In a world where sexual appeal drives fashion, it's worth thinking about.

Hair To Stay magazine has since ceased production, but the website is still active, and Pam still produces calendars and videos of hirsute women. For more information, write to Pam Winter, Winter Publishing, P.O. Box 80667, South Dartmouth, MA 02748, USA. http://hairtostay.com Or email:- pam@hairtostay.com

Leah Baroque is editor of Biblio Eroticus magazine www.biblioeroticus.com