Pocho Ocho ways Latinas deal with unwanted body hair

If you’re a Latina, then you know the dirty little secret: body hair everywhere. Maybe you didn’t grow up with hairy arms or legs, but once you approached 30 or had children, the secret caught up with you.

Hair on your arms, hair on your legs, hairy eyebrows, chin hair, toe and foot hair, moustaches, sideburns, hair on your breasts, even a female version of the treasure trail! Aye!

I’ve seen the culture around Latina body hair traverse everything from shame to denial to indifference to pride (I’m looking at you Frida Kahlo.)

But for the rest of us not so lucky to look good in a moustache, this hair must be dealt with. Here are the top eight ways this can go down:

8. Ignorance

Did you see that hair on my chin? I didn’t see that hair on my chin — why are you staring at my chin for?

7. Laser or Electrolysis

This method is for those who really, really want to get rid of body hair — and are willing to endure excruciating pain to do it. Who ever said lasers in your ladyparts was a bad idea?

6. Trimming

This method is only slightly better than ignorance, but doesn’t last as long. As soon as you trim your eyebrows, more hair pops up on that mole on your arm!

5. Plucking

You can get so good at this that it almost becomes a hobby, the best part is it works on multiple parts of the body: you can use the same tweezers to pluck unwanted hair along your bikini line, big toe, breasts, mustache and even eyebrows!

4. Threading

You’ve seen it on TV and at kiosks in the mall. Your cousin Michelle’s eyebrows went from sesame Street’s Bert to Jennifer Lopez in just 20 minutes. Sure it’s kinda painful, but it works!

3. Nair 

The stuff smells nasty and lasts for a few days, but wiping away unwanted hair means you can get to those extra sensitive places.

2. Shaving

Tried and true, no Latina can go without a good razor!

And the numero uno way to deal with unwanted body hair is…

Flaunt it! If all of us have unibrows and mustaches, then we can worry about more important things — like styling them!

Photo courtesy Donna Reyes. Illustration courtesy Pocho.com.