The first time I shaved my armpits, I was 12. With a razor stolen from my mum, I took it dry to my skin, erratically swiping the blades against the dark hairs that had begun to sprout before she could catch me in the act. While I didn’t know any better at the time, I still cringe when I remember the soreness, the embarrassing bumps and the raw redness left under my arms by what I had done.

Growing up in the early 2000s, at a time when women’s insecurities were circled in red and plastered on the front of magazines, there was a lot about my teenage body that made me self-conscious. However, one distinct insecurity was always my armpits: was I sweating too much? Were they too hairy? Why did I have darker shadows than the rest of my friends? As I got older and ‘perfected’ a close shave, I’d often bring a disposable razor into the school bathrooms to ‘top up’ before PE or any kind of activity that might expose my underarms.

This empowering new campaign by Dove wants us to celebrate underarm positivity and beat stigma