A woman with hairy armpits has weighed in on her life-changing decision to ditch the razors and accept body hair with open arms.

42-year-old Maria Margolies is a mother-of-two and a yoga teacher from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, who made the brave decision to let her underarm hair grow more than a decade ago.

While feeling unsure about the move at first, she now believes that accepting her body hair only empowered her and helped her break free from the pressure imposed by society.

“It’s my body, it’s my choice. I stopped shaving because I couldn’t come up with a good reason for why I was doing it in the first place,” she told the New York Post.

“Women are taught that it’s not okay to have body hair but I’m confident in my choice not to shave if I don’t want to. It’s empowering to stand my ground.”

Maria also revealed she first started shaving her underarms and legs when she was just 12 years old after being raised in a Catholic household.

It wasn’t until she was in her 30s that she learned not only to accept her natural beauty but to try and normalize body hair by flaunting her hairy armpits on social media.

Nowadays, the yoga instructor boasts nearly half a million followers on TikTok where she receives lots of praise from like-minded women who find it empowering to let their body hair grow.

“I don’t need anyone’s approval. I feel sorry for anyone who feels they need to be hateful toward me based on whether I shave or not,” Maria added.

And as it happens, the 42-year-old is not short of followers and supporters who follow in her footsteps in an attempt to conquer existing beauty standards.

“There’s nothing more beautiful in a woman than her hairy armpits,” someone said.

“You’re a true inspiration to all women out there. I wish more people would follow suit and stop normalizing shaving,” another wrote.

A third suggested: “I let my leg hair grow as well. Why would I shave them just because other people think I should?”

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