Body hair is normal. We all have it. Whether you’re short, tall, a boy, or a girl, we all have some sort of body hair. However, girls more than guys tend to feel the need to get rid of this body hair in order to conform to society’s expectations. Senior Becca Jones has definitely seen and felt these pressures in her day-to-day life.

“If guys were to go wear dresses, people would give them weird looks,” Jones said. “It’s just what society does. If you’re any different than what society thinks you should be, you’re going to be judged.”

That’s exactly what happens with girls and body hair. They are constantly judged based on if their legs or underarms are shaven or not and are expected to shave continuously so they have no hair visible when they go out in public.

“If you were to look at ‘The Greatest Showman,’ the person there that had the beard was seen as a freak and an outcast, and that’s only because she was a girl,” Jones said. “Everybody’s sculpted by the views around them, and society only really bases body hair around girls.”

For Jones, her feelings toward body hair started from a very young age and continued to grow from then on out.

“In kindergarten, I got made fun of because my legs are really hairy,” Jones said. “So in first grade, I got an electric razor from my parents and I used that.”

After years of shaving and trying to keep up with her rapid hair growth, she decided to spend the money and get laser hair removal.

“I’ve just always been really hairy, even as a baby — I have tons of hair, and my hair grows fast, so I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to be shaving my whole life,’” Jones said. “After you do the math and all the razors, the blades, and everything like that are added up, it is much cheaper just to do laser hair removal.”

However, while laser hair removal was ultimately the cheaper choice, in the long run, it didn’t come without its expenses. Jones was fortunate enough to find a Groupon that made the total cost of hair removal cheaper, but it still ended up being more than $2,000.

“For the first eight treatments, it was $250 and then $77 each treatment after that until it was done,” Jones said.

Although it was a bit pricey, Jones said she doesn’t regret her decision in the slightest.

Along with the cost, there were also a lot of stipulations and requirements that she had to follow in order for the laser hair removal to work effectively.

“If you have darker hair and it’s really coarse, it works best,” Jones said. “You can’t be in the sun 48 hours before or two weeks after. [The laser] looks like a vacuum, and you’re always in a really cold room because the machine gets super hot. I imagine it like the magnet from “Minions” that sucks them all up because that’s kind of what it does to your hair.”

The whole process took Jones about a year and a half, and she had little to no pain throughout her treatments. She even said that at times it tickled.

“It’s nice not to have to shave everywhere,” she said. “Sometimes there will be little hairs that pop up here and there, but it’s pretty nice.”