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All Videos September 9, 2022

How body hair reflects our gender identity

Serena’s curly hair reminds her of her Fijian-Indian ancestors. Transitioning has allowed her to grow her hair, and play with its colour. But removing her body hair remains uncomfortable and fraught.

More from this series

Roxie takes her monobrow into the modelling world

Roxie is growing out her monobrow and abandoning her hair straightener. After being bullied as a child for being hairy, now her body hair can be a commodity – but there is still a social cost.

How body hair reflects our gender identity

Serena’s curly hair reminds her of her Fijian-Indian ancestors. Transitioning has allowed her to grow her hair, and play with its colour. But removing her body hair remains uncomfortable and fraught.

Jessica brings Eastern beauty standards to the West

Jessica likes to choose the shape of her brows to match the day ahead. As a beauty therapist, she brings inspiration and equipment from China to respond to trends and meet her clients requests.

Genevieve finds herself in the perfect bowl cut

Genevieve is a builder who often finds herself in spaces dominated by men, and has long struggled to find a haircut that she likes. Could a barber finally give her the undercut of her dreams?

Kenzi ditches the razor and finds freedom

Kenzi realised she might be hairier than average when her classmates started talking about shaving. But as she’s gotten more used to growing her leg and armpit hair out, she’s started to embrace it.

Yasmine navigates which hair to keep and which to cover

Since she started wearing a hijab at age 15, Palestinian New Zealander Yasmine has had to navigate complex cultural ideas about what hair should be covered and what hair should be seen.

Series trailer: Hair Now, coming August 12

When do you shave and why? What do your eyebrows say about you? How is your haircut part of your gender expression? In Hair Now, six women from different cultural backgrounds in Aotearoa reflect on the role their hair has had in shaping, and reshaping, their identity.