An androgynous model has shared a powerful video that sees her shaving her body hair before sticking it onto her face, as a way to urge people to stop worrying about society’s view of what’s considered ‘feminine’.
Rain Dove, 28, took to Instagram to share the video, in which she can be seen shaving off all of the hair from her legs and armpits before rubbing a glue stick on her face and pasting the hair back to form a beard and mustache.
Meanwhile, in a voice-over, Rain, who has 240,000 followers on the platform, discusses body hair and femininity, telling her viewers: ‘When people tell you that your body hair isn’t feminine and that you have to get rid of it to be beautiful, here’s what’s to remember: We may feel that if we don’t follow social constructs, that we’re going to end up alone.
Gender capitalist: Model Rain Dove has shared an inspiring message about body hair, urging people to stop worrying about society’s view of what’s considered ‘feminine’
Inspiring: The 28-year-old posted a video to Instagram, in which she talks about body hair and embracing the natural body you have
Shaving: In the clip, Rain shaves off all of the hair from her legs and armpits before rubbing glue on her face and pasting the body fuzz into a mustache and beard
Experiment: Rain removes of all of her body hair, including that from her armpits, before gluing it all back onto her face
‘But there are 7.5 billion people on the planet and odds are in your favor that someone will love you for you.’
Rain, who is based in New York City, continues by sharing a reflection on femininity, adding: ‘The word “feminine” is not universal. What’s considered feminine varies regionally, culturally and historically.
‘Whether you’re fuzzy or hairless, you shouldn’t feel ugly for it. This isn’t about beauty – it’s about freedom.’
After gluing all the fuzz that came off her legs and arms onto her face, Rain is left with a full beard.
‘If you think this beard is a statement about masculinity – it’s not. Beards can be feminine too,’ she says as she gives the middle finger to the camera.
Rain understands that the video may be hard to watch for some people and she even started off the caption writing: ‘Some may think this video is gross. “Why did you do that? Ahhhh no!” was the first verbal response I got when I shared it to a close friend, but I just laughed,’ she wrote.
‘Because to me what is actually “gross” is how much shame people feel for their body being in its natural state.’
She continued saying that people are raised to think that their bodies are not naturally beautiful. ‘Not everyone naturally has body hair, but those that do – especially those that society identifies as “female” are taught from a young age that their hair is disgusting,’ she added.
Facial hair: After gluing all the fuzz that came off her legs and arms, Rain is left with a full beard, which she says can be feminine too
Advice: Rain wants people to know that they should do whatever they want with their bodies without feeling pressure from society
She urged others to do with their own hair as they please, writing: ‘So get rid of it if you like. But do it because that’s how you want to maintain your machine. Because hair or not – ugly is a feeling not an aesthetic. No amount of shaving or waxing will ever create true beauty.’
Rain further opened up about her own experience with body hair to Teen Vogue, telling the publication: ‘I remember being a lot younger and watching moderately horrified as my armpit hair and upper lip ‘stache came into full bloom. I was called “ugly” or “mannish” and spent a lot of my childhood isolated from my peers.
‘I personally don’t believe in the words “masculine” or “feminine.” For some, the binary is a comfort or even a truth. Hopefully one day soon, we can find a balance between people’s personal definitions for themselves and the world around them.’
Rain, a former firefighter, is a self proclaimed ‘gender capitalist’, which means she takes advantage of the opportunities she’s given based on whatever sex people perceive her to be.
She has taken the modeling world by storm, working for the likes of Elle, Vogue and Calvin Klein – as both a male and female model.
‘I’m not gender-fluid, I’m not gender non-conforming, I’m not gender-free,’ she told FEMAIL previously.
‘I believe that if you want gender then you can have it. If you want to label yourself then sure. If you want to use history to describe who you are then there is nothing wrong with that. But don’t limit me on the way that you limit yourself. I am “I.” That is it. I’m not my body.’
Identity: The model and activist believes that people should be themselves and not feel put into boxes by society
Career: She has taken the modeling world by storm, working for the likes of Elle, Vogue and Calvin Klein – as both a male and female model
Career: Rain stumbled into modeling by accident after losing a bet with her friend that resulted in having to go to a casting for men’s underwear campaign for Calvin Klein
Discovering who she was took some time. Rain first came out as a lesbian, then she was gender-fluid, then she was gender-non-conforming, and ultimately she came to call herself a gender capitalist.
She explained that her supporters are often her harshest critics and she had to be careful that she wasn’t offending any communities with her identity.
‘I love my body. It’s awesome, it’s my vessel and I don’t plan on changing it. So I took myself of social media and after a lot of thought I realized that what I’m trying to say is “I am I”, that’s it,’ she said.
Rain explained how social media has enabled her to express herself and her identity, adding: ‘Social media is a safe space, it’s a space where you can attend without a body, without a sexuality, without a body, without anything other than your intentions and your follow through.
‘You’re basically just words and a profile picture that could be you, it could be a cat, or it could be a plate of spaghetti. It’s the closest thing to being the “us that is us.”‘