Being on the survival mode is not an excuse to avoid your personal hygiene. These women and countless other female characters attend their hygiene issues on daily basis while being a hunter or being hunted. If you’re a woman who’s ever packed an emergency end-of-the-world kit, you might have thought to yourself, “While I’m living in constant peril, I probably will not prioritize keeping my armpits shaved.” But that would be a total cop-out, fellow women, because you can shave during an apocalypse, and you should. See the examples below.
1. Mary Ann Summers, Gilligan’s Island (1964-1967)
If Mary Ann (Dawn Wells) gets lost at sea, her razor gets lost with her.
2. Nova, Planet of the Apes (1968)
Nova (Linda Harrison) doesn’t speak, she gets abducted and caged, but I guess she figures the only thing that separates her from the apes is her lack of armpit hair. Stay beautiful, Nova.
3. Ripley, Alien (1979)
A giant, vicious alien is terrorizing Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), who is forced to flee for her life on a space shuttle from an orgy of death. But a girl can’t flee for her life with armpit stubble, now can she?
4. Emmeline Lestrange, The Blue Lagoon (1980)
Emmeline (Brooke Shields) and her cousin Richard (Christopher Atkins) are marooned on an island as children, but thankfully, this Victorian girl learned about shaving. Her cousin probably wouldn’t have wanted to have sex with her if she hadn’t.
5. Helen, Waterworld (1995)
Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) lives on a boat in a post-apocalyptic world where the polar ice caps have melted. You know what’s hot besides those global temperatures? A woman who shaves in the face of adversity.
6. Kate, Lost (2004–2010)
Some survivors of plane crashes who are then stranded on an island would abandon their shaving routing. Not Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly), though. You go, girl!
7. Evey, V for Vendetta (2005)
Presumed political prisoner Evey (Natalie Portman) is being tortured for information. Somehow, even in that little cell, with only the scribbled stories of a persecuted lesbian to sustain her, she manages to keep her armpits hairless, because Evey stays true to her values.
8. Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
She’s a formidable archer. She’s courageous. She’s got a sense of integrity that just won’t quit. But for Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), part of preparing for a forced fight to the death is a quick shave. Some gender norms weren’t made to be broken!
9. Tris, Divergent (2014)
While she’s avoiding assassination at the hands of a dystopian government, Tris (Shailene Woodley) is also doing everything she can to prove that she’s cut out for Dauntless. What is braver than shaving your armpits, I ask you?