This Morning guest shows off armpit hair after not shaving ... for 18 months

This Morning guest shows off armpit hair after not shaving ... for 18 months

Emer, 28, proudly displayed the long dark underarm growth to viewers of the ITV1 show, and declared she was “furry and proud of it”, as she discussed her decision to turn her back on razorblades.

The research student revealed she had opted not to remove any fuzz for a year after questioning the pressure on women to conform to “artificial gender norms”.

And she said she loved growing her hair so much she has let it run wild ever since.

She told hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford: “I was living in Dublin and it just hit me that there was so much pressure on women to conform to artificial gender norms.

"All around me my friends were getting laser hair removal, Brazilians, some of them were getting Botox ... I just thought where does this end?

"I started examining my own relationship with beauty and with my body. Why did I have to shave?”

She added: “I thought back to when I started shaving and I realised that when I was 14, you know, the hair started sprouting and I didn’t think, 'Will I keep these or will I shave them off'. I knew I had to shave them off or everyone would think I was disgusting.”

Asked by Ruth if she was going to carry on with it, she said: “The experiment was supposed to be for a year and then the end of the year came and I was like, 'I really like my body hair'.

“I can’t believe that I reached 26 before ever even seeing what it looked like and seeing what it felt like and when I did it I thought, 'This is crazy, I love this'.”

Requested to show her hairy armpits off to people at home, super-confident Emer lifted her arms, while singing “get your pits out for the lads”.

The camera also zoomed in on Emer’s hairy legs as she sat on the sofa with salon owner Michelle Devine.

Michelle, who is pro shaving, said she found Emer “so inspiring” but added she would never be brave enough to do the same.

Michelle admitted she loved to shave, saying it makes her “feel good, feel feminine and feel sexy" and that she does not have a husband or boyfriend but “does it for herself”.

They also discussed a recent scandal in Ireland, where 11 and 12-year-olds were being offered bikini waxes in salons under the belief that ripping out the so-called “virgin hair” would lead to smooth bikini lines for the rest of their lives.

Shocked Michelle said that girls were under an extreme amount of pressure to shave from a very early age.

She said: “At school if you didn’t shave your legs in P.E. the abuse that you would get from the other girls, well I mean children especially can be so cruel, that pressure is on you from a really young age.

“If you’re getting bullied at the age of 13 because you haven’t shaved some really fine blonde hair ¿ you go to P.E. and the abuse starts.”

Emer agreed, but added: “I think that’s dreadful and if you don’t challenge it, that’s what’s going to happen to our daughters and our daughter’s daughters.”

However, she said she still found her transformation difficult.

She admitted: "It’s taken me a long to get comfortable with it. When I first stopped shaving I was in cardigans all the time and really embarrassed about myself."

But despite all the controversy Emer, who has dated throughout her experiment, insisted that men did not mind the hairy look.

Emer, who now lives in London, said: “Boys don’t care, boys have body hair so they kind of know it’s not disgusting.”

Writing about her experiment in a Guardian blog, she revealed: “The man I was going out with when the experiment began was a little apprehensive when I unveiled my innovative grooming plans, but when I actually grew the hair out he was proud of me.

“Then, in a completely un-hair-related twist, we broke up. So I did what single girls in London do, and had ALL the boyfriends.

“None of them minded (some of them liked it). And then one of the boyfriends turned out to be completely amazing so I made him the only boyfriend. He is also proud of me.”

EMER O'Toole, who hasn't shaved for 18 months, shows off the results on TV

She added of going swimming at her local pool: “I was nervous the first few times I went swimming lest other swimmers would try to drown me. This did not happen, however.

“Now the patrons of Brixton Rec are used to a hairy woman in a swimsuit. Next stop â€" St Tropez.”

At the end of the interview 80 per cent of viewers said they were for shaving, while only 20 per cent agreed with Emer’s choice to go hairy.

WATCH the full interview here.