a hairy affair.

The humid air swiveling around me only further fanned the flames of my mood, spiking it to an impossibly irritable high. We had set up a large booth in the central of The Raffles District, and the business crowds were piling up in queue for the freebies we were giving out.

I glanced up and saw a boisterous group of aunties, chattering loudly. Excitedly pronouncing the free giveaways. One turned to her friend and said, 'Look what they are giving out'. By now, my interest in her should have died down, just one of those cheapskates looking for a freebie. But, no, I couldn't glance away, try as I might. My eyes were magnetized towards this auntie, drawing me in like repellents. I couldn't look away. She was gesticulating her arms wildly in the air, flinging them about and announcing something intelligible to her friend. Just beneath her sleeveless blouse, were a clump of thick, coarse armpit hair.

Yes, that is my question to all ladies all there. Why do some of us walk out of the door with unshaven armpits for the entire world to see? As much as the bra-burning feminists of the bygone era fought hard for ladies' rights and equality, and did so by refusing to shave, I think personal grooming should very well remain any woman's innate instinct and necessity to look clean and tidy.

There once was a survey done among the male population - "If you see a very pretty girl walking ahead of you, and suddenly she lifts up her arms to show a pair of unshaven armpits, how would you react?"

Unsurprising, mens' responses varied from 'disgusted', 'turned off' to 'No matter how pretty she is, I wouldn't want to strike up a conversation with her.' As superficial sounding as the male population's cavemen instincts sound, I as a female would gladly support them all the way.

During the premiere of Notting Hill, Julia Roberts once did a public airing of her very much unshaven armpits. Donning a red sleeveless blouse, the unsuspecting Hollywood actress lifted her arms to wave at fans. What assaulted the public eyes and photographers' camera lenses were a forest of clearly-unshaven-for-days-weeks-even armpit hair.

Once, I was out shopping with an ex-colleague, and a wide array of accessories attracted me and I quickly started trying them out with my colleague. My colleague, at that time, happened to be wearing a sleeveless blouse, and a shawl around her neck, so that her upper arms still remained modestly covered. She was trying out a necklace, and I was standing beside her when I turned. I immediate lost my appetite for any shopping therapy. There, they were, taunting me. Below her lifted arms, were a forest of armpit hair that obviously hadn't met the acquaintance of a razor for WEEKS. Let's just say, for sometime after that, I had some difficulty trying to dis-associate her face from armpit hair.

Since the start of time, most women have dedicated huge chunks of their daily routines to personal grooming. Waxing, shaving and plucking from their various body parts from top to toe, ensuring that they are free of any sort of unsightly body hair. And, if the need arises, even resort to the Grandmother of them all, the Brazilian Wax. One women even claimed that she spent 14 hours a week shaving, preening, getting rid of all unsightly body hair.

While I definitely do not expect shaven armpits as smooth as a baby's bottom, the least these women can do, if not for the public's sake, then to preserve their own dignity, is to show that they did put in an effort. Okay, maybe sometimes there are hair stubs, you know those stubborn hair roots that refuse to go away? Some women are spared that agony, but some can play tug-a-war with the stubborn root hair for the entire morning, and it stays, looking at you defiantly in the eye, and saying plainly that you can forget about getting rid of it because it's taking up permanent resident status under your arm.

But, the women that I've seen by far? They sport long, thick, coarse armpit hair! And, instead of keeping it hidden under wraps and away from the public eye, they flaunt it. Granted, they don't do it on purpose. But, it just makes me wonder, don't they look at themselves in the mirror before they step out the front door? Don't they feel that something is amiss if they rub their pits against fabric, and are rewarded by anything but a lubricant, cleanly shaved underarm?

Danielle Lloyd, star of Celebrity Big Brother, recently sported fake underarm hair for a British documentary. She had to go out in town and to the gym to flaunt those hairy underarms to gauge men's reactions on them. At the end of the ordeal, the pretty lass who got less than favourable responses from men, said, "It's been so embarrassing. I'll remember this day for the rest of my life. I never want to see hair under my armpits again! I felt like a man."

While hair on a male might accentuate his manliness, a female with hair in all the wrong places meeting the acquaintance of light, only has a nauseating effect.

So, the sales girl working at Hang Ten outlet, I hope you do something about your unshaven armpits, because you had me staring at them (eyes unwilling, but alas, flesh is weak) for a full minute while you yakked away on the phone, until finally I could divert my eyes away and go on to pretending to be immensely interested in the kids display section.