Bachelor alum Bekah Martinez is revealing why she hasn’t shaved her legs for seven years.
In a Tuesday, July 8, Instagram post, Martinez, 30, shared a screenshot of a message she recently received which read, “Your face doesn’t jive with your hairy legs.”
“Grey must be grossed out,” the message continued, referring to Martinez’s longtime love, Grayston Leonard, with whom she shares three children including daughter Ruth, 6, and sons Franklin, 5, and Ernesto, 21 months.
In a lengthy slideshow, Martinez responded that it’s her body, her choice.
“I started sneaking my mom’s razors in 3rd grade. I remember praying to God that he’d remove all my hair from the neck down,” Martinez wrote. “Family, friends, and even teachers and coaches would gently tease when any of my jet black leg stubble was growing out. It was seemingly harmless but continued to reinforce that my body’s hair was wrong.”
Martinez continued, “I stopped shaving when I was pregnant with my first child. I wanted my daughter (and my future sons) to see that hair on a woman’s body is normal. Not shameful. Not gross. I wanted to demonstrate that body hair is not masculine. Because I am a woman. And so my body hair is feminine.”
“It wasn’t just for my kids,” she explained. “It was for me. I wanted to consciously work through the disgust I had in my natural body. I still don’t love my body hair. And in certain settings, I feel people’s stares and feel embarrassed. But the feeling has so much less power over me than it used to.”
She concluded, “And when Ruth points and says, ‘Mom, my legs look like yours,’ without an ounce of shame, it is all worth it.”
As for her fiancé? “And for the record, Gray went to a liberal arts college in Oregon, so he’s had his fair share of gross razor-less women,” Martinez captioned her post.
Martinez was a contestant on The Bachelor season 22 back in 2018, vying for Arie Luyendyk Jr.’s affections, though she ultimately placed fifth.
Since the show, Martinez has found love with Leonard, with whom she went official in July 2018. The couple have been engaged since 2022.
“YES 🥂♥️,” Martinez captioned a July 2022 Instagram post featuring snaps of her and Leonard celebrating while displaying her engagement ring.
