A new social media trend has Chinese girls posting selfies of their unshaved underarms in Weibo, the Chinese counterpart of Twitter.

According to its competition page, the contest, which was simply entitled "Girls not plucking their armpit hair", began on July 17, 2014.

Media outlet Tomo News revealed that the page has attracted more than 28.5 million views and thousands of picture submissions within five days of its launch.

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Seeking to challenge social norms and encourage women to appreciate their body hair, "Girls not plucking their armpit hair" was launched in Weibo.

Apart from merely urging women to muster the courage to post their "armpit hair selfies", the popularity brought about by the social networking site was taken advantage of to promote appreciation for natural beauty.

"Girls, you should have confidence that you are beautiful just the way you are, shaven or not," the competition page advised its followers.

Organizers of the said competition was astounded to learn that countless Chinese women were more than willing to participate. More astonishingly, these women are taking part of the contest that clearly offered no prize.

This kind of social media movement has also gained popularity in other sites. For instance, Tumblr has been flooded with entries to the blog site called Hairy Legs Club. This platform aspires to challenge the social expectations of beauty.

Another notable contribution to this cause was the Natural Beauty series by London-based photographer Ben Hopper. Recruiting actresses and models for the project, Hopper aimed to prove that women need not conform to social norms to be deemed attractive.

On July 22, 2014, the "Girls not plucking their armpit hair" already organizers announced the top 10 best pictures from among the entries. No criteria for judging was set.

Despite the end of the competition, however, countless women are still posting their photos in the site. In fact, the competition hashtag has retained its trending status in Weibo.

TagsGirls not plucking their armpit hair, armpit, unshaved