This is my story, a “common” story of an ordinary guy and his relation with the fact of being naked: growing from a shy child to a discrete teenager to an adult more or less confident with his nudity. It’s at once strange but wonderful how our lives evolve and how we get to know ourselves better and deeper. It might seem paradoxical when looking at my Instagram page or my pictures herein, but I can assure you I was not born liberated and comfortable with nudity.
As a kid, I was uncomfortable with my nudity and never been naked in front of others. You can think it’s every kid’s situation, but mine was really excessive. I still wonder why? I guess it was more likely linked to my cultural background where nudity and talking about it was unacceptable, prohibited, coming from a conservative family? and maybe also linked to my parents not being explicit with me about the fact that there are different situational rules around nudity? Being naked is normal in some situations and inappropriate in others?
What I could confirm is that my family seemed to be uncomfortable with that too. I remember locking the door when showering or when I was in the bathroom. In the same way, I was mortified to undress in front of them or in front of my brother with whom I shared the same room. Believe it or not, I used to hide in the closet every time I wanted to get dressed and he was there. It was more like hiding my private parts and wanting my privacy!
My body has changed over the years, my self-consciousness about nudity too. As an adolescent, the situation didn’t really get better, I’d rather say it worsened. My mustache became pronounced, my body hair started growing everywhere, including on my legs, my balls and even my ass! I felt anxious about it, and getting undressed in front of other people wasn’t that easy.
It wasn’t just my own naked body that made me uncomfortable but I felt like being naked with a hairy body was unattractive? It’s most likely the truth… I didn’t hate my body at that time, but I needed adaptation time for the new me. I remember I started trimming my hairy legs just to be as ‘normal’ as my friends who had less hairy legs. My hairy body acceptance wasn’t something that came naturally with age, and wasn’t in favor of me feeling secured with the fact of being naked.
Years have passed… and I had to leave the nest and to live on my own. I felt extremely free to do whatever I want. The fact of having more ‘me’ time helped me become more in-tune with my entire hairy body. Nevertheless, I wasn’t in a complete confidence state yet. I started dating people and exercising. I remember I was really skinny by my early twenties and with exercising, my body got shaped. It was a way I started to better appreciate my body and this appreciation helped me feel kind of ‘sexier’ with or without my clothes on.
I started to practice being naked at my house, alone or in front of my partner. I started to sleep without wearing anything. I started to practice being naked in the locker room rather than cloak myself entirely behind a towel, and to shower naked. It turned into a positive experience, it’s kind of a 360 degrees transformation into body positivity and acceptance.
My body positivity didn’t stop at this level. Later on, I discovered nudism culture and I was really into it. It began during holidays when I started visiting gay nude beaches and lakes. At the beginning, I used to sit apart from where there were plenty of people but with time, I started getting in the middle of other naturists.I got really comfortable with showing my naked hairy body in front of others. And since, I always try to create the opportunity to get more nude time, and this is invaluable, at least for me.