How did removal of the body hair become a necessity?

August 11, 2020

How did removal of the body hair become a necessity?

Source : Google search

In the wake of pandemic with countries under strict lock-down, beauty salons are closed for months now; we have returned to our roots in every way possible. The lock-down has made us see ourselves for the bodies we are when not bombarded with treatments of various kinds: bleaching, straightening, facials and the most noticeable one, body hair removal. especially for women, when the definition of beauty includes a hairless face, arms, armpits and legs, this overgrown hair is pretty evident now.

Therefore, I cannot help but wonder, will we be able to accept these natural appearances? Not alter them again to fit the superficial definition of beauty? Will it allow women to feel empowered in terms of beauty without going through painful hair removal treatments every month?

The answers to these questions lie in the history of body hair removal practices and trends, which to my surprise date back to 3000 BC in Egypt and Roman Empires. The first razors, made of copper, can be traced back to Egypt and India, 3000 BCE.

Waxing, another hair removal method, is said to have originated in Egypt around 1150 BC, Rule of Henry Ramses III; hairless bodies of women were considered to be beautiful, specially legs and underarms. Egyptian women also removed their head hair and pubic hair. During the rule of Cleopatra, sugar waxing was preferred by women. However, Egypt wasn’t the only civilization to take drastic measures to get rid of body hair, Roman empire followed extreme methods of waxing as well. The methods included bat’s blood, cocoa shells, resins, arsenic sulfur, etc. These were not only very unusual but too toxic for the body. Upper class Roman women in the 6th century BCE also used tweezers and pumice stones. It was said that “handsome roman bourgeois men liked smooth legs”. In political campaigns of Rome, eyebrow waxing was evident as leading personalities removed their eyebrows.

In the Elizabethan era, women also removed their eyebrows and hair from their foreheads to give themselves longer brows. Waxing in the middle ages included ingredients such as liquid chalks, bat blood, frog blood and ash with vinegar, these were as unusual as ingredients used by the Romans.

Even though hair removal had always been part of beauty rituals, it may have been encouraged by Charles Darwin through his book ‘Descent of Man’(1871), which is known as the Modern Era of hair removal. At that time, his theory of natural selection was popular in society. This theory may have influenced the choices made by people, as it theorized that Homo Sapiens have less body hair than their antecedents, and therefore, less hairy mates are more sexually attractive. Body hair had become a competitive selection. More and more women leaned towards hairless arms, legs and armpits but still it was rather expensive for the middle class and below.

Waxing became a thing after the debut of waxing strips in the 1960’s. It was an efficient and effective method of hair removal and affordable for all. It also became popular as fashion trends evolved to showing more skin. During World War II, due to the shortage of nylon, stockings were not an option hence more and more women started shaving and waxing using different methods.

These hair removal practices were encouraged mainly by three different industries. Prior to their efforts, hair removal wasn’t a necessity of women’s life, but a luxury. The three industries were:

Women’s Fashion Industry
Men’s Hair removal Industry
Women’s Magazine Industry

These industries have profited from women as their role as consumers. These three industries are very much interlinked to each other.

As the hemline of dresses rose, it ‘threatened’ to reveal hairy legs. Sleeveless garments were advertised on models with hairless and bright underarms, which pressured women to shave and lighten their armpits in the name of hygiene. Harper’s Bazaar was the first women’s magazine to run an advertisement campaign for hair removal in 1914. It had a huge influence on women. As arms and legs became more exposed, Gillette introduced their “unique, very much up to date gift to beautiful ladies” by the name of Milady Décolleté, a razor designed for female body hair. They launched an anti-underarm hair ad campaign in 1915. It stated, ‘unsightly and objectionable hair from the body should be removed’. Completely bare underarms became a necessity. Around 1950, when Playboy magazine was launched by Hugh Hefner, clean shaven, scantily clothed models became the ideal image of an attractive woman. In the 1970’s, western feminists turned their back on hairless bodies and were in favor of Au natural but Brazilian wax hit the mainstream in 1987 when salon’s started offering pubic hair removal services.

Since 3000 BCE women have been shaving and waxing their body hair to appear more attractive to their counterpart. For so many years the need of body hair removal has been inculcated that plenty women feel self-conscious while stepping out if they haven’t shaved or waxed, they try to hide the body parts or go to extreme lengths as laser treatment to get rid of them, some are ridiculed for the amount of hair on their body, all of which in the end affects the sense of self-worth, confidence and the ability to express themselves through their clothes. A young girl is judged based on the amount of hair on her arms, face and legs! While hair plays an important role in regulating body temperature, acting as a sense organs, we feel compelled to get rid of it because it looks masculine, ugly and unhygienic!

I do believe one can feel empowered by the way skin appears after hair removal but again I ask myself, why? Maybe because this thought of body hair and its appearance being ugly is so deep rooted that even after understanding the history of it and how it is another method of oppression of female body expression, it seems difficult to step out without waxing my legs and doing my eyebrows. I, a lady, think my face looks cleaner and prettier when my eyebrows are sharp and my upper lip has no hair, my body looks attractive with arms and legs smooth and armpits brighter because that is how I have perceived the concept of beauty since childhood. Therefore, changing my own habits and thoughts will take time but I hope someday I will feel confident enough to step out the way I am, hairy! I hope in the future our daughters won’t feel the pressure of removing that one stubble, unless they want to.

This lock-down has given us a chance to change our outlook on so many matters and start anew. One matter among them is body positivity. I hope we use this chance wisely to learn and educate ourselves and make our choices wisely.