Is shaving a regular part of your shower routine? Or maybe you wax, pluck, sugar, laser or just let it grow out! Regardless of what your relationship is with body hair, we’ve all got it and that means you’ve likely thought about whether or not you want to do something about it. This episode, we delve into the history of body hair removal, covering pre-historic humans using shells to cut their hair to the invention of the women’s razor and beyond. Then we explore implications in our world today!
Feminist Corner:
- What does our societal relationship with body hair reflect about western culture?
Listen to the episode, discuss these questions with friends and family, let us know what you think!
Show Notes:
The human body contains 5,000,000 hair follicles that help regulate body temperature, keeping humans warmer in colder climates and protect the body from outside elements like dirt and UV damage. It had major evolutionary functions! And yet now we get rid of so much body hair.
Pre-History:
- Archaeologists have found evidence that both female and male early humans shaved their heads and facial hair to avoid frostbite from water getting trapped and frozen against their skin. They did this using razors which was basically just clam shells, animal teeth, sharp rocks, etc.
Ancient Egypt
- Men removed all of their hair so that enemies would not have something to hold onto during battle.
- Women would shave their bodies, getting rid of all hair except for their eyebrows.
- Egyptians used razors to shave and also sugar-based wax.
Ancient Rome and Greece
- Women were expected to remove their pubic hair because it was considered uncivilized.
- Hairlessness was associated with higher class among men AND women.
- Rich women would use razors, depilatory creams and pumice stone to get rid of hair.
Middle Ages and the Elizabethan Era
- Queen Elizabeth I initiated a trend to create a longer-looking forehead, so women made their eyebrows very thin, even removing their eyebrows sometimes!
- Many of Elizabeth’s subjects chose to dye their hair and brows similar shades of strawberry blonde to hers with a corrosive mixture of rhubarb juice and oil of vitriol (now called sulfuric acid) to lighten their hair.
17th century
- Women, particularly sex workers, started using merkins which were little vagina wigs used to replace natural pubic hair that had been removed. This was a common practice among sex workers who didn’t want to catch pubic lice and who wanted to hide any signs of STIs like Herpes.
18th and 19th centuries
- Women were expected to display as little open sexuality as possible, and that included showing no body hair under long sleeves and even longer skirts.
Late 1800s, early 1900s
- The inventor and salesman King Camp Gillette improved the razor and made it disposable. He realized that if dudes could have razors they could throw away, they wouldn’t need to spend money at the barber anymore.
1915
- The first women’s dedicated razor is created by Gillette, called Milady Décolleté.
- As the popularity of sleeveless dresses grew , smooth armpits became a social necessity and women were wearing shorter and shorter skirts.
WWII in the 1940s
- A nylon shortage led to even MORE reason for women to start shaving.
- Bikinis became mainstream in the late 1940s.
- By 1964, 98 percent of American women were routinely shaving their legs.
1960s and 70s
- Feminists in the Feminist Movement reclaimed body hair as a form of freedom from patriarchal norms.
1980s and 90s
- Very mini-skirts and shorts brought back the body hair removal.
- In 1987, 7 sisters from Brazil opened a salon in NYC offering Brazilian waxes.
- In 1996, an MIT grad named Richard Rox invents laser hair removal.
Modern Implications:
A survey conducted by the American Laser Centers in 2008 shows that an average woman spends from $10,000 to $23,000 to remove body hair over a lifetime.
Sources:
Body Details. (2021). Through the Years: The History of hair removal. Body Details. https://www.bodydetails.com/blog/history-hair-removal/
California, V. a. P. B. W. M. O. (2017, November 22). The history of female hair removal. Women’s Museum of California. https://womensmuseum.wordpress.com/2017/11/22/the-history-of-female-hair-removal/
Lalancette, K., & Lalancette, K. (2021). Here’s How Women Have Dealt with Body Hair through History. The Kit. https://thekit.ca/beauty/body/body-hair-through-history/
Lander, R., & Lander, R. (2017). The Strange Secret History Of Hair Removal Will Blow Your Mind. Refinery29. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/hair-removal-methods-history
Male stigmatization of female body hair. (n.d.). 2021-2022 | University Writing Program | Brandeis University. https://www.brandeis.edu/writing-program/write-now/2021-2022/azevedo-ligia/index.html
Mondry, M. (2023, April 26). Electrolysis vs. Laser Hair Removal: Which Treatment Works Best? Allure. https://www.allure.com/story/electrolysis-vs-laser-hair-removal#:~:text=Electrolysis%20is%20considered%20a%20more,results%20for%20nearly%2018%20months.
Nelson, G. (2018, July 23). A brief history of female hair removal – PERIOD – medium. Medium. https://medium.com/periodmovement/a-brief-history-of-female-hair-removal-5ec6d0a92dac
Savini, L. (2018, April 23). The complex history of women’s body hair and hair removal. Allure. https://www.allure.com/gallery/history-of-womens-body-hair-removal
Webb-Liddall, A. (2019, June 11). A brief history of women removing all their body hair. The Spinoff. https://thespinoff.co.nz/partner/12-06-2019/a-brief-history-of-women-removing-all-their-body-hair
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