To Shave Or Not To Shave

As we enter a new era of women fully embracing body hair, the choice is (and has always been) yours, ladies. As Bella Thorne once said, “I’m comfortable with my body hair, why shouldn’t you be?”

Unfortunately, female body hair has had an extensive sexist history, which has made it difficult for women to feel comfortable rocking their own body hair. For centuries, the concept of female body hair has been poked, prodded and influenced by the fashion industry, the magazine industry, shaving companies, and of course, men — all of which have profited from defining what a woman should or should not look like.

From ancient Egypt to World War II, society has always had a major influence on the stigma around shaving female body hair. According to the Women’s Museum of California, it can even be said that early hair removal surrounding females and some of the very first razors ever made can be traced all the way back to 3,000 B.C. in ancient Egypt. According to an article from MIC, around this time in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, the normalization of hair removal became prevalent as many influential people, such as Cleopatra, promoted this new beauty standard that absolutely no body hair — except for eyebrows — equated to a woman’s cleanliness. The stereotype that a woman’s lack of body hair alludes to her cleanliness is still a prevalent stereotype that is used in today’s society around the discussion around female shaving. And unfortunately, this stereotype stayed prevalent throughout centuries. Not only did the concept of female body hair — or the lack thereof — correlate to cleanliness, but it also began to correlate to class.

According to an article from MIC, ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Rome viewed hairlessness as a sign of class; whereas, men weren’t subjected to the same signafiers and beauty standards regarding body hair as women were. Even during the Renaissance in 1400, society still equated a woman’s hairless body with class, and continued to do so even up until the Elizabethan era, where Queen Elizabeth I’s ruling had a heavy influence on exactly where a woman shaved. According to an article from MIC, Queen Elizabeth I set new beauty standards regarding facial and body hair as women were told to shave eyebrows, mustaches and facial hair, but told not to shave their legs.

It wasn’t until the early 1900s that the perspective around female body hair began to shift as the lack of female body hair became a sign of femininity more so than a sign of class. According to the Women’s Museum of California, the fashion industry and men’s shaving companies started to have a say in women’s body hair as raised hemlines and sleeveless dresses suddenly became popular, issuing women to shave their armpits and legs. In 1914, Gillette created

“Milady Décolleté,” a razor specifically made for women that claimed shaving was a necessity and body hair was “unsightly,” and by 1917, 1 million razors were sold. By World War II, women were influenced to start routinely shaving their legs, armpits and even tweezing their eyebrows. That is until the 1970s, when women’s body hair started gaining political momentum and quickly became a symbol for feminism.

Over the last few decades, women have showcased the need to overlook the stimagitized thoughts regarding body hair and the normalizing of ditching the razor. From celebrities such as Madonna, Miley Cyrus, Amandla Stenberg and Bella Thorne embracing their body hair on social media, to companies such as Billie that recognise and demonstrate that hair removal isn’t necessary, we are living in a time of inclusivity regarding female body hair. But have the societal pressures really changed? “For decades we’ve studied and learned about the influential power of media on beauty standards for women,” Penn State Professor and Doctoral Candidate Erica Hilton says. “Television, film, and advertisements have assisted in supporting this ideology for centuries. How we define beauty is by what is deemed as attractive and acceptable, which is based on a hierarchy that uplifts Eurocentric features that sometimes has a hint of what is considered “exotic” about women of color. In most recent years, social media has become a dominant player in our beauty ideologies by continuing to uplift and encourage certain beauty standards.”

Hilton says that although celebrities “may embrace new standards such as accepting their body hair without alterations, usually it takes this embrace coupled with an endorsement from beauty brands and blogs for a trend to take place.”

“However, these trends still support the ultimate hierarchy of beauty that exists,” Hilton says. “Even beauty influencers recognize a pattern of features in the women who are prominently and consistently showcased by beauty brands and blogs on social media platforms such as Instagram. Despite how beauty has evolved, the women highlighted by these social media pages still share similar hair textures and skin complexions. This shows how much ideology still influences beauty today.”

Hilton says that “while there are some celebrities and influencers who are embracing their body hair, historically, women have removed their body hair in the name of beauty.”

“It is difficult to unlearn ideologies such as not removing body hair, especially when the beauty industry continues to support it by promoting new laser treatments, waxing, sugaring, and threading hair removal options.”