Why are we obsessed with women having no body hair?
Written by Saujanya S
Have you ever been so excited to wear a cute strapless dress to the party and then decided against it because you were too lazy to shave? Or tried to stifle a scream in the salon when you were getting a bikini wax? Yes! It happens to the best of us. Shaving our whole body (except for our head and eyebrows) is tedious, isn’t it? But razor commercials make it seem so easy. And the worst part? The models shave their legs when they’re already hairless! Even advertisements for a product designed to remove body hair do not show body hair! So why is there a crazy obsession to keep our body smooth and hairless like a baby, even as adults?
We’ve all been taught in school that going through puberty means hair growth in certain places — for both girls and boys. It’s only natural and it is part of the process. I’ve always wondered how the women in Renaissance paintings were so smooth because I don’t look like that and no woman I’ve seen looks like that. All paintings show women with hairless and glossy skin. I have thick and coarse body hair and I’ve always covered it. I was not allowed to wear sleeveless dresses or shorts at home for a long time. Even then I was conscious of the hair on my hand, upper lip and my bushy brows. I would get a lot of comments about it, because women aren’t supposed to be hairy, right?
I was sixteen when I first picked up a razor from the departmental store. I meekly asked for one and quickly paid for it while desperately avoiding eye contact with the shopkeeper. I secretly took it home, watched many YouTube tutorials on shaving and did it. It would be a lie if I told you I didn’t like my glossy legs. I loved it! It felt amazing, but I did it only because I was pressured into it. We’ve all been conditioned to feel ashamed of our body hair. We either remove it, or we cover it!
So why is there an enormous pressure for only women to be clean-shaven? Why is that considered sexy?
Being hairless was not a norm only for women until the 20th century. Before that, both men and women shaved their body hair even during the stone age and it was definitely not for aesthetics. They shaved their head and face during battle to avoid the opponent grabbing on to it and during winter to protect their skin from frostbite due to water getting trapped and freezing against the skin. Many years later, Egyptians used the sugaring method (the foundation to waxing) to remove body hair as they believed hairlessness was a sign of class and prestige, and so did the Romans. They considered face stubble and pubic hair as uncivilized and unhygienic.
But not everyone considered body hair a bad thing! In the Middle East, as well as East and South Asia, unibrows were alluring for both sexes, and were often accentuated with kohl. In fact, in Korea, pubic hair was taken as a sign of fertility and sexual health. Women went as far as undergoing pubic hair transplants, to add extra hair to their own, in the mid 2010s.
The beginning of the 20th century is where being hairless was associated with being hygienic, feminine, and sexy. During this period was when sleeveless dresses were all the rage and popularized showing more skin. In 1915, Harper’s Bazaar was the first women’s magazine to run a campaign dedicated to the removal of underarm hair. Having a smooth underarm was considered a “necessity”. They advertised it as,
“The fastidious woman today must have immaculate underarms if she is to be unembarrassed”
With this trend, the infamous razor company Gillette found its golden opportunity! It introduced its first razor marketed specifically for women, the Milady Décolleté, that solved “embarrassing personal problems”, i.e underarm hair. The shift in women’s fashion, where the length of the skirts and sleeves shortened revealing more skin, really cemented shaving as the norm for women. By the 1950s, when Playboy, the infamous men’s magazine hit the streets, clean-shaven women in bikinis set the standards for sexiness. Fuzz on the legs and underarms were considered lewd and shameful.
All these slowly led to a cultural shift for women being hairless to be considered desirable or sexy. But in reality, all women grow hair on their body almost the same way men do. Undeniably there is pressure only on women to remove the hair on the body once it starts growing. Women are conditioned to believe that the female body by nature is gross, unhygienic (especially pubic hair) and an eyesore, and that is simply not true. There is an overwhelming amount of shame tagged with not being silky smooth. Even if a little fuzz peeks out of your sleeves, it’s automatically a big no-no. And women’s razors cost more than men’s even though they do the same job. The only difference is it’s pink!
Fortunately, the outlook on this subject is changing. The new generation — millennials and gen Z — are actively trying to break the stigma surrounding body hair. In 1999, Julia Roberts sent shockwaves by not shaving her underarms. And tabloids flooded with headlines claiming it was a feminist statement. At that time, something as natural as underarm hair was considered controversial but decades later it’s more a form of self expression. Many celebrities and influencers are encouraging women to be comfortable with their bodies. Emily Ratajkowski proudly flaunted her underarm hair in the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar (the same magazine that once told women that underarm hair was embarrassing) and many celebrities have walked the red carpet showing off their body hair. Many razor companies and body hair removal products have also changed their advertisement narrative by showing real hair on women’s bodies, breaking the stigma instead of perpetuating it.
There has certainly been an increase in positive conversation surrounding body hair. It is no longer an expectation forced on women. It’s a personal choice. It has normalized women being hairy. The shift in mindset among people might seem like a small step but it is in fact revolutionary. So ladies, whether you shave it, wax it, tweeze it or flaunt it, your fuzz is awesome!
