Why shave? Ads popularize shaving in 1900s pop culture

According to owlcation.com, about 88 percent of women remove at least some of their body hair. Women are told from a young age to shave, beginning in middle school when moms buy their daughters their first razors and help them shave for the important first day of seventh grade. However, men aren’t expected to shave. So what’s with the double standard about a normal bodily function that is the growing of hair?

     In the time of the 20th century, women shaving was contained to just the face and neck. In 1920, a woman made the news for cutting herself while shaving because it was that unusual. 

     As clothing in the 20th century became more progressive and revealing, such as sleeveless dresses and shorter skirts, shaving was proposed as a necessity. Gillette released the Milady Décolleté and stated that since there was a means of easy hair removal, women should utilize it on their underarms. During the nylon shortage in World War 2, women couldn’t wear stockings everyday, which caused shaving legs to become popular. 

      Ads started on targeting underarms, then transitioned to legs. In 1941, Harper’s Bazaar says, “If we were dean of women, we’d levy a demerit on every hairy leg on campus.” 

      The ads must have worked, because by the start of the ‘60s, 98 percent of all American women aged 15-44 shaved their legs regularly, according to owlcation.com. 

     So why did women conform? These ads made it seem like shaving was necessary and that since fashion changed, the view on shaving should as well. In the 20th and 21st centuries, we transformed from a society who considered a cut while shaving major news, to a society where not shaving is considered almost bizarre. 

     Shaving was originally used as a form of capitalism, a way for shaving companies such as Gillette to trick women into believing shaving products were necessary purchases. Annually, women spend around one billion dollars on razors, while individual women spend between 10,000 to 23,000 on hair removal in their lifetime, according to hubspot.com. That is a lot of money, for a commodity that didn’t exist 100 years ago, all because ads and popular culture said shaving was necessary. 

     We are a society of conformists; as a trend becomes popular, everyone does it just because others do too. Biker shorts became popular after Kim Kardashian wore them. Braids became even more popular after the release of Frozen in 2013, which featured braid clad sisters. Women shave because pop culture and big corporations told them to and made it a common idea. They shaped the attitudes toward shaving, which affect us all today. 

     So why shave? Why give into a money hungry society who makes women feel inferior just for having a natural body feature. Hair in the underarms and legs doesn’t harm anyone, just the fragile structure of a society who places its importance on superficial things such as shaving. Nearly 1 in 4 millenial women shave, and the statistics continue growing each year. 

     As women, and as members of society, we need to stop doing things just because society says so. Giving into the norm quite literally reinforces the expectation more. If more celebrity models are featured with underarm hair, it promotes the idea to middle school girls that shaving is not necessary. As young girls in the ever-so-judgemental middle school society, shaving doesn’t need to be another tool used by bullies. 

     Embrace your natural self. Not shaving saves time and money, because let’s be real, shaving ultimately adds around 10 minutes of unnecessary time and wastes water in the process. Instead of bringing down the girls who decide not to shave, empower them in their decision to step outside of the typical attitudes of society and embrace themselves in a world where individualization is often lost. We all need to appreciate ourselves for our individual choices –  hair or no hair.