Wikimedia Commons | The Library of Congress

Woman Explains Why Women Have Long Been Expected Not To Have Body Hair

Updated September 7, 2021

In recent years, there's been a small but growing movement encouraging women to let their body hair grow out.

We can see this at the beginning of each year with the "Januhairy" movement in which activists have encouraged women not to shave for the month of January in a move similar to the moustache-based Movember tradition.

But while we may understand that this and other year-round efforts to encourage body hair acceptance are going against the grain of traditional beauty standards, it's also true that many of us aren't aware of when those "traditions" actually took hold.

However, it seems that one woman has been able to concisely explain how women came to be expected to shave their bodies in a viral video. And like those participating in Januhairy, it seems that she's tired of that beauty standard.

In her short clip, TikTok user @solanathagreenfairy explained that women in what is generally understood to be "Western" society once saw no reason to regularly shave their bodies.

TikTok | @solanathagreenfairy

And while The Chicago Tribune outlined cases in ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt when women used various techniques to remove body hair, her claim largely holds true as far as the history of the United States is concerned.

And Solana, The Chicago Tribune and The Journal of American Culture largely tied the beginning of the shift against female body hair to the same moment in time.

TikTok | @solanathagreenfairy

As Solana explains, Gillette's Milady Decollete safety razor was specifically marketed as a means for women to safely remove their armpit hair upon its release in 1915.

According to The Chicago Tribune, both a rising middle class around this time and the start of the popularity of sleeveless dresses at this time led to enough of a rise in demand to support the mass production of these safety razors.

But while this campaign against armpit hair was successful enough, it wasn't until the 1940s that women were expected to have the same distaste for their leg hair.

TikTok | @solanathagreenfairy

As you'll see in the full video, Solana attributes widespread leg hair targeting to a shortage of resources that would have otherwise been used to make stockings, an article in The Journal of American Culture suggests that this was only when anti-leg hair efforts started showing success.

Although ads for products seeking to remove leg hair started appearing in the 1930s, the practice of regularly shaving legs didn't seem to catch on until the years between 1941 and 1945 due to shorter skirt lengths and the style of "bareleggedness" that emerged in the wake of war rationing programs.

And while this isn't exactly wrong, there's a little more context to take into account.

Wikimedia Commons | Betsssssy

An article in The Journal of American Culture suggests that this was only when anti-leg hair efforts started showing success.

And while some may roll their eyes at Solanda's assertion that, "Like the majority of beauty standards in our society, it was made by men to control women," it's a position with some historical context.

Wikimedia Commons | The Library of Congress

Because while the article in The Journal of American Culture stated that there weren't any more ads for products targeting leg hair than there were in the 1930s, those ads both became more aggressive about the "importance" of removing leg hair and became reinforced by beauty authors and the relevant editors in popular magazines at the time like Harper's Bazar.

It's hardly a coincidence that by 1964, 98% of all female Americans aged 15-44 removed their body hair and 70% of women over 44 did the same.

They also became reinforced by beauty authors and the relevant editors in popular magazines at the time like _Harper's Bazar_.

Wikimedia Commons | Kyral

It's hardly a coincidence that by 1964, 98% of all female Americans aged 15-44 removed their body hair and 70% of women over 44 did the same.

But as she expresses in her video, Solana sees a new opportunity to stop uncritically adopting this standard now that we're in the 21st Century.

As she put it, "Many people now understand that body hair on women is not unhygienic or disgusting as men have never been pressured to shave and no one has ever questioned their hygiene."

Her whole video is available here if you want to get a better sense of her views before sharing your own.

h/t: The Chicago Tribune, The Journal of American Culture

But as she expresses in her video, Solana sees a new opportunity to stop uncritically adopting this standard now that we're in the 21st Century.

As she put it, "Many people now understand that body hair on women is not unhygienic or disgusting as men have never been pressured to shave and no one has ever questioned their hygiene."

Her whole video is available here if you want to get a better sense of her views before sharing your own.

h/t: The Chicago Tribune, The Journal of American Culture

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People & Society

Woman Explains Why Women Have Long Been Expected Not To Have Body Hair

In her short clip, TikTok user @solanathagreenfairy explained that women in what is generally understood to be "Western" society once saw no reason to regularly shave their bodies.

And Solana, *The Chicago Tribune* and *The Journal of American Culture* largely tied the beginning of the shift against female body hair to the same moment in time.

But while this campaign against armpit hair was successful enough, it wasn't until the 1940s that women were expected to have the same distaste for their leg hair.

And while this isn't exactly wrong, there's a little more context to take into account.

And while some may roll their eyes at Solanda's assertion that, "Like the majority of beauty standards in our society, it was made by men to control women," it's a position with some historical context.

They also became reinforced by beauty authors and the relevant editors in popular magazines at the time like _Harper's Bazar_.

But as she expresses in her video, Solana sees a new opportunity to stop uncritically adopting this standard now that we're in the 21st Century.

But as she expresses in her video, Solana sees a new opportunity to stop uncritically adopting this standard now that we're in the 21st Century.

And Solana, The Chicago Tribune and The Journal of American Culture largely tied the beginning of the shift against female body hair to the same moment in time.