With spas and hair removal centers temporarily closed due to social distancing, many people are choosing to practice hair removal methods at home or let it grow naturally. While the choice to groom your body hair is now a matter of personal preference, the practice has been around for centuries. What started as a safety measure in combat has grown into one of the most popular beauty treatments today. In today’s guide, we’re going to take a look at the history of hair removal. Read on to learn more.
1. Stone Age Safety Precautions
Before hair removal was used for cosmetic purposes, shaving your hair was a survival strategy in the Stone Age. Despite modern descriptions of cavemen and women, archaeologists have determined that they were the first people to undergo shaving. It was believed that shaving during the Stone Age was a safety measure in combat, as the lack of hair on the head and face protected them from the grasp of their opponents. In inclement weather, shaving can also prevent water from accumulating on your skin and freezing, which can cause frostbite.
Unfortunately, the method behind this ancient hair removal technique is a painful one. It requires a man or woman to chip a stone into a sharp angle and then slide it off the face. Alternative tools used included animal teeth, sharp flints, or clam shells as tweezers.
2. Sanitary Purposes in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was the first to modernize hair removal thousands of years later. Sugar hair removal was invented during this period, using sugar, water, and lemon juice to make a sticky paste to remove body hair. This laid the foundation for the waxing technique used today, as the paste is applied to the skin, covered with muslin, and the hair is pulled apart. Other tools such as shells or pumice stones are also used to achieve the desired level of hairlessness.
In ancient Egypt, body hair, especially pubic hair, was a symbol of uncivilization and was described as dirty and unhygienic, so many women chose to remove their hair. They also followed the trend set by Cleopatra, who removed all body hair, including the hair on her head, to symbolize social class. Even men preferred to be clean-shaven, as beards or stubble were common among servants and slaves.
3. Body hair was a class issue in the Roman Empire
The ancient Egyptians weren’t the only ones who defined body hair trends by social class. Pubic hair was considered inferior, which explains why ancient Greek statues of women were completely hairless. When hair removal techniques were introduced to the Roman Empire, wealthy men and women used razors, tweezers, pumice stones, and hair removal creams.
However, the practice of removing body hair between women and men began to diverge, as women leaving their private parts exposed symbolized purity and class, while men growing their body hair became a sign of masculinity. This gender gap has persisted throughout the ages.
4. Dongfang introduces threads
Although there is no exact date to mark the origin of the whorl, it has always been part of the ancient tradition. Threading is believed to have originated in Eastern cultures in India and Iran, where it was used to shape eyebrows and remove facial hair on the upper lip, chin, cheeks, and sideburns. This treatment involves twisting two strands together and moving them along the skin, like tweezers, to pull out individual hairs. It is also considered a rite of passage in some civilizations, such as Persia, where threading is called Bande Abru – ” Abru ” means eyebrow, and ” Bande ” is the thread. There, the practice of eyebrow shaping marked a woman’s path to adulthood and was a sign of female masculinity.
5. The Reinvention of the Elizabethan Eyebrow
In the Middle Ages, Queen Elizabeth I pioneered the idea of facial hair removal in Western culture, influencing women to completely pluck their eyebrows and shave their hairlines to create the illusion of a larger forehead and elongated face. Therefore, many women resort to the bizarre method of soaking bandages in a mixture of ammonia, walnut oil, and vinegar to inhibit hair growth on their foreheads. While facial hair is removed for aesthetic purposes, European women do not shave or wax their body hair.
The decrees of the Catholic Church also affected the way women treated their hair. Wearing long hair is a sign of femininity, but it must be completely hidden in public, otherwise, it is considered immodest.
6. New razors from the 1700s-1800s
The late 18th century ushered in more civilized methods of hair removal. The first straight razor for men was invented by barber Jean Jacques Perret in 1760. Perrette invented an L-shaped wooden razor guard that helps reduce the risk of cutting yourself while shaving. Although this shaver is marketed towards men, women also use this shaver. Dr. Gouraud also invented another method of hair removal when he created Poudre Subtile, one of the first commercial hair removal creams. Then in 1880, King Camp Gillette (his name, not his title) released a straight razor that was safer than Perret’s model, and it quickly evolved into the convenience razor we know today. However, it would be decades before razors specifically aimed at women appeared.
7. The first women’s razor
During World War II, women were unable to wear stockings every day due to a shortage of nylon, which meant they had to go bare-legged every day. This spurred women into the habit of shaving their legs regularly. Gillette introduced the first women’s razor in 1915, called the Milady Décolleté, which came with its own rose velvet packaging. Remington also introduced the first women’s electric shaver in 1940.
8. The impact of hair removal advertising on women
Advertising for hair removal creams became increasingly popular around the time the first women’s razors were introduced. Images in the media, magazines, and movies quickly shaped the standard of beauty for women. In fact, a women’s fashion magazine ran an ad in which a model raised her arms and exposed her armpits. This marked the first time fashion directly influenced how women groomed their body hair.
As hair removal advertising continued throughout the mid-20th century (and continues to this day), women felt more obligated to remove body hair. As you can see from photos of models embracing hairless armpits and bikini lines, the ideal beauty standard for women at the time was an image without body hair. Advertisements for men’s razors also exist, but they focus more on facial hair removal.
9. Waxing and laser hair removal first appeared in the 1960s and 1970s
The most popular method of hair removal for legs and underarms has quickly hit the market. Waxing strips are popular for their efficiency and effectiveness, which has been linked to growing fashion trends involving exposing more skin, such as the rise of miniskirts and hot pants. This is also consistent with the sexual revolution and women’s movement of the 1960s, as women gained more freedom and defended autonomy over their own bodies. On the one hand, many women continued to maintain the clean-shaven, hairless look popular in the 1940s and 1950s; on the other hand, feminists rejected hair removal, opting for natural hair removal.
As beauty trends become more common, new hair removal methods are constantly being developed. The first laser hair removal method was introduced in the mid-1960s, but it quickly fell out of popularity due to its damaging effects. That said, the 1970s eventually brought about the development of transistor devices, making electrolysis and laser hair removal methods safer.
10. Full body hair removal in the 1980s
Although bikinis have been around since the 1940s, their sizes continued to get smaller throughout the 20th century, and by the 1980s, the style became fully mainstream. As exposure increases, there is an increasing desire to remove hair around the bikini line, in addition to other parts of the body such as legs and armpits. Brazilian waxing, a cosmetic treatment that removes all pubic hair, became a standard by the 1980s. The first full-body hair removal experience reportedly debuted in the United States in 1987. Since then, hair removal centers and spas have offered a menu of specialized hair removal treatments covering virtually every hair-bearing part of the body.
11. Hair removal habits from around the world
The grooming habits of American women are now well known. Like most things related to appearance, they are driven by media. Pubic hair removal (and trimming) in the United States seems to be related to the invention of the bikini in the 1960s. Different countries prefer specific methods of hair removal. These may include waxing, shaving, hair removal creams, laser hair removal, or threading. How do women around the world groom themselves? We’re here to tell you!
UK: Waxing and laser hair removal are the most popular in the UK and the US. Shaving is another popular method because it is more accessible, convenient, and less expensive.
Japan: Japanese women prefer to shave only their legs and underarms, leaving their bikini and pubic hair alone. It’s also common to remove facial hair and peach fuzz to achieve a smooth, glassy look.
Australia: Australian women are known for being beach beauties, and what those beach beauties don’t want is unwanted hair. It is not uncommon to remove hair from the legs, underarms, facial hair, and bikini area through laser hair removal or waxing. Australians are so fond of hairless, smooth skin that those who don’t shed their hair are considered outliers.
India: In India, it is now mainly upper-class women who remove unwanted leg, armpit, and pubic hair, and their choice of removal method is mainly hair removal cream. However, as laser technology developed for darker skin tones, laser hair removal quickly became more popular. With the advent of laser hair removal technology, hair removal on the chin, upper lip, underarms, cheeks, and bikini area has become increasingly popular.
Brazil: You might think that the term “Brazilian wax” comes from Brazil, but that’s not the case. It’s American and not very popular in Brazil. The most popular grooming style for Brazilian women is a “landing strip.”
Germany: In Germany, it is common for women to shave their legs, underarms, and bikini area. Just like in America, smooth and hairless people are very popular. Laser hair removal is the most popular method of hair removal because it is the most effective, efficient, and permanent.
China: Until recently, hair removal was not an important beauty ritual in China. Chinese women don’t bother to remove their leg or armpit hair because hair is just part of the body and nothing to be ashamed of. Body hair is considered completely natural. Hair removal methods (mainly for big cities) use hair removal cream or shaving.
As you can see, women in most parts of the world remove at least some body hair. While the areas to be hair-plucked may change based on trends, if time tells us anything, it’s that women will continue to want at least some parts of their bodies to remain hair-free.
12. Conclusion
The above is the development of hair removal history compiled by Auperwel for you. It can be seen that hair removal is not popular in modern times, but originated in the Stone Age. And as the demand for hair removal changes, the methods of hair removal are also gradually increasing.