Eyes, mouth, nose, ears, arms and legs. The most basic description of a human being. If you close your eyes and focus on your own body, you will surely notice the unicities that make up the unique individual that you are. But, there is something that concerns us all, the hair. Those who are often directly associated with men are present in all of us.
In the society in which we live, there is a female hair taboo, one that if not respected will automatically cause you to be seen as dirty. I don’t need to say how wrong society is with this meaningless taxation. If you have hair, it means that you are like everyone else. But, unfortunately, we are dealing with a patriarchal context where hair removal is still a social norm imposed on women.
- Depilation history
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If you think that hair removal is something that concerns only the current times, I am sorry to tell you that you are mistaken. Hair removal is a very old habit, even having archaeological evidence that in prehistory women and men took their hair.
The most concrete information we have on the subject comes from research by Mary del Priore, a historian who claims that ancient Egyptian ceramics, as well as texts of the time, point to depilatory techniques of the time, using sugar or stones to perform the procedure. In Ancient Egypt, smooth skin was equivalent to a status symbol and even a prerequisite for some religious issues.
There is little information about hair removal in the Middle Ages and this is largely due to the fact that the Catholic Church associated private parts with something shameful. Therefore, everything that did not refer to reproduction was not disclosed. Epilation was popular again after the First World War.
With the advent of the war, many men left their jobs and women began to feel a greater need to enter the labor market. This resulted in a change in the clothes of the women of that time, in order to become more practical for the new activities they were undergoing. With the armpits on display, and consequently their hair, waxing came to be seen as something for all “family girls”.
When the first razors aimed at the female public began to be sold, in 1915, the media of the time – magazines, articles and advertisements – began to reinforce their need to remove their hair.
As if there was not enough pressure on women, after the Second World War, in 1950, there was a major change in the female wardrobe, shortening dresses and skirts, as well as the appearance of the beloved bikini, contributed to the removal of hair also the groin and legs, as these regions started to become apparent.
New depilatory products emerged with the advance of industrialization, and with them more advertisements reinforcing the negative image of hair. The cinema also started to portray women with smooth skins, without at least one hair, so that a woman’s pattern was always presented on the big screens.
All of this helped in defining what many have today: unwanted, something that does not make up the female body. We have suffered from the consequences of this until today, as a notion of hygiene has been created over hair removal that serves only to reinforce an absurd stereotype of beauty.
For this reason, I spoke with visual arts students, Rebbeca Felipe, who accepts your hair in its most natural form, and here are five reasons why you should stop shaving and leave this social obligation aside.
- Hairs are not dirty
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“For me, feeling my body dirty when we don’t shave is a reflection of the social imaginary that screams in our ears asking for hair removal. We know they will find it disgusting and we don’t think about what we really feel. It’s not that I don’t like to shave, for me, waxing is not about personal taste, but about oppression of women, about how they made us believe that it’s about taste, even if it isn’t ”, said Rebbeca, who is far from being wrong.
It is like the student said, letting the hair grow is not unhygienic, quite the contrary, it is in its most natural form and therefore fulfills its roles in our body. Hair has a thousand and one functions, such as protecting our skin, regulating body temperature and facilitating perspiration evaporation.
So when they say our hair is dirty, they are telling the biggest lie in the world! Hair is a natural protection of our body, in no way should it be related to hygiene – or the absence of it.
“Oh, but what about the bad smell?”, someone may ask. Well, the ‘bad smell’ can be caused by the most diverse factors such as stress, bad personal cleaning habits, sweating and even metabolic disorders. That is, with or without hair, you may end up with a stronger odor, but this is completely normal.
- It won’t make you less woman
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The concept of masculinity and femininity are complex concepts that often end up being misunderstood, taking into account what we wear, for example. Therefore, there is still this misconception that a woman who does not shave is less “feminine” compared to one who takes her hair regularly.
It is as Rebbeca says, “the hair in women causes strangeness and revolt for many reasons, one of which is the idea that hair is associated with men. Many believe that by maintaining hair, women are masculinizing their bodies. I do not believe it is so. Women are no less women for maintaining something that is part of the body ”.
Women have always been reduced to their bodies, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Breaking stereotypes of beauty is not easy, and it is not something that will happen overnight. That is why it is important to understand that there is a belief that we should follow the ideal of femininity at risk, and that many times, our actions are guided by this social pressure to fit in and be accepted as a woman. In short, if we do not give up our choices of how to behave in relation to our own bodies, we will be labeled as little feminine and so on.
- It’s a choice that has to be yours
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Once we understand that shaving is a purely aesthetic issue, it is impossible not to ask ourselves why this social pressure falls only on women. Since men show off their hairy breasts without any modesty, and are not questioned or called dirty about it.
“When I didn’t show my hair in public (I didn’t need to go out in a skirt, tank top, etc.) I didn’t even think about shaving, they weren’t a nuisance. This made me realize that I never had anything against my body hair ”, says Rebbeca.
It is exactly about that. We think of hair only when we are going to wear some clothes that show them, and, most of the time, we don’t care if the hair is growing or not. For us women, the problem itself is not hair, but the look we receive if they see us hairy.
These looks and comments that are made in relation to our own body directly impact our self-esteem, so that we begin, without even realizing it, to dress and take care of ourselves to please others. But, we know, even if it is deep down inside, that the choice to shave or not, like all the other choices that concern our bodies, just has to do us good.
The simple attitude of taking care of your body for yourself, has a great impact, as we begin to realize that much of what we do is not for us, but for others. So, if we feel comfortable with our hair on display, this is how we should go out on the street, with them free, without having to be shaved or hidden.
The hairs that men display without shame, are as natural as ours, and assuming them is nothing wrong. Obviously comments and evil looks will come and this can affect self-esteem, but this understanding that hair is normal at any given time will make you feel safer.
- Not shaving is a political act
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“Failing to shave is a political act too, if we think that it is a breach with the patriarchal imposition of the ideal of beauty for women, being a woman is not limited to long hair and pink props. Women have hair and that is not to be less of a woman. It is accepting the body in a natural way and thinking in that way made me stronger and my self-esteem was maintained ”.
There is a great revolt by men for women who do not fit what they believe to be beautiful and acceptable. So if you don’t fit the typically heterosexual standards, you probably won’t be seen as attractive or sexy.
In this context, it is necessary to take into account that most men have their first contact with the woman’s naked body through pornography. Rebbeca says that this was one of the biggest reasons that led her to stop shaving: “The idea to stop shaving happened when I came into contact with feminist movements where, among many agendas, one of them was how the porn industry helped to shape female bodies, and in this context, hair removal also played a role in infantilizing women’s bodies ”.
In addition to the idealization of practices, such as the total submission of women to sex, totally smooth female bodies, without marks or hair, were idealized. And this idealization is not restricted only to our hair, but also comes to idealize the aesthetics of the vulva: pure, virgin and childlike.
Men grow up with this objectified view of the female body, and for this reason, I reiterate Rebbeca’s statement that stopping hair removal is a political act that must be taken very seriously, and that we owe the utmost, either through acts or words , normalize female hair.
- Each has its time
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In my opinion, a woman’s freedom begins when she regains decision-making power over her own body. My intention in this text is not to make all women in the world stop shaving, but to make everyone understand that they can do whatever they want to make them happier and more comfortable.
The visual arts student’s advice is “reading the book“ The myth of beauty ”by Naomi Wolf, which explains how the ideal of beauty affects women. I also say that it is not a simple thing. Self-esteem can be affected and perhaps keeping hair does not happen overnight, but after understanding why keeping it in the body is normal.
Each has their time to deal with and accept their hair as it is and there is no problem with that. Nobody will come to a shaved woman and say “you lost your feminist card”, it is only important to understand that behind the choice there is the oppressive force of an aesthetic pattern. The only thing that really matters is whether each of us is happy with the choice we make regarding our hair and our bodies.
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The article above was edited by Thays Avila.
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