Part 1/2
Three years ago, I remember my whole body shaking as I was on my way to the beauty parlour. I was a week away from going to Kerala, India, for my summer vacation, and my mother wanted me to remove all my body hair from my arms and legs.
“It doesn’t look good!” and “People will talk,” were the reasons my mom gave me as I was heading to the salon. I still remember holding back the tears when the esthetician put the hot wax on my thighs and proceeded to strip away all the hair.
Growing up with thick black hair everywhere on my body has always made me feel insecure. Luckily, I didn’t face many problems back in school except when I had to go back to India. I tend to feel extremely self-conscious about my appearance and what other people think. It’s funny that most South Indian women have visible body hair. Still, in the end, we have to remove it to keep our appearance in society.
“Beauty is pain” is something we have heard all our life. For some women, body hair removal has become a beauty routine. But for someone, like myself, it is a disturbing ideology that I begrudgingly comply with. It is an ideology that, even in 2021, is viewed as taboo in South Asian communities.
Feminine. Idealistic. Attractive. These are usually the words people associate with when they think of a woman without body hair. But why? Why do people believe that visible body hair on women is disgusting and unnatural when it’s considered entirely normal for men? Why isn’t it promoted as part of “natural” beauty? Why is its removal forced upon women and not considered a personal choice? After all, it’s our body,
At the same time, I’m not saying that women should grow beards if they don’t want to, but they shouldn’t be shamed for growing out their natural body hair. We should learn to respect each other and stop degrading women for their choices.
Body Hair Removal Throughout History
Body hair removal can be traced back to Ancient Rome and Egypt, where women and men utilised seashells, tweezers, beeswax and pumice stone to attain hairlessness. Ancient Romanians also linked body hair with class- as hairless individuals were treated with more respect and superiority.
The modern-era concept of body hair removal originated from Charles Darwin’s 1871 book, Descent of Man. In his theory of natural selection, he described that having less body hair was positively associated with sexual attractiveness. This notion shaped the beauty practices of 19th century white, middle, and upper-class women who conformed to smooth, hairless skin,and used it as an indicator of femininity.
Harper's Bazaar Magazine in 1915 initiated the first campaign promoting female body hair removal. In the same year, Gillette launched the first razor-for-women - Milady Décolletée. Its advert said ‘Serves the modern women who would appear at her best - who cares for those little niceties of personal habit,’ and ‘A beautiful addition to Milady's toilet table -- and one that solves an embarrassing personal problem.’
In the Middle East and South Asia, light skin is heavily favoured, and hence, hair removal has been conventional. Threading the entire face with cotton threads and utilising pumice stones were quite common in ancient India. Additionally, Ayurvedic remedies and shaving cream have been used to remove ‘unwanted’ body hair.
Post-colonialism in India had manifested the western beauty ideals and perspectives, further teaching the notion of the ideal feminine beauty - light and smooth skin, a thin body, and luscious long hair. Additionally, this standard is synonymous with white feminity and a constituent of a white supremacist system.
The Portrayal of Body Hair in Media
I actually thought a lot about this and realised that I’ve never seen women in the media with body hair. Popular Hollywood movies usually depicting an apocalypse or war tend to represent men with full-fledged beards, and women shaved to an inch of their life, maybe with a cropped haircut.
Similarly, Bollywood has stigmatised the idea of body hair and usually portrays women with slightly visible body hair as dirty and unattractive, especially to the male gaze. Discussions regarding body hair in South Asian culture are usually constricted to the various means of hair removal. Hair removal advertisements that display razors, shaving creams, and epilators, mostly present young women with sparse body hair using the product. As a result of the hair removal, the young woman gains the confidence to do whatever she was doing at the beginning of the ad, often catering to male satisfaction.
Body hair removal brands have attempted to translate the notion of a woman’s personified choice of removing body hair into an act of female empowerment. They habitually use the intelligent, self-aware women trope - one who doesn’t care about social conventions in their ads to boost their image. One of the most popular and problematic body hair removal advertisements, Just Veet It starring Shraddha Kapoor, clearly demonstrates sexist undertones and negatively depicts the idea of women having stubbles. The ad also makes fun of ingrown hair as ‘pokey’ and compares it to a cactus.
This is one of the many examples of capitalism profiting off women’s insecurities and labeling it as female empowerment - with a famous actress being the face of the brand, further encouraging the idea
Stay tuned for part 2 of this article!
Hello Haniya, good article and very well described. What we always think is a 'must do' should actually be your choice and because you want to do it, not for the world but just because you like it!!
Revolting. Keep writing Hania.
Very well written. Informative & thought provoking 👍