Today, shaving has become part of most women's daily routine. Women didn't begin to shave until sometime in the 1920s. The invention of Gillette's "safety razor" revolutionized shaving. Up to that point, men used the old-fashioned "straight" razors. Even then, they rarely shaved themselves, but rather made the trip down to the barbershop. Barbers were journeymen licensed, and barber colleges were prevalent all the way up until the 1960s. So, if men rarely took the risk of scrapping a long straight razor across their necks, we can bet their wives weren't eager to take a blade to their most delicate areas.
The rising medium of movies began to show Americans images of Hollywood stars. Handsome swashbuckling men and sultry vamps. It gave women an image to compare themselves to, and compare they did. Technology improvements in publishing and photography replaced the illustrations of the old magazines. Now people could see sharp, clear detail. So if one studies the pages of New York magazines and Hollywood films, they'd conclude that all women were shaving by the end of the 1920s. And indeed, some were.
Oral histories of common folk tell us that New York and Hollywood are not always a completely accurate window to American culture. Our visual culture represents what we aspire to be, how we want to see ourselves and be seen, rather than how we actually are. The Jazz Age of the 1920s brought hem-lines up on dresses and bared arms of the flappers. certainly, many of the fashionable began to shave. But for millions of Americans, the Great Depression had more of a effect on fashion than the glossy magazines.
Prior to WWII, more Americans lived in rural areas than cities. Many homes still pumped water from wells, and used the "privy" out back for the call of nature. Anyone who has lived without indoor plumbing, or hot water heaters, knows what a chore shaving becomes. It's probably safe to say that while razor manufacturers advertised their products in newspapers and magazines, shaving did not become prevalent until the post-war prosperity and wide-spread move to suburbia.
Mid-Century ushered in everything new, bright and shiny. Anything old, rustic, had to go. Shiny chrome rocket ship cars, chrome kitchens with electric can openers, dishwashers, washing machines, gagets galore. And razors! Cover the couch in plastic, get rid of the bog wooden radio and buy a new TV, trade in the old calico farm dress of the Great Depression, and hop into a poodle skirt. Hard times were over, no turning back. The new nylons replaced the old silk stockings. Woman began to shave their legs and under arms ubiquitously.
The Baby boomers were taught to shave in the 50s. A decade later, they'd rebel against their parents, and some would "let it grow." Ban the bra, dig the razor, get back to nature. Counter-culture females provided an example of not shaving: Janis Joplin, Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon. Books such as the ground-breaking "Joy of Sex" showed women a natural, completely open and free to love with a thick bush and tufts under their arms. For at least a decade, furry shins and natural armpits regained a place on the social scene, a statement of value in things natural, organic, not determined by Madison Ave and Hollywood. But counter-culture, for as much as it dominated the 1960s and 70s, was never Nixon's "silent majority." In cities and small towns across the states, the vast majority of women still picked up their razors daily.
Ironically, underarms and legs were the locations picked out to be shaved, waxed, and plucked. The "public" hair. The visible and "unsightly" hair. The private hair of the mons pubis, remained unshaved nearly through the entire 20th Century. There are scattered examples, of course. Many "art" models were required to shave so that the work could be shipped through the US Mail. In the mega-hit "Deep Throat," Linda Lovelace sports a totally shaved look. However, Playboys, Penthouses, and private home snapshots show thick, curly, natural bushes all through the 1980s. Like this image of Demi Moore.
Between the 1980s and 1990s, if we could speed up thousands of images of nude women like a time-lapse, we'd see the trimmed bikini line growing narrower and narrower. Then trimming between the vulva lips, then shaving them, then narrowing the bikini line to a "landing strip," then trimming that to a tiny triangle. This shrinking of the pubic patch correlates with the rise of porn into the homes of average americans. VHS moives, and then the internet brought porn to the people to watch, when they wanted to, and in privacy.
In the early 1990s, none of my friends used more than scissors; by the late '90s, they were all down to the tiny triangle. Thank god the landing strip seems to be a fad come and gone. But now, in 2009, shaving remains the social/cultural norm.
Do we have the baby-boomers to thank or blame? did they set a brave example of "letting it grow, letting it show." Or did they fix in the public mind the negative stereotype "granola, earth mama, unshaven dirty hippie." If a young woman of todays generation goes without shaving, she's dismissed as "crunchy" and unkept rather than sophisticated and bohemian and sexy.
Logic tells us that all trends come full circle. If total shaving, full "brazilians" and even anal plucking is the course of the day, then eventually one would think (one would even hope), that the only constant in life is change. Looking at America in a wider cultural lens, we see a rise in the conservative right, the domination of the republican party by the Christian coalition. The two decades of the 1990s and 2000s, have been dominated by suburban america--big screen TVs, SUVs, and Brittany Spears. (Or Hanna Montana, depending on your age). The 1960s idolized, lionized rock stars that spoke out against dominant power; in this decade the Dixie Chicks lost their top country music position for speaking out against President Bush. Clearly, these last two decades have been highly sexualized by the internet, music videos, and pop culture, yet also unforgiving and restrictive of woman's body images.
In 1999, for example, America's "Sweetheart" actress Julia Roberts shocked crowds at the premiere of her film Notting Hill when she raised her hand to wave to her fans, and revealing a small sprout of hair peeking from her red sequin gown. The moment, caught by the paparazzi, caused a media stir, and many outraged fans posted on the internet criticism for her not shaving. Why the stubble of hair under Julia's arms is anyone's concern, I cannot say.
Americans do love to tear down their pop stars. They propel them to fame, and then just as fast slander them on tabloid covers. Just ask Brittney Spears. Interestingly, though, when the paparazzi caught this image of her coming out of Paris Hilton's car, sans panties, people criticized her "partying" but said nothing about the hair, or lack of hair, between her legs.
When Brittney shaved her head the press had a field day. Shaving head = crazy. Shaving pussy = today's fashion. I'm not advocating for shaved heads (and yes, Britt, that was sort of kooky),but what an interesting time we live in when removing hair from one area is social acceptible, removing it from another area is not. Letting hair grow naturally in one area is considered normal, letting it grow another area is shunned. Women's hair must be very confused.
Perhaps we pick hair as social/cultural symbol because it is so easy to alter. Growing, not growing, shaping, controlling. It's something we can do, and therefore something we do.
Yes, the only constant is change. The 1950s wanted to jettison the old and embrace shaving. The 1960s and 70s rebelled and stopped shaving. The 1990s and 2000s returned to shaving. Our new president Obama tells us there is change in America. His election, and his grassroots campaign victory suggests this may be true. So many are ready for a change, politically, socially.
Trends tell us fashion always repeats. Perhaps in this new green movement where solar panels, hybrid cars, and organic produce at the grocery store are no longer seen as "hippie" and seen as good common sense in todays world, we'll see a movement away from things artificial. In the town where I live, cosmetics and hair spray seem more and more dated, like early '90s sitcoms; in today's economy and beauty, sometimes less is more. Perhaps women will relax their obsessive shaving, plucking, waxing habits.
Or not. It's hard to say how intrenched social norms become and are passed down generation to generation.
Personally, I find shaving sexy, and not shaving sexy. I think women's bodies are sexy. What I find UNsexy is rigid social restraints, and the stigmatizing of women's bodies, making them battle grounds of social politics. If Julia Roberts wants to let her hair grow, let it grow. If she wants to shave, she should shave. Freedom in America has always meant the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Why any woman should be publicly embarrassed or scorned for letting hair grow where nature (or God) intended is beyond me.
Frankly, America, relax. It's just hair.
