PDF Ebook The History of American Women and Hair Removal
I came to write this thesis because of a personal curiosity about hair removal and its origins. Among my female friends hair removal is considered an annoying, arduous, often painful, but necessary ritual. Most insist on removing leg hair before putting on a skirt or shorts, and balk at the thought of wearing a bathing suit without shaving or waxing the bikini line. Hair removal is considered so essential to some of these women that they refuse to participate in daily activities such as exercising or going on a date if they have not paid proper attention to removing their body hair. Furthermore, hair removal is generally considered to be a timeless ritual, or at least one that all American women have always practiced. Through my research, however, I discovered that hair removal is not an ancient tradition, nor is it an isolated behavior. Hair removal was introduced first in the nineteen teens and twenties, and coincided with a momentous change in the definition of the American feminine ideal.
In The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls, historian Joan Jacobs Brumberg argues that females today organize their self-perception around their outward appearance, in contrast to women of earlier generations, and emphasizes the importance of the 1920s in transforming the feminine ideal from the Victorian model to our modern concept of femininity. Indeed, it was largely the 1920s that brought about a
profound alteration in the perception and definition of the female body.
in fashion, but also demanded a new awareness of the physical self. In addition to the “unveiling” of the female body, the 1920s saw the introduction of a litany of beauty practices including the regular use of makeup, the introduction of the bra, and the practice of dieting. In marked contrast to the ideal Victorian woman, who was expected to be more concerned with her morality and development of character than her outward appearance, all of these new fads focused on the presentation of the physical self. Furthermore, these fads went a step beyond traditional fashion, emphasizing the body instead of clothing. Brumberg accurately sums up the great transformation of the female body image when she states: “The body itself became the fashion in the 1920s” (emphasis added).
Contents
Introduction
I. History of Hair Removal
II. American Men and the Hair Removal Industry
III. The Clothing Fashion Industry
IV. The Rise and Role of Women’s Magazines
V. The Early Ad Campaign, 1908-1914
VI. The Underarm Campaign takes Shape, 1915-1916
VII. The Underarm Campaign Expands, 1916-1920
VIII. The Leg Campaign, 1918-1934
IX. Establishing a Norm, 1934+
Conclusion
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PDF Ebook The History of American Women and Hair Removal
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