Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

When women started shaving

Safety razors and short skirts

Dear Matthew Alice: Could you clear up an argument? I commented that during the love scene in The Piano, it was not authentic for Holly Hunter to have nicely shaved legs. After all, it’s a Victorian-era movie. — Wendy Morris, O.B.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Men and women have tweezed, plucked, and scraped various patches of body hair since the beginning of time. (Imagine cutting through the stubble every morning with a chipped flint or sharpened clam shell.) Sometimes it was fashionable to be furry, sometimes not. Ancient Egyptians learned early on that shaving one’s pits cut down on body odor, so shaving something other than one’s beard or head dates back at least that far. But the history of women’s depilation isn’t very well documented. There are always exceptions, but it’s unlikely a Victorian woman would have shaved her legs, since proper women of that time theoretically weren’t even supposed to have legs. They certainly were covered with plenty of bloomers, petticoats, skirts, and high-button shoes. Even table and chair legs were modestly covered during that era, and the word “leg” was avoided in polite conversation. According to the Schick company’s history of shaving, women in America began regularly shaving their armpits (coyly referred to as “smoothing”) in the second decade of the 20th Century, when safety razors replaced the old straight razor and fashions became more revealing. As hemlines rose, “modern” women began to shave their legs too, to complement their sheer silk hose. With stockings virtually unavailable during World War II, even more women began shaving their legs and applying leg make-up.

Historically, men of sophisticated societies began shaving their beards to give their enemies in combat one less thing to grab. But fashions and taboos about women’s body hair have had a subtler, more erotic history. Hairless women were (are?) imagined as virginal and prepubescent, unshaved women as seductive and earthy. But human hair, no matter where, has been buffeted by the winds of fashion and erotic fantasy.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Was Reddit ghost sighter hired by Hotel del Coronado?

Parking 1/2 mile away and complaints of vandalism
Next Article

How to make a hit Christmas song

Feeling is key, but money helps too

Dear Matthew Alice: Could you clear up an argument? I commented that during the love scene in The Piano, it was not authentic for Holly Hunter to have nicely shaved legs. After all, it’s a Victorian-era movie. — Wendy Morris, O.B.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Men and women have tweezed, plucked, and scraped various patches of body hair since the beginning of time. (Imagine cutting through the stubble every morning with a chipped flint or sharpened clam shell.) Sometimes it was fashionable to be furry, sometimes not. Ancient Egyptians learned early on that shaving one’s pits cut down on body odor, so shaving something other than one’s beard or head dates back at least that far. But the history of women’s depilation isn’t very well documented. There are always exceptions, but it’s unlikely a Victorian woman would have shaved her legs, since proper women of that time theoretically weren’t even supposed to have legs. They certainly were covered with plenty of bloomers, petticoats, skirts, and high-button shoes. Even table and chair legs were modestly covered during that era, and the word “leg” was avoided in polite conversation. According to the Schick company’s history of shaving, women in America began regularly shaving their armpits (coyly referred to as “smoothing”) in the second decade of the 20th Century, when safety razors replaced the old straight razor and fashions became more revealing. As hemlines rose, “modern” women began to shave their legs too, to complement their sheer silk hose. With stockings virtually unavailable during World War II, even more women began shaving their legs and applying leg make-up.

Historically, men of sophisticated societies began shaving their beards to give their enemies in combat one less thing to grab. But fashions and taboos about women’s body hair have had a subtler, more erotic history. Hairless women were (are?) imagined as virginal and prepubescent, unshaved women as seductive and earthy. But human hair, no matter where, has been buffeted by the winds of fashion and erotic fantasy.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

"Christmas Berry" is decorating our landscape, Longest meteor shower of the year

Full "cold moon," extremely high tides
Next Article

How Much Time Do I Get With My BetterHelp Therapist?

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader