When I was in the fourth grade I had body hair. Most people start to develop body hair by the fourth grade. I never thought anything of it until I wore shorts on a hot day and I was ridiculed by my fellow female classmates. I felt awful and ashamed of my body at the age of 10 because of a natural function of the human body. I went home and swiped one of my mother’s razers from her bathroom. That was the first time I shaved my legs.
The summer of my fourth grade, my grandmother took me to France to visit distant family and friends. I noticed something peculiar. A plethora of woman were sporting body hair. They almost seemed to flaunt it wearing their shorts and tank tops. I was baffled. My grandmother informed me that it was common for women not to shave in some European countries, including France. I then decided to be confident in my body, and I stop feeling ashamed of myself. The removal of body hair plays a big role in the history of beauty standards, despite its important functions and possible dangers of some removal procedures. It may be surprising to know that body hair actually serves a purpose. From the prevention of infections to wicking away sweat and moisture, hair plays a big role in the physical biology of our
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“Body hair became disgusting to middle-class American women, its removal was a way to separate oneself from cruder people, lower class and immigrant,” writes Rebecca Herzig, a professor in gender and sexuality studies. Sandpaper and pumice stones were used as an abrasive substance to remove hair, which in turn caused irritation and scabbing. More life threatening methods such as Koremlu, a cream made from rat poison, killed and permanently disabled thousands. Women would sit in front of X-ray machines and the radiation would penetrate their skin and permanently remove their hair. Women underwent illegal and dangerous procedures that resulted in ulcerations, scarring, and
"Skin blemishes made it impossible for me to really enjoy myself. I was always worrying about the way I looked" (Brumberg, p. 87). Woman all around the world share the same problem, they feel unhappy and self-conscious with the appearance of their bodies. In The Body Project by Joan Jacobs Brumberg, she successfully illustrates the way adolescents begin to change focus from inner to outer beauty in the early 19th and 20th centuries. Through use of personal diaries and historical research, Brumberg shows her readers the physical differences between girls then and now. Brumberg talks about an array of topics in her book – periods, acne, dieting, piercing, virginity, and sexuality. From their roots in the 1800’s through the Victorian era and into modern society the reader gets a glimpse of the way young women evaluate their bodies and turn them into body projects, and is still to this day sweeping the nation more than ever.
“Shaving” is a short story about a teenage boy who shaves his dying father. Throughout this story, there are many lines of dialogue, and although they may seem simple at first, most of them have a profound deeper meaning. For example, near the beginning of the book, where his father stays to Barry that “You could have used electric razor, I expected that.” Barry replies by saying that “You wouldn’t like it, you’ll get a closer shave this way.” In this quote, what they talk about on the surface is fairly obvious, the quality of the shave ad the razor. However, beneath the surface of this quote lies a much deeper meaning. Barry uses a real razor instead of an electric one, which shows not only his confidence in shaving skills, but also the fact that he has taken the family matters into his own hands, as to put his father into such danger like that, as
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The kids I went to school with, the boys I had romantic relationships with, and even my family members, all made negative comments about my body hair. As a young kid, I believed my body hair was a personal problem. Experimenting with different hair removal procedures, some even painful. I wasted hours removing the hair on my body, in attempts to feel better about myself. My low self esteem became linked with the hair on my body. I believed I had too much body hair for a girl but according to Mills (1959) and the social imagination, I had too much body hair for society. My peers, as well as my family, had been socialized to believe that women’s body hair was gross, and unfeminine. Women had been taught to remove their body hair for decades now in the western world, and it was showcased or the lack there of hair was showcased in all forms of media. As a young girl, my mom bought me my first razor and paid for the electrolysis for the hair on my arm. It was in these actions, where the idea that it was my own problem started to form because it felt like I needed treatment for this problem of mine. I was perceiving a deep seated public issue as my own personal trouble. I can’t blame my mother or my peers because by the time my peers and even my parents were born, the western world had already determined that women should not have body hair. Christina Hope (1982) explains that in 1914 in America magazine’s had just begun
My mother was taught, as her mother before and so on, that these conversations are to be kept private and talked about quietly. In response to this, the power of men has an increasingly strong hold on the ideal physical beauty and how the changes of the body, such as menstruation, are in private and never spoken of. The Body Project gives a disturbing look at how women in the past few centuries and the present should act, look like, and keep hidden in response to what men think is most desirable. No matter how free women think they are, we are still under the control of men, even if it is not directly. This book opens the conversation on the problems that are still plaguing women and how society needs to change to have a healthier environment for women to be comfortable in their skin.
...e trend of reducing hair on men and women’s bodies. This increased the amount of money spent on cosmetics and also created new jobs for the producers of these cosmetic tools.
Male or female, young or old, at one time in each of our lives, we have all wondered what it would be like to have a beard. I am no exception to this rule, and have ventured into the world of facial hair. Bestowed upon me at a relatively young age was the ability to grow a plenary beard with ease. Although I have used this skill to my advantage numerous times, I have also have had to remove said beard just as often. Some may think that shaving a beard is not a difficult or strenuous task, but I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. Shaving a beard is a delicate and precise process that must be completed carefully.
Each sex is treated differently for a naturally occurring body process. As discussed, body hair is viewed as masculine, leading to the assumption that women should be hairless and men should wear their body hair with pride. It is clear that society uses hair to label individuals as either male or female (Toerien and Wilkinson, 2003). In addition, male hair is associated with strength and power (Toerien and Wilkinson, 2003). So how come when women display body hair they are shamed, but men are encouraged to grow it? Hope (1982) elaborates that the term, “feminine, when applied to lack of body hair, implies a child-like status, as opposed to the adult status afforded men” (as cited in Toerien and Wilkinson, 2003). That being said, body hair is another way in which society ranks men as the superior gender by making women conform to the hairless normative. A study conducted by Tiggemann and Hodgson (2008), asked women why they practice hair removal. After completing a questionnaire with different statements to evaluate different factors such as normativity, sexual attractiveness, femininity and self-enhancement, they found significant support in all four types of factors for hair removal of the underarm, leg and pubic area. Additionally, they can found that one item pertaining to males preferring a hairless body, was the only one linked to two factors: normativity and sexual attractiveness. It is evident with their findings that women tend to follow the socially constructed normative for many reason, including to please men. The idea is that women have to change their bodies not only to be accepted by society, but they also do so to be accepted by men. Nonetheless, the must make is seem natural and effortless to uphold the beauty allure. In recent years, depletion of male body hair has become popular. In a study performed by Boroughs, et al. (2005), they found that men removed
Hair growth takes place in three phases the anogen phase, the catagen phase, and the telogen phase. The first phase to take place, the anogen stage, can last anywhere from three to seven years. During this stage, hair grows at an average rate of 1 centimeter per month which adds up to around 12 centimeters or 1 inch per year. It is also during this stage that melanin, the pigment that gives hair color, is created. As people get older, follicles gradually give up producing thick, strong hair. As a result, hair becomes thinner and shorter; baldness may even occur. The next phase in hair growth is the catagen phase which takes place anywhere from two to four weeks. During this stage, the base of the follicle moves from underneath the skin to the face and rests near the opening of the sebaceous duct until it is ready to begin growing. This growing takes place during the telogen phase which lasts anywhere from three to four months. During this stage, new hair begins to grow from the hair follicle. As it grows upwards, the old hair will be shed naturally or may be pulled out. This shedding of telogen hairs happens easily and painlessly; these are the hairs that fall out when a person is shampooi...
In many cultures around the world there are certain practices that distinguish that specific culture. Body modification is generally seen, by the practitioners as “self-constructive,” whereas critics see it as a “violent pathologization.” (Johncock 2012:241.) Throughout this paper I will be focusing on body modification in African cultures, more specifically, the practice of scarification. Though it is described as body modification, scarification is not seen as “self-beautifying,” like other forms of modifications, but rather as “self-mutilation.” (2012:242-243.) According to the Encyclopedia of Body Adornment, “In many African and Australian cultures, smooth skin is seen as naked and unadorned,” and “skin that has texture and design on
Our hair is more fragile than many people realize. It is divided into three layers, which consist of the cortex, the cuticle and the medulla. With healthy hair we have a water and air filled medulla and our cuticle is smooth. This moisture is very important to having beautiful healthy hair. When your hair gets damaged from heat, this will cause the moisture to be gone from your hair. Applying more heat to already damaged hair will cause it to become dry and brittle. It will break and frizz and become more unmanageable making most people frustrated with their hair style. As these damaged broken hairs start to regrow, they will grow out as new and undamaged hair. Any heat that is too hot or heat that is added to frequently will dry out your hair.
In today’s society, both women and men are under constant pressure to look a certain way. Yet, it appears that over the course of history women have been the main victims of society’s pressure to feel and look in a specific way about their bodies. Nowadays, when there’s shaming for everything such as, fat, skinny, beauty, and slut shaming, we encounter period shaming. Of all things, menstruation is a natural, biological process that every woman experiences over the course of roughly, forty years, and yet it is one of society’s oldest taboos. I cannot help to wonder and question, whether if if the situation was involving men, would there be so much shame about menstruation? And would it be socially accepted? Overall, the purpose of this paper
We discuss a notorious example of head-shaving, which happened after the liberation of France after World War II, when women suspected of having sexual intercourse with the enemy would also be head-shaved and forced to walk in public. Secondly, in “Hair: Symbol of Attractiveness and Sex Appeal,” we describe how, from the European Renaissance and throughout the centuries, women have reinvented themselves using their hair as a mean of expression, as well as a mean to gain power and attractiveness. Third, from the mysticism during the Middle Ages, to Disney’s magical hair in the movie Rapunzel, we discuss in “Magical Hair: an Object of Fetishism / Mysticism” the symbolism of hair and how a 21st century -movie princess re-appropriates herself through hair. Fourth, in “Hair Color: A Preference for Northern European Beauty Standards,” we illustrate the fascination for blonde hair. Since early Christian times, blond hair has been associated with being angelic and youth. Today, it is still an object of fascination and desire, particularly since the glamorous Marilyn Monroe look. In contrast, from the African American community, whose female members can spend hours at the salon to straighten their hair (“Racial Implication of Hair: Freedom or Confinement?”), to Cindy Lauper and Madonna who used their hair to portray exuberance and freedom of style (and speech) (Hair: A Symbol of Women’s Freedom and Liberation, or How to Blur Gender Boundaries”), we wonder where women’s liberation through hair stops and begins to translate as submissive behavior in the service of becoming beautiful and attractive according to Western standards of beauty. We examine how hair, in all its complexity, can be both a symbol of liberation and submission at the same time, which leads to the last category:
Always treat your hair in a gentle way so as to decrease loss of hair.
Everyone is concerned with their appearance, which is why we have gone to someone to maintain our hair since the early centuries. As time passed, the many different methods and strategies of styling men’s hair has changed. From the different styles to the tools used this has all helped improve the process of styling and shaping men’s hair. Barbering has been revolutionized into the world today.