Shaving Our Legs: The Ups & Downs of a Rather Unnecessary Ritual

Why do women in America shave their legs? How and when did this practice get started? Columnist Cecil Adams did a little research and found out that a certain magazine in 1915 may be at least partially to blame. Harper's Bazaar showed an ad for a new sleeveless dress with a model dangling her arms over her head, with underarms suddenly bare and smooth, naked for all to see. The caption read, "Summer Dress and Modern Dancing combine to make necessary the removal of objectionable hair."

When the down-to-earth, bourgeois McCall's showed hairless underarms two years later, a trend -- or rather, a cultural revolution -- had begun. The trend of women shaving their legs occurred quite a bit later, when hemlines hiked up and stockings were worn. Hair showing through nylon pantyhose was considered unsightly by many people; soon after, manufacturers started to market razors for women en masse.

America's western cousins across the pond in Europe are even starting to see their women shave their legs and under their arms, a trend that is relatively new by American standards. There is a common perception that European women, with the possible exception of those in the English-speaking British Isles, do not make it a practice to shave at all. Having recently lived in Germany and England, I can attest to the fact that this is not entirely true. Many young European women are beginning to shave under their arms and their legs as well, although you still certainly see women of all ages with hair left in its natural state on legs and arms alike. As far as I could tell, British women seem to share the North American cultural preference for clean-shaven legs and arms. Why do women in America put up with this?

When It Snows, the Hair Still Grows