sarah bennett wrote:
> jmcquown wrote:
>> Julia Altshuler wrote:
>>
>>> LittleGreyPoodle wrote:
>>> Purely marketing hype, just like women "needing" to shave their
>>>
>>>> underarms and teenagers "needing" to wear Nike "sports shoes" and
>>>> computer nerds "needing" to use a particular computer,
>>>
>>>
>>> What do you know about the history of the advertising campaign
>>> convincing women that they need to shave?
>>>
>>> --Lia
>>
>>
>> I was always under the impression in the U.S. it had something to do
>> with prostitutes, not an advertising campaign.
>>
>> http://www.4to40.com/health/index.as..._shavedarmpits
>>
>> On this site, it says:
>>
>> "None of many razor companies or cosmetic historians we contacted
>> could pinpoint when woman first started shaving their armpits. The
>> earliest reports concerned prostitutes during the gold rush days in
>> California. Terri Tongco, among other readers, posited the theory
>> that prostitutes shaved their underarms to prove that they have no
>> body lice, which were rampant in the old West."
>>
>> Be that as it may (or may not), shaving dates waaaaay back, whether
>> you are male or female. I suspect it has a lot to do with cultural
>> and social mores (and what is "in fashion") at the time.
>>
>> Jill
>>
>>
>
> I think it's completely ridiculous that women are expected to be
> practically hairless these days. I don't shave my legs or my
> underarms,
> and my brother always comments on how "disgusting" it is. I happen to
> think that itchy pink sores that ooze (which is what happens when i
> have
> kept everything shaved) are alot more disgusting than the hair that is
> obviously supposed to be on my body.
>
> ok, off my soapbox.

Ahem... how old are you?... itchy pink oozing sores means you don't know how
to shave or perhaps you have had a bad reaction to depilitory creams. If it
was depilitory cream, you had an allergic reaction. I sure wouldn't be
asking my brother to comment about it.

Jill