Hair Removal Advertisements by Kayla Forgey https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc Through a feminist lens. en-us 2020-02-12 21:06:47 UTC 2025-12-20 07:05:48 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-uploads.storage.googleapis.com/459023015/dda0e00b907038c80290373ff6166011/shaving4.jpg 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444692220 2020-02-12 22:02:04 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444692220 Although we have been removing head and body hair since the cavemen days, shaving did not become a trend in modern society until the introduction of advertisements for hair removal products. 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444697699 2020-02-12 22:14:13 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444697699 Fashion of the early 1900's found women wearing sleeveless dresses, and underarm hair became taboo. 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444698342 2020-02-12 22:15:53 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444698342 World War 2 found America with a shortage of nylon, and more women were forced to leave the house with bare-legs. It was shameful if said legs were covered in hair, and shaving became more mainstream. 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444699178 2020-02-12 22:17:54 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444699178 This ad from the 1930's implies that having facial hair makes you ugly and unwanted. 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444699839 2020-02-12 22:19:30 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444699839 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444700335 2020-02-12 22:20:54 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444700335 With shaving becoming a normal everyday thing for most women, ads started distancing themselves from fear tactics and tried to appeal to a woman's vanity. Women who shaved were supposedly classier and more feminine. 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444704076 2020-02-12 22:29:07 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444704076 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444705032 2020-02-12 22:31:46 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444705032 During the 1960's, advertisements jumped back on the shaming wagon. This ad states "the minute you put a blade into the Lady Gillette Razor, it becomes a razor for cowardly women. We designed it to give you a smaller shaving angle than a tough bearded man needs." 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444705759 2020-02-12 22:33:49 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444705759 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444706613 2020-02-12 22:35:57 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444706613 During the pornography boom of the 80's and 90's, razor ads started to revolve around a common message of advertising today: sex sells. 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444708133 2020-02-12 22:39:41 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444708133 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444708548 2020-02-12 22:40:37 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444708548 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444712322 2020-02-12 22:50:44 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444712322 These oversexualized ads actually continued until at least 2014. This ad is for men's razors, but they use clickbait of a topless woman to get more people to visit their website. 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444714212 2020-02-12 22:56:35 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444714212 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444714565 2020-02-12 22:57:41 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444714565 The Implicit meaning of these advertisements is not only that unshaven women are somehow manlier and more shameful than hairless women, but that shame and embarrassment are an advertising technique that works, and continues to work to this day. 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444714758 2020-02-12 22:58:11 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444714758 The hair removal cream company Nair continues to use this shaming technique with their customers, as this ad from 2014 shows. 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444715908 2020-02-12 23:01:54 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444715908 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444716239 2020-02-12 23:03:07 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444716239 There is a lot of work to be done in the advertising industry, but there seems to be steps being made in a better direction. This advertisement faced some backlash after using the #MeToo movement for one of their ads, but the difference between "click here to see what happens next" and "the best a man can be" is enormous. 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444716547 2020-02-12 23:04:13 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444716547 The implicit meaning of these specific advertisements is that society and advertising companies are saying a woman's body and her shaving habits are what attract a man, and that showing the female form is an effective advertising strategy. 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444717486 2020-02-12 23:07:22 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444717486 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444718053 2020-02-12 23:09:09 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444718053 Incredibly, the strides being made by specific companies like Billie are changing the hair removal industry for the better. Regular razor ads rarely show actual body hair being shaved, or any body hair at all for that matter. These advertisements target women, and say that it's okay to have body hair, or not have body hair. "However, whenever, if ever you want to shave, we'll be here." 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444718109 2020-02-12 23:09:18 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444718109 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444719470 2020-02-12 23:13:32 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444719470 This acceptance of women's body hair after a century of hair removal is an amazing step in the right direction. There are groups of people and companies that are pushing for body hair to be more widely accepted, and the openness about this topic around men and women will only catapult us into a future where, radically, the system set in place doesn't shame women for having body hair, and liberally, the individual with body hair isn't made to feel less-than or more manly. 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444719539 2020-02-12 23:13:47 UTC https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444719539 Works Cited 715kayla908 https://padlet.com/715kayla908/lbbs2rfdt6tc/wish/444722344 https://www.bustle.com/articles/137072-100-years-of-shaving-ads-show-how-weve-been-tricked-into-going-hairless-photos
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2019/09/07/women-body-hair-why-more-women-shaving-less-beauty-trend/2195286001/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx4MLOtQ3mY
https://www.mic.com/articles/151191/the-unusual-and-deeply-sexist-history-of-women-removing-their-body-hair
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/1/15/18184072/gillette-toxic-masculinity-ad-super-bowl-feminism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=55&v=P4DDpS685iI&feature=emb_title
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koPmuEyP3a0
https://www.collectiveshout.org/collective_shout_activists_hijack_sexist_and_objectifying_schick_competition

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