Millennial Women Reject the Razor: 1 in 4 Don’t Shave Underarms
After a century of cultural conditioning women across the globe are defying social shame and going “au naturel.”
Less than two decades after the media mercilessly mocked Julia Roberts for not shaving in 1999, nearly one in four millennial women, ages 16-24, are now following her lead.
The number of young women shaving their underarms is down from 95 percent in 2013, to 77 percent in 2016, according to Mintel, a market research firm. Leg shaving is also on the decline, dropping from 92 percent to 85 percent.
“The shaving and hair removal market continues to struggle” due at least in part to “consumers taking a value-driven mindset to shopping the category,” Mintel warned clients like Gillette in a report on U.S. trends released last month. Similar reports were released for dozens of other countries worldwide.
Mintel cited “shifting trends” and “increasing acceptance of hair” as culprits in the decline in razor and hair removal product sales. “Men are embracing facial hair, while women are embracing body hair,” the report continues.
The “increasing acceptance” of underarm hair may be partially thanks to the growing number of celebrities taking up the cause.
While the downward trend is bad news for Proctor and Gamble, it’s great news for women (not to mention the environment). A recent article in The Atlantic explains how “hair removal, at its core, is a form of gendered social control.” The article is a summary of the book Plucked: A History of Hair Removal by Rebecca Hertzig:
Concurrently, Gillette had slowly been mastering its marketing of razors. During World War II, there was a shortage of the thick stockings that women wore to cover their hairy legs, and shaving—something that had previously been associated with men’s routines—became a common practice for women. By 1964, 98 percent of American women were routinely shaving their legs…
I for one am inspired to help bring the number of shaving women back down to its tipping point. As someone who typically likes to be on the cutting edge of “return to nature” movements like these, I’m embarrassed to admit I still shave my underarms.
I quit shaving my legs a couple of years ago, but for some strange reason couldn’t liberate myself all the way. I, like this woman, sadly, have never seen my own underarm hair. A copycat of my culture, I started shaving before it even showed up. Maybe I’ve been afraid to see myself for what I really am. Not anymore!
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