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| ID: a torso in a bikini holding razors against a seashell graphic and a sea background, with hands holding even more razors in every corner. Credit: Rebecca Tozer |
Women’s razors were first sold in the early 20th century – prior to then – Victorian hem- and necklines covered women from toe to chin, so no one knew they were going around full bush in a bikini (or more likely some bloomer-corset-stays configuration). As the century continued, boyish figures and shorter hemlines made male razor companies realise they could double their target market and invent insecurities to sell more. And so they invented the pink tax and society’s new sexy and bald AF standard of femininity. According to a magazine article I read, razors were even advertised alongside short and sheer-sleeved dresses so women could easily “complete the look”. BALD ARMS AND ARMPITS BEING THE FINAL ACCESSORY! Hairlessness imparted purity, youth, and an elegance which was obviously missing from the previous century’s ootds. It also insinuates a want for younger, prepubescent-seeming women, (please make your own conclusions, I don’t have a big enough word count to go into that paedophilic-leaning nightmare). Women’s razors: invented by men, used for men, and literally cutting women up.
As time progressed, bald pits, pins, and pussies became ever more popular, with an almost absolute majority of anglo/western women shaving their legs and armpits by the latter half of the 1900s. It became the norm, and any women outside of that norm were shamed and mocked by their friends, family, and foes alike.
A 2009 women’s studies assignment asked its students to not shave their body for 10 weeks – A tall order in the enclosed microcosm of dormitories and close-knit students watching your legs and pits grow ever hairier. Also I cannot imagine how itchy that would’ve been if they’d been shaving since their hair grew in. The participants reported back on familial upset as their newly “ungroomed” sisters visited home, with mothers ashamed, fathers appalled, and siblings questioning how TF anyone would dare sleep with such a yeti. Of course, questions of male partners’ ownership over “their” women also cropped up, with the worst of them questioning why they didn’t ask for their permission (I JUST THREW UP A BIT IN MY MOUTH, MAKE THESE HETEROS STOP). And, most obviously, accusations of lesbianism and questioning of the participants’ true gender identity (although not said as politely at that time). And although both straight, bi, and lesbian women participated, pretty much all of them felt threatened by the danger of being associated with queer women, as society perceived all sapphics to be “man-hating dykes” with no respect for standards of femininity or the fragile egos and comfort zones of conservative heterosexual society.
So! Queers and body hair – what’s there to say? Well, lesbians care less for the public “currency of femininity”, primarily where it ascertains to male approval. A step away from hetero-society’s expectations for women could be an unshaven body part publicly on show, and perhaps hinting at a form of sexual deviance. This passive act of letting your hair grow saves money, time, and a whole lot of razor burn, and supposedly any real sapphic would munch that box shaved or not. Those exploring their gender identities outwith the binary, and/or our butch & masc siblings who craft their appearance to lean more towards the traditionally masculine would often grow their body hair out to add to the male aesthetic, but what does that leave for fem(me)s and their relationship to their body hair?
Since I was about sixteen, I’ve had a neutral-to-positive relationship with my body hair, but then I realised I was gay and I found that that just made everything confusing. My first girlfriend shaved her arms, legs, everything. And I hadn't even realised people would shave their arms at all, though at 19 I still can barely see my arm hair, so I guess you could call me heteronormatively luckier. Shaving, to me, felt like a process of cleaning, smoothing, and making it all less itchy everywhere. Which, although true to me, would not have appeared as an option to me without the inception of the women’s razor (there are no original ideas or experiences, we know this).Though when we broke up I will admit i stopped bothering shaving anywhere for a good long while due to lack of enthusiasm in all areas of my life, #theymeanitwhentheysayfirstwlwbreakupsarelethal!
Personally, and I hate to say it but – when my armpits get too hairy I feel quote unquote “a bit dykey”. And depressingly, I mean that in the negative way. As a very feminine lesbian my sexual identity sometimes feels invalid or invisible when I look around my pastel pink childhood bedroom (and I mean walls, decor, bed sheets, accessories, omg it’s almost oppressive ) or look at pictures of me at balls with long dresses and heels. And although stereotypes are bullshit and any lesbian outfit is one I put on, it doesn’t stop me from thinking that no one would assume I was gay as hell from the insanely too large spam of professional ball photos on the union facebook page. And I can't help but think that shaven legs and hairless pits play into that straight-passing vibe.
I don't know if I have too shitty a perception of time, but in the spring I felt like I saw so many people on TikTok and Instagram basically promoting a “full bush in a bikini” summer. And looking back this August? I didn't see a single post after the end of May about it. From my research, it seemed a video mentioning it first blew up in JANUARY but by the time bikini season truly came around (in the northern hemisphere), not a single video promoting bush in a bikini graced my for you page. It feels performative – of course people will shout to the rooftops that women shouldn’t feel the need to shave when we’re wrapped up against winter winds and a showery spring but will forget all about that little trend as soon as the sun starts shining and the pool parties are being hosted once more. And I despise that I can't imagine comfortably going to the beach with bush peeking out - LIKE THAT’S CRAZY! WHY AREN’T WE TALKING ABOUT THIS MORE? It’s just little follicles near my private parts which are always appropriately covered! Do we tell men to shave when their long trail of pubes reaching their belly button is on show? Do we assume a man is gay and hate on him for it if his legs are hairy? Will death threats be sent to a male celebrity if his armpit hair peeks out of a revealing red carpet number? Of course not! And why exactly? Simply because the body hair is paired with a cishet leading man.
I know straight girls who hate shaving their legs, some who are genuinely unskilled at shaving their armpits, but that never stops them from shaving to wear a vest top on a summer's day or a mini dress for halloweekend. It's the sadness & frustration that fills me everytime one of my friends apologises for their hairy legs or pits when we’d go to the river or hangout on a sunny day. I may have a very grand majority of female friends but I have never heard a man utter an apology for his body hair.
In the past I've felt feminist for “choosing” to shave my legs. “It's my choice! It's less itchy! And it’s not like I'm doing it for guys!” But when you look back through history, weaving through a web of increasingly hairless women, you see the man’s invention of razors for women smacking you in the face. Women never chose to shave their legs -- societal, heteronormative, purity-pilled pressure infiltrated their magazines’ ad space and therefore their brains. Shaving will never be a truly feminist choice simply because it was a man’s idea on how to exploit women in order to line his own pockets.
So, do I want you specifically to throw out your razor and say fuck it, bush in a thong? No – I don't really care unless you’re shaming others for not keeping up with a similar shaving / waxing / microblading / veet-ing routine. But yeah, it really sucks that we’ve pushed ourselves into this tiny constricted corner of self hatred and patriarchal pressure. Will I continue to shave my body hair? Unfortunately yes, because even though I hate spending money on new blades or a packet of waxing strips, my itchy bikini line and sweaty armpits will be subjected to a razor fortnightly or so. The truth is, even a lesbian like me can’t truly pluck (hair removal pun) herself out of the patriarchy’s horrifyingly strong grip.
Bush in a bikini Summer 2026 anyone?
xoxo, Rebecca
sources:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23044206\
https://www.bustle.com/articles/196747-the-sneaky-manipulative-history-of-why-women-started-shaving