Brazillians and barbers
Abby O'Reilly of The F-Word Blog says
There was a period of time when I was quite confident a Brazilian was a type of coffee you could buy at Starbucks, and a Hollywood nothing more than a euphemism for the type of pearly-white smile that can only be achieved by having a miner’s helmet inserted into your gullet. However, with women’s magazines weekly promoting shaving, sugar waxing, depilatory creams and anything else to precipitate the virtual scalping of our nether regions, I began to realise that I was mistaken.
Whereas I'm always going to be first in line to say that nobody should ever feel socially obliged to engage in ancillary hair removal for reasons of fashion I'm also always going to be the first -- and, I think sometimes, the only -- person to add that women aren't the only and, in the West anyway, neither were they the first to be obliged to do so.
As recently as the 1970s men weren't allowed into Disneyland or Disney World if they had so much as a mustache.
Again, I'm not saying that *anybody* should feel obliged to shave their sensitive bits, though they obviously can if they wish. But I do get touchy about the frequently-overlooked point that lips and chins are sensitive bits.
That said, O'Reilly's got some good words to say about a BBC documentary program (programme for our UK friends) called "F**k off, I’m a hairy woman" put together by Shazia Mirza.
The premise behind the programme was to determine how receptive society is to a woman who refuses to trim her muff. Mirza, a self-confessed ‘hairy’ woman, who ordinarily incorporated hair removal into her daily beauty regime, abandoned all efforts for the few weeks that the programme was being shot, not only to analyze the way she was treated by those around her, but also how it would affect her personal confidence in a social capacity that prizes the body beautiful above all else.
I'm slowly brewing a post about the whole beauty/fashion obligation, which imposes a huge and, in my view, surprisingly unnecessary burden on women (it doesn't cover the shaving angle but it's all still part of the show.) And because I care quite a lot about it I'm looking forward to Mirza's program -- assuming it ever makes it this far across the pond.
"assuming it ever makes it this far across the pond."
If you speak to me nicely something could possibly be arranged ... ;)
[Hmm. I wonder if my DVD player can translate PAL to NTSC? I'd speak nicely to you anyway though, A. Thanks! --fl]
While I've never felt obligated by the media to shave my nether regions, I do find myself obligated by myself to unsheath the razor and clean off the unwanted hair about once a week. But.. that's a personal preference.
Lately I've also been noticing how a lot of the guys I know don't shave their faces daily. They more do it maybe once a week - basically when it starts to bug 'em, they give it a going over. Now.. I do like the stubble look on a lot of men. But.. this approach also makes sense. And when I started noticing it, it also made stop and realizing that shaving my nethers once a week is plenty. Stubble is a fact of life if you're going to shave. If I can deal with it (happily) on a guy's face, they can deal with it elsewhere from time to time (or, they can shave it for me, which is a fun game in and of itself.. and always gets a better job done!). I think it also makes me appreciate the smoothness of when they do shave all that much more. Plus, I think shaving less often like that gleans a better shave.
[Funny you should mention that, Quilzas. I get the impression that with waxing you have to let it grow out for a couple of weeks to get it long enough to wax again. Which I would think sort of defeats the purpose. But as you say, stubble isn't *that* big a deal. Personally I think neatly trimmed (enough not to tickle when my face is nearby, not enough to prickle) provides maybe 90% of the benefit for only 10% of the hassle. Thanks! --fl]
I know you'd speak nicely anytime, figleaf :) But the conversion can be done - I know a man who can ...
However I suspect we may have just missed it: the original appears to have been in March, repeated 25 April.
But, listen to this (ignore the heavy breathing at the beginning of the interview :) )
[Thanks, A! --fl]