To Shave Or Not To Shave
The pressures of shaving amongst women is a lengthy timeline with an impressionable beginning.
When you look at the fight against female body hair, it’s difficult to ignore its upbringing. It’s a result of a tactic that every ad company only dreams of achieving: creating a driving force as strong as a beauty norm for their product. Men were soon to be joined in the world of body hair removal, and shaving companies knew exactly how to execute it. To its core, what they did was create a problem women never knew they had in the first place. Underarm and leg hair became associated with everything a woman in the 1920s feared: being an outcast and tainting their perceived femininity. At that point, it went beyond selling a product, and rather sold an idea to the everyday woman. If you were to avoid embarrassment and loneliness throughout your life, you best shave your armpits or no one will love you.
Image Courtesy: Bustle
Harsh, but it worked. Body hair became the culprit, and who was there to save the day? Shaving companies, of course. The wave of associating body hair with embarrassment was quickly adopted by many businesses and consumers alike. And as it caught on, a new societal norm came to fruition. Hair on your legs became unfashionable, underarm hair was deemed superfluous, and a new rite of passage was adopted. The shift in beauty norms began, and 100 years later, it still rings true.
Companies like Gillette worked hard to build messages that hit the core of self-identity and societal inclusivity in women. Today, they are working to reverse these ideals. When you look at a company like Billie, what you find is a razor product based on everything past campaigns completely took advantage of and highlighted as easily solvable. Those same notions that have been built are now being slowly broken down little by little, norm by norm.
Image Courtesy: Ad Age
But they’ve been able to stand out by building a message around support for inclusivity and support of whatever women choose to do. As pioneers, companies like Billie have a lot of walls to break down. And, as you could imagine, a lot can happen over 100 years, including the weight of expectations from women getting heavier. Femininity took on a different look, and what began as a simple problem has grown out of women’s say so. And what happens when a problem arises? More are sure to follow.
When you look at Billie’s campaigns and overall message, it’s obvious the focus is on reaching these divergent problems. They don’t aim to ignore them, but rather address them to let you know that they are fed up too. Billie isn’t portrayed as just a set of products. Billie is your understanding friend, the one at the frontlines fighting for you against the norms in place. They care about you, and it strikes a resemblance to the tactics used 100 years ago. To place your message in a position of understanding with women is to join them in their struggle. Back then, ads showed they cared for your wellbeing and didn’t want you to be embarrassed. Today, they know you’re mad and show they are, too. They are still that friend, but this time they have good intentions.
Image Courtesy: Stimulant
It’s a tricky world to navigate and it’s become a mission to update these associations that have been so ingrained in our minds. Where embarrassment and loneliness were once fear tactics used to get you to buy something, today, the freedom to not have to explain yourself, and ultimately not fit a beauty norm, is the driving force. Don’t want to shave all the time? Good for you. Enjoy shaving? Just don’t judge others for not doing the same.
It’s breaking down the norm, but not completely getting rid of it. Because at the end of the day, Billie is still trying to sell you a razor. But the weight it carries is a lot more accepting of whatever you choose to do with it. So, you do you.
Strike Out,
Emily Ruiz
Orlando