Lately I’ve been fantasizing about what it would be like to be totally comfortable with myself as a hirsute woman. ...A hirsute woman who hides her hair.
Kind of an oxymoron, but in my fantasy it makes sense. In my fantasy, I still shave and pluck and cake on make-up and take three pills a day so as not to draw attention to myself, so as not to let hair get in the way of first, second, third impressions. But in my fantasy, I’m also okay with who I am, how I was born, how my body has developed.
I’m in a car with a bunch of friends. And friends of friends. Not all of them are people I know well, but probably people I’ll see again. And there’s an argument of the sexes going on, as often is the case with people around my age, trying to get a leg up on the other. A guy tries to win the argument of who has a harder job getting ready in the morning by saying, “Until you know what it’s like to have to shave every morning, you know nothing about hard work!” (And yes, I’ve seen this argument in action before. It has been used, heh.) I say, a little bit smug, “Well since I do know what it’s like, I think I win.” And when the raised eyebrows fly my way, I shrug comfortably and say, “What? I have a beard. So?”
...I guess, to me, being “okay” with being hirsute means talking about it. (It may not be so for everyone, and that’s fine. That’s awesome, in fact. I remember when being “okay” with it meant I didn’t wake up, look in the mirror and want to cry. Each step leads to another.) Not all the time, just when it would be natural to bring it up in conversation if there were nothing “wrong” with it. Talking about it as I would talk about my freckles; they’re there, they can’t be controlled, and even if some days I don’t like them, they’re nothing to be ashamed of.
I imagine it being common knowledge amongst my acquaintances that yep, I have a beard. And it ain’t no thang. So common that it’s as boring, as old news, as when I cut my bum-length hair to my shoulders. It shocked people at first, but now they have trouble even remembering it happened. Maybe once in a while they might think of it, be reminded of it in idle conversation, but it’s hardly a topic to ponder on. Or judge on. Or act on.
It’s just little old me. Just a girl who shaves her face. But dang does she ever make good cupcakes!
You know, as I'm formatting this for posting, it occurs to me to wonder something.
If I'm fantasizing, why am I not just fantasizing about not having hirsutism?
What do you suppose that means? ;-)
December 20, 2011
December 13, 2011
The Jeremy Kyle Show - Woman with a Beard
The Jeremy Kyle Show - Woman with a Beard:
Rather simplistic when it comes to dishing out solutions, but I love that this woman appeared on TV. She's so dignified and calm and I want to hug her!
Thanks once again for finding this, Soph!
Also, this week on the All Kinds of Fur tumblr (always potentially NSFW) we're celebrating armpit hair with two photo posts a day. Yay! (Most of them are celebrity photos, as it's hard to find non-fetishized pictures of everyday girls and women comfortably displaying their fur.)
Rather simplistic when it comes to dishing out solutions, but I love that this woman appeared on TV. She's so dignified and calm and I want to hug her!
Thanks once again for finding this, Soph!
Also, this week on the All Kinds of Fur tumblr (always potentially NSFW) we're celebrating armpit hair with two photo posts a day. Yay! (Most of them are celebrity photos, as it's hard to find non-fetishized pictures of everyday girls and women comfortably displaying their fur.)
December 6, 2011
Product: KoS Azor System Razor
King of Shaves has never steered me wrong with anything of theirs I’ve tried so far: shaving oils, shaving gels, new shaving gels... And their razor kept receiving awards so when I saw it on sale (as they were discontinuing the white model), I figured, worth a shot. I’d never tried a men’s razor before; all the popular ones (and their replacement blades) were all so expensive. And what’s more, I’d learned that the only real difference between a woman’s razor and a man’s was the angle of the head and/or the shape of the handle. Shaving your face versus shaving your legs and armpits requires a different grip on the razor. I’d become accustomed to shaving my face with disposable women’s razors anyway.
The first time I used it, I was amazed I'd only nicked myself once. The angle was weird to me, and the Azor’s particularly bendy head was awkward because I wasn’t used to it. But it was a nice result from four lovely, sharp blades. Every razor’s first shave is usually nice. Since April, I got through the learning curve, and I've finally gone through my first set of three cartridges. I just ordered more.
King of Shaves Azor System Razor
Features:
Things I liked:
Did it do what it promised?
For a guy, it probably does shave better because it bends. As a girl, that’s probably true in some areas of the body, but I’ve gotta press hard on my chin. I don’t find any advantage of the large soft rubber bumper as regards to preventing cuts, but then I nick myself out of carelessness, regardless what kind of blade I’m using. The blades last long, as advertised, and I have to agree it is certainly eco-friendly in design with minimal packaging. I like it enough to keep using it, simply for the long-lasting blades. Face shaving isn't ever going to be 100% comfortable, particularly for a woman, is it?
See what other people thought of the Azor system razor:
Amazon.com
Skin Care for Men
Review Centre
dooyoo.co.uk
The first time I used it, I was amazed I'd only nicked myself once. The angle was weird to me, and the Azor’s particularly bendy head was awkward because I wasn’t used to it. But it was a nice result from four lovely, sharp blades. Every razor’s first shave is usually nice. Since April, I got through the learning curve, and I've finally gone through my first set of three cartridges. I just ordered more.
King of Shaves Azor System Razor
Features:
- Four "Endurium" coated blades
- Hinged razor head which they call their "Bendology Technology"
- Large rubber bumper to lift stubble
- Wishbone-shaped head
- Ergonomic handle (light-weight or heavier version available)
- Eco-friendly packaging
Things I liked:
- The blades really last! Whatever this “Endurium” stuff is, and yeah it sounds a bit like something they’d infuse Wolverine’s bones with, but I think it works. I can go almost three months without replacing the cartridge--this is just using it on my face and armpits.
- You can’t argue the price point. At under $8 CAD for your first handle and the same price for 4 replacement cartridges (you get an even better deal if you buy 8), even with International shipping it’s cheaper than going into your local drugstore and picking up the leading men’s razor. And as it lasts longer than my usual pack of disposable ladies razors, it ends up being cheaper than that too.
- Because I go through less product, I feel I’m producing less waste. Always a good thing.
- It is definitely a learning curve to switch to this, particularly from what I using before.
- The “Bendology Technology” is a little soft for me. It’s great if you’re a man as it provides just the right pressure for a close shave without irritation. But as a woman who feels she simply cannot have any trace of shadow, I have to prop a couple of fingers against the cartridge when shaving around my chin for extra pressure. I realize it's not proper but it's a necessity.
- Four blades makes for a flat but rather broad razor head. A little more difficult to use on the curves of my girly little chin.
Did it do what it promised?
For a guy, it probably does shave better because it bends. As a girl, that’s probably true in some areas of the body, but I’ve gotta press hard on my chin. I don’t find any advantage of the large soft rubber bumper as regards to preventing cuts, but then I nick myself out of carelessness, regardless what kind of blade I’m using. The blades last long, as advertised, and I have to agree it is certainly eco-friendly in design with minimal packaging. I like it enough to keep using it, simply for the long-lasting blades. Face shaving isn't ever going to be 100% comfortable, particularly for a woman, is it?
See what other people thought of the Azor system razor:
Amazon.com
Skin Care for Men
Review Centre
dooyoo.co.uk
December 2, 2011
November 29, 2011
Hair in History: North-Western Europe
This post came entirely as an extension of my research on the Bronze and Iron Age in Europe.
It appears to be that the best sources on north-western Europe and Scandinavia were observations recorded by the Romans as they tried to push the boundaries of their frontiers. We haven’t covered body hair in the Roman Empire yet, but suffice to say, the face of the average Roman in his prime was clean-shaven. So the full, striking beards of the Celts (various groups from the British Isles) and Vikings (from Scandinavia) made an impact.
One source shows that Julius Caesar wrote about the “Britons” (apparently all Celts, though this may not be accurate) that they kept long hair and had "every part of their body shaved except their head and upper lip.” According to some sources, beards and/or mustaches could be braided, and others claim the Celts in particular used lime to bleach their beards and head hair. It is speculated that this was for intimidation on the battlefield, but whether it was or not, it sounds like it was a fearsome sight to the Romans.
There is also suggestion that Vikings and Celts attached abundant body hair to higher status. A Roman historian, Diodorus Siculus, observed that some shaved their faces completely, but higher ranks left "a mustache that covers the whole mouth.” The masculine instinct that head and body hair connotes virility, perhaps?
I wanted to dig a little further into north-western European aesthetics and found a bit more information spanning 8th to the 13th century, primarily for Viking culture. For example, according to some who have looked at Viking literature, physical attractiveness was directly related to a fictional or historical person’s rank and/or moral character. They would often be named for their physical characteristics, as well, particularly if they were unattractive or antagonistic in some way. Even being dirty was a negative characterization.
This might be surprising, based on what we've seen in movies, but Vikings were apparently very neat and tidy. A law book from Iceland contains severe punishment for someone who pushed a man into dirty water, urine, food, or otherwise made him dirty on purpose. Tools for grooming (pictured) have been found in both male and female graves. I read that said other groups knew to attack Nordic invaders during their hot-spring bath time. A Viking treaty was found demanding that they be provided not only food and supplies, but baths as well. According to a couple of sources, the women of an invaded country supposedly found Vikings attractive because they were better groomed than their own men. It was a woman’s job to wash and cut her man’s hair, particularly as part of a ritual before he left on a campaign.
Men who couldn’t grow a beard were mocked. It was apparently a huge insult to accuse a man of having feminine characteristics. There was one ancient narrative examined online about a man who was wealthy with a family, but he could not grow a beard. Someone suggested he spread fertilizer on his chin, and his children came to be known as “Little Dung-beards.” Another character in the story made a poem to that effect, and one of the beardless man's children murdered him for it. The Vikings were certainly into "manliness" as well as cleanliness.
By contrast, a law book was found forbidding women from having masculine traits such as wearing their hair short. Some tribes may have cut the hair of their slave women. There is a Norse myth that Loki once cut off Sif’s hair as a prank, and Thor told Loki to either replace her hair or be killed. The most attractive parts of a woman were her eyes, hair, and arms; much else was covered. And considering how infants born with a deformity were thought of as not human and therefore abandoned, it makes you wonder how a hirsute woman might have survived in that culture? At least they did have razors so they could have shaved...
It appears to be that the best sources on north-western Europe and Scandinavia were observations recorded by the Romans as they tried to push the boundaries of their frontiers. We haven’t covered body hair in the Roman Empire yet, but suffice to say, the face of the average Roman in his prime was clean-shaven. So the full, striking beards of the Celts (various groups from the British Isles) and Vikings (from Scandinavia) made an impact.
One source shows that Julius Caesar wrote about the “Britons” (apparently all Celts, though this may not be accurate) that they kept long hair and had "every part of their body shaved except their head and upper lip.” According to some sources, beards and/or mustaches could be braided, and others claim the Celts in particular used lime to bleach their beards and head hair. It is speculated that this was for intimidation on the battlefield, but whether it was or not, it sounds like it was a fearsome sight to the Romans.
There is also suggestion that Vikings and Celts attached abundant body hair to higher status. A Roman historian, Diodorus Siculus, observed that some shaved their faces completely, but higher ranks left "a mustache that covers the whole mouth.” The masculine instinct that head and body hair connotes virility, perhaps?
I wanted to dig a little further into north-western European aesthetics and found a bit more information spanning 8th to the 13th century, primarily for Viking culture. For example, according to some who have looked at Viking literature, physical attractiveness was directly related to a fictional or historical person’s rank and/or moral character. They would often be named for their physical characteristics, as well, particularly if they were unattractive or antagonistic in some way. Even being dirty was a negative characterization.
This might be surprising, based on what we've seen in movies, but Vikings were apparently very neat and tidy. A law book from Iceland contains severe punishment for someone who pushed a man into dirty water, urine, food, or otherwise made him dirty on purpose. Tools for grooming (pictured) have been found in both male and female graves. I read that said other groups knew to attack Nordic invaders during their hot-spring bath time. A Viking treaty was found demanding that they be provided not only food and supplies, but baths as well. According to a couple of sources, the women of an invaded country supposedly found Vikings attractive because they were better groomed than their own men. It was a woman’s job to wash and cut her man’s hair, particularly as part of a ritual before he left on a campaign. Men who couldn’t grow a beard were mocked. It was apparently a huge insult to accuse a man of having feminine characteristics. There was one ancient narrative examined online about a man who was wealthy with a family, but he could not grow a beard. Someone suggested he spread fertilizer on his chin, and his children came to be known as “Little Dung-beards.” Another character in the story made a poem to that effect, and one of the beardless man's children murdered him for it. The Vikings were certainly into "manliness" as well as cleanliness.
By contrast, a law book was found forbidding women from having masculine traits such as wearing their hair short. Some tribes may have cut the hair of their slave women. There is a Norse myth that Loki once cut off Sif’s hair as a prank, and Thor told Loki to either replace her hair or be killed. The most attractive parts of a woman were her eyes, hair, and arms; much else was covered. And considering how infants born with a deformity were thought of as not human and therefore abandoned, it makes you wonder how a hirsute woman might have survived in that culture? At least they did have razors so they could have shaved...
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