Why do women shave their armpits and legs?
It seems that female body hair removal as a western cultural phenomenon was largely driven by changes in clothing fashion beginning after the first world war. The postwar period brought a never-before-seen fashion trend of revealing more of the female body than had previously been acceptable. Upper arms and shoulders were bared, and hemlines rose above the ankle and eventually even to the knee. Some believe this was partly driven by shortages of resources and the trend toward clothing being mass-produced – so selling a piece of clothing that was made of a smaller amount of fabric was desirable. With the use of new chemicals and production methods, it also became possible to wear stockings and hose that were sheer and looked more like bare skin. The changes also came about in sync with ideological changes of the time… think modernism, womens rights, and changing ideas about “propriety” in what women should do or wear. It is also thought that this trend of showing skin on the underarms
