Shaved legs

[30th IL]

This just out of curiosity. I was wondering if the women of the civil war era shaved their legs at all. Either on a regular basis or perhaps for those "special" evenings/occasions. Armpits too for that matter. I know, I know...I have way too much time on my hands...

[BrettKIllinois]

Re: Shaved legs

It's my understanding that leg shaving became a practice in western countries in the 20th century with styles of dress making legs visible. From what I understand this was not done in the 19th century.

[30th IL]

Re: Shaved legs

Perhaps the advent of the safety razor?

[BrettKIllinois]

Re: Shaved legs

Perhaps the advent of the safety razor?

According to wikipedia, the advent of the safety razor helped propell this...

If this was done in the 19th century, which I doubt, I can't see it being spoken about in public. In the same way that soldier with lice would shave their heads I could see maybe prostitute shaving things to remove crabs... but i have no documentation and this is only a stretch of the imagination....

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Shaved legs

Hallo!

Meaning American women of the Civil War era? ;) :)

In brief and to over-generalize a "no" for legs and "armpits." ;) :)

It would take the advent of both safety razors and dresses/skirts short enough to show those parts of the body.
On the other hand, women in other countries were slow to "Americanize" or "Madison Avenueize" and continued on into the 1970's and 1980's going "unshaven."
Shoot, some still don't.
And in some American ethnic communities some women choose not to, to make a "point" about mainstream "White" American culture.

Curt
League of Voters Who Dress Like Women Mess

[30th IL]

Re: Shaved legs

So you mean, under the dress and petticoats, pantaloons...Mary Todd, Varina, Davis, Kate Chase and the like...were wolly mamoth legs! Whoa. Tough to consider....

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Shaved legs

Mmmm... not necessarily. The amount of leg hair varies among the female population, you know. For those of the blonde persuasions, particularly, natural leg hair may not be noticeable. And generally, freed from the modern shaving cycle, leg hair is softer and less dense when left to its natural state, so it's not like Mary Todd dealt with daily stubble. :)

You might want to check Virginia Mescher's "Painted, Powdered, Perfumed" for a rundown on mid-century "aesthetic considerations." http://www.vintagevolumes.com

[Justin Runyon]

Re: Shaved legs

I had a great book I bought while I was in Spain called 1000 Nudes: Nude Photography 184-1940. Through many countless hours of research :) I discovered that shaving, in fact of anything, was by no means uncommon in our period even without the saftey razor.

Sadly, a relatively well-known seamstress borrowed it and never returned it.

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: Shaved legs

You might want to check Virginia Mescher's "Painted, Powdered, Perfumed" for a rundown on mid-century "aesthetic considerations." http://www.vintagevolumes.com

There is a sub-chapter on depilatories and period depilatory recipes. They only removed "superfluous hair" and what was considered superfluous hair was "grown on the backs of the hands, or fingers, the cheek bones, the upper lips on chins of females, or other parts of the exposed surface of the skin." Lola Montez did mention mention removing hair on the neck or arms.

There was no mention, in any 19th century source, of hair removal for legs and underarms. Apparently when they did say "exposed area of the skin" that is what they meant and since underarms and legs were not exposed, depilatories were not used on those areas.

That was not true in other cultures and in some period sources, it was mentioned that women in the orient removed hair from many more portions of their bodies.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Shaved legs

Hallo!

Period nude images...
Yes, there is an interesting study. ;) :)

"Body hair" is a complex topic anyways, with wide varieties and variations of "presence and absence" by ethnicity, genetics, hair color, hormone levels etc., etc.
Not to make stereotypical comments, but an "Japanese" woman is less "hirsute" than say a southern "Italian" one. And even with the same amount of "body hair," a blond Swede "shows" less than a black haired Greek.

Gives pause to wonder whether nude models "shaved" or were selected for the natural "absence" of hirsuteness?

Curt

Who had a dark-haired friend of Greek ancestory who was a competitive body-builder, and had to wear long sleeve shirts and long pants to hide the "five o-clock shadow" as comedian Jonathan Winters used to say, "All over his body...."

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: Shaved legs

Hallo!

Period nude images...
Yes, there is an interesting study. ;) :)

Gives pause to wonder whether nude models "shaved" or were selected for the natural "absence" of hirsuteness?

Curt

I've not made a study of nude photographs but there might be another reason for the lack of body hair.

In period photographs that blond hair could possibly show up as being black. Photographers recommended that women powder their blond hair to make it show up lighter. Powdering the skin would whiten the any exposed hair and it would not show up in photographs.

[Silvana Siddali]

Re: Shaved legs

Not exactly sure how relevant this would be to American women, but British art critic John Ruskin was frightened and appalled by women's body hair. He married the beautiful Effie Gray in 1848 but couldn't do his marital duties by her because he was terrified of her ... non-smoothness. Until his marriage he had only seen marble statues of women and apparently he believed that all women looked like that under their crinolines. Effie ran off with my favorite artist, Millais, some time in the mid-1850s. Not that I condone infidelity, but you sort of see her point. The Ruskin marriage was annulled on the count of "incurable impotency."

Hope I haven't offended anyone ... !

[Cottoncarder]

Re: Shaved legs

Mmmm... not necessarily. The amount of leg hair varies among the female population, you know. For those of the blonde persuasions, particularly, natural leg hair may not be noticeable. And generally, freed from the modern shaving cycle, leg hair is softer and less dense when left to its natural state, so it's not like Mary Todd dealt with daily stubble. :)

Indeed, and density changes with age as well. It gets thinner.

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Shaved legs

Gentlemen, if you're wondering where the jesting modern comments keep vanishing to, they're being pruned out and saved in the Holding Tank. This is the Citizen's Authenticity Discussion board. It's perfectly cool to discuss historic hair removal or lack thereof, including references to historic pornography. But this isn't the Sinks. Please limit the discussion to historic references, rather than modern jokes about the reading habits of the early 20s male, circa 2005.

[pbhatfield]

Re: Shaved legs

Mmmm... not necessarily. The amount of leg hair varies among the female population, you know. For those of the blonde persuasions, particularly, natural leg hair may not be noticeable. And generally, freed from the modern shaving cycle, leg hair is softer and less dense when left to its natural state, so it's not like Mary Todd dealt with daily stubble. :)

You might want to check Virginia Mescher's "Painted, Powdered, Perfumed" for a rundown on mid-century "aesthetic considerations." http://www.vintagevolumes.com

Poor ole Abe...So what about ladies with facial hair, i.e. on their upper lip and where gentlemen have sideburn/whiskers?