What is the Shaving Culture at Dwight-Englewood?

Gender roles and stereotypes affect everyone in our society. In order to recognize the impact they have on us, we need to realize the reasons behind the actions we take. Shaving is one of the most common and unmentioned activities that affects the daily lives of both males and females. Since shaving can be seen as a personal topic, it is typically not brought up in conversations. However, that does not mean there isn’t a shaving culture in Dwight-Englewood. Below are the results of a survey conducted on students from D-E. The results may surprise you.

In this article, shaving is being used as a general term for body hair removal. Waxing, plucking, and any other kind of hair removal techniques are also included under this general title.

Note that only approximately 7% of students at Dwight-Englewood were interviewed for the following questions. Only people in the first floor of the Imperatore Library and the second floor of the Klein building acted as participants for this survey. Results will not give a completely comprehensive representation of all students; however, there was an effort made to get a representative cross-section of the student body.

Fourteen females and fourteen males were asked this situational question:

This question is geared toward underarm hair: You have to go play sports outside with your schoolmates, but it is very hot outside (like 90 degrees). You are unable to shave, and all you have to wear is a t-shirt, that would reveal that you have not shaved, or a sweatshirt. Would you wear the t-shirt or the sweatshirt?

Above are the results. How would you answer this question?

Sixteen males and fifteen females were interviewed for the following question:

What do you shave and why that area?

Above are the percentages of males and females who shave their arms, legs, underarms, eyebrows, upper lip, chin, sideburns, and toes. Note that sometimes the reason for not shaving is that no hair is grown in that area.

After the respondents listed an area that they shaved, they were asked why they shaved that particular area. The respondents could provide as many reasons as they liked. Similar responses were placed into the same category. Finding out what people shaved was quite easy and clear-cut. However, when people were asked why they shaved, there was often a pause, and then an “I don’t know…”. Eventually, a mix of reasons were provided. The hesitation reveals that not everyone is perfectly aware of why they shave. Seeing a list of possible reasons for shaving given by your classmates may help you realize why you shave (or don’t shave).

For females, the reasons for shaving were…

Note that the percentages will not add up to 100% because some respondents provided more than one reason for shaving.

Underarms: For hygiene (73%), to avoid embarrassment (53%), it feels good (33%), it’s social convention (27%), it looks better (20%)

Legs: It feels good (62%), it looks better (38%), to avoid embarrassment (23%), for hygiene (23%), it’s social convention (23%), it’s satisfying to see smooth legs (23%), it’s a trend (8%), on the swim team (8%)

Eyebrows: It looks better (100%), to avoid embarrassment (33%), it’s social convention (17%), it feels good (17%), to give people a better impression (17%), for hygiene (17%)

Upper Lip: It looks better (100%), to avoid embarrassment (67%), for hygiene (67%), it feels good (33%)

Arms: Shaves everything else so might as well (50%), hygiene (50%), it feels good (50%)

Toes: It looks better (100%)

For males, the reasons for shaving were…

Chin and Upper Lip: It looks better (81%), having hair is uncomfortable (31%), it looks cleaner (25%), it’s a trend (18%), it’s social convention (6%), for hygiene (6%), shaving reduces acne (6%), feel more mature when shaving (6%), prevents plucking at hair when stressed (6%)

**25% of males also mentioned they would be happy with a beard**

Underarms: Having hair there is uncomfortable (43%), for hygiene (29%), it looks better (14%), just in the mood (14%)

Legs: It looks better (100%), it feels good (50%), allows for a better tan in the summer (50%), to avoid embarrassment (50%)

Eyebrows and Sideburns: It looks better (100%)

The results above can give us a sense of the behaviors and attitudes that D-E students have towards shaving typically visible areas (note that chest, stomach, and pubic hair were left out of the survey) of their bodies. These behaviors and attitudes toward shaving make up the shaving culture of Dwight-Englewood.

In the United States, the most often shaved areas for women are the legs, underarms, eyebrows, upper lips, and bikini lines. According to Rebecca M. Herzig, author of Plucked: A History of Hair Removal, more than 99% of U.S. women voluntarily remove hair. For men, the most emphasis is put on the styling of facial hair. A statistic from Statistic Brain in 2012 shows that 75% of men shave their face every day.

Hopefully, by asking ourselves these questions, we can be more aware of the reasons behind our actions. Seeing how other people feel about shaving can also help us understand each other a little better. Shaving is a personal choice, but it is important to make sure we are spending our time wisely. Shaving can irritate the skin and be quite time-consuming. Humans naturally grow hair, whether it be on our face, our limbs, or our underarms. Today, shaving is an activity almost everyone does. But it has not always been popular to shave your beard (take a look at the Civil War times), or your underarms (in fact, it wasn’t popular in America until 1915 when sleeveless dresses first became a trend). Is it possible for us to become more open-minded and understanding about each other’s body hair?

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