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| Sunday, 12 March 2006 |
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The Hair Follicles US homo sapiens are mammals. We give birth to live young and nourish them with mammary gland secretions, we have specialised sexual organs and we are covered with hair, completely in our case. Yes, yes, like it or not, we do have hair follicles sprouting out of every pore in our skin even though they might not all be visible to our naked eye. So why do the people of today hold body hair in such contempt? Women have been shaving, waxing, plucking, threading their hair that grows on their bodies, excluding the scalp of course, for some time now. Yet in a time quite long ago, all this hair removal wasn't required. In that different time women could spend their entire lives without having to go through frequent bouts of excruciating pain just to look presentable enough to make an appearance in society. In the world of today however it is almost an unwritten rule that women must have no visible body hair in the company of others. Even side burns, once upon a time in vogue are frowned upon. Perhaps the reason why even Sandra Bullock more often than not makes her appearance without her naturally lengthy side burns. Limbs are probably the most troublesome area for women in the sense that they are mostly exposed in some way or the other. The ladies spend every morning in the bath with a razor cutting off the hair growing above the skin, resulting in a thicker batch of hair to grow the next time as well as more pores to open up for hair to grow through. There is also the hardening effect on your skin making you dole out more money than the cost of your ladies sensor excel to slather moisturising and what not creams on your skin. Shaving also leaves you no option but to start razoring every time there is visible stubble. Those who go for the option of waxing end up applying hot or cold wax on their legs, pasting strips of paper and pulling out the hair stuck on the waxing paper. Big time Ouch! This action also stretches skin. There is also threading of eyebrows which is the reason you see weeping women walking out of salons. And bleaching of faces. Yes human beings do consent to have bleach (think lavatory washing powder or liquid, think of the sharp smell)applied on their faces so that they could lighten the shade of facial hair. Bikini line waxes, epillators and so the sad list goes on. (I must mention however that arm pit hair has to go, never be seen.) The worst part of the whole 'lets get rid of our body hair' affair that even the machoistic guys are seen around with their hair waxed off. The formerly men pay large sums of money so that they could remove the hair off their chests and so on. Women love chest hair, yet it is the 'big' guys who are supposed to be getting the women because of their maleness that go get their hair removed at beauty salons. Seriously ugh! I have always found it hard to understand why most athletically toned men like pro wrestlers, sports personalities and even actors get their body hair waxed. Just how male is applying hot slimy goo on your torso, placing strips of paper which are tightly pressed against the sticky and gooey hair and pulled out? Forget masculine, it's not even feminine. And probably the worst sight is a guy with his eyebrows all neatly plucked, looking like some painted Halloween doll. Double Ugh! The hardest thing to understand is while everyone prefers not to have to remove their hair, not to mention it will definitely help during those Nuwera Eliya trips, they nevertheless do. They wouldn't dare get out of the house if they haven't had their wax, bleach and threading. If you really hate putting yourself through the immense pain and inconvenience and if you really care about just being 'you', then why not just dare and go against the norm? |
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