Sex Roles, Vol. 39, Nos.

11/12, 1998

Th e Hairlessn ess Norm : Th e Rem oval of Body

Hair in Wom en
Marika Tiggem an n 1 an d Sar ah J. Kenyon
Flinders University of South Australia

This study aim ed to in vestigate the frequency an d m eanin g of the removal of

body hair in wom en. Participants were 129 female university studen ts (m ean
age = 22.3 years) an d 137 female high school studen ts (m ean age = 14.3
years). Alm ost all (> 95% ) were Cau casian . It was foun d that, as predicted,
the vast m ajority (92% ) of wom en remove their leg an d/or un derarm hair,
m ost frequently by shavin g. This was irrespective of their femin ist beliefs, but
was negatively related to self-esteem in un iversity studen ts. The reasons cited
for hair removal were prim arily concerned with a desire for femin inity an d
attractiveness. However, the reason s provided for starting to remove body hair
differed between the grou ps, in that they were relatively m ore norm ative for

wom en s stated reasons for startin g the practice of h air rem oval reflect prim arily
the un iversity studen ts than for the high school studen ts. It was conclud ed that

their vantage point as an observer. In fact, removing body hair is a practice

substan tially to the notion that wom ens bodies are un acceptable as they are.
so n orm ative as to go m ostly u n rem arked , bu t o n e wh ich con trib u tes

The ide al of be auty for wome n has ne ve r be en a static one , but rathe r has
change d across time and be twe e n culture s. Howe ve r, as Mazur (1986)
points out, the rise of the mass media in the late 20th century is like ly to
impose more uniform standards of be auty throughout the world than be-
fore. Most authors (e .g., Rodin, Silbe rstein, & Strie gel-Moore , 1985; Fallon,
1990; Wolf, 1990) agre e that current ide als of beauty e mphasize the looks
of youth : a slim body, high taut bre asts, and smooth unwrinkle d and hair-
le ss skin. Ce rtainly ane cdotally many wome n reporte dly lie about or are
unwilling to re ve al their age (Rodehe aver & Stohs, 1991) , and it makes
1
To whom corre spondence should be addresse d at School of Psychology, Flinders Unive rsity
o f So ut h A u stra li a , G P O B o x 2 1 0 0 , A d e la id e , 5 0 0 1 , A u stra l ia ; e -m ai l: Ma rika.
Tiggemann@ flinders.edu.au

873

0360 0025/98/1200 0873$15.00/0 1998 Plenum Publishing Corporation

874 Tiggem an n an d K en yon

you look younge r is invariably take n as a complime nt. Wolf ( 1990) , among
othe rs, argue s that this ide alization of youth carrie s the political age nda of
powe rlessne ss, and arise s at particular times when wome n become too pow-
erful. The impossible pre scription for a young be autiful body is a source
of great dissatisfaction, and many studie s docume nt that wome n show much
greate r dissatisfaction with their bodie s across the board than do men. Fur-
the r, physical appe arance tends to be much more important for a woman s
global view of her self-worth than is the case for a man (Rodin et al., 1985) .
Such dissatisfaction, in turn, le ads many wome n to try to alte r their bodie s
to match the ide al, and of course , supports the multi-million dollar diet,
cosme tic and cosme tic surge ry industrie s.
Although a great de al has bee n writte n about body weight and shape ,
one aspe ct of the idealize d female body which has receive d relative ly little
atte ntion is the aspe ct of smooth hairle ss skin. Body hair is a sign of sexual
maturity for both wome n and men, but in wome n fe mininity is actually
associate d with a lack of body hair (Hope , 1982) , such that feminine doe s
not mean womanly when applie d to body hair. Approximate ly 85% to
90% of wome n have unwante d body hair (Chapkis, 1986) . For wome n, body
hair is see n as embarrassing and sometime s re pulsive , and many women
do not venture out without first removing their visible body hair (Freedman,
1986) . Statistically, hair removal is one of the most freque nt ways women
alte r the ir bodie s to achie ve the ide al of youthfulne ss and attractive ness.
Although the practice of hair removal doe s not carry the large personal
and he alth conseque nce s of dieting and cosme tic surge ry, the process is
still freque ntly uncomfortable and some what painful. Furthe r, it doe s con-
tribute to the cosmetic industry.
Pe rhaps the major reason that hair removal has re ceive d so little re-
search attention is that the practice is so socially normative as to go un-
que stione d. But, as Hope (1982, p. 93) points out, those be haviours which
are most take n for grante d in a culture may well be the most important
one s for re vealing an unde rstanding of that culture . Although shaving for
most wome n is habitual behavior which may be vie wed as trivial, it doe s
strongly e ndorse the unde rlying assumption of any of the body-alte ring be-
haviours, name ly that a woman s body is not acceptable the way that it is
(Chapkis, 1986; Usshe r, 1989) .
The re has only be en one previous empirical study which has inve sti-
gate d the meaning of hair removal and the re asons women re move their
body hair. Basow ( 1991) inve stigate d the practice in a sample of profe s-
sional women in the United State s with a mean age of 44.0 ye ars, a sample
chose n de libe rately for high e ducation, profe ssional status, and to maximize
the numbe r of feminists and lesbians. The results showe d that the majority
(81% ) of profe ssional wome n do re move their body hair, at le ast occasion-
Th e Hairlessn ess Norm 875

ally. About half of the responde nts re move d hair at least once a week,
most (96% ) by shaving. Even among strong fe minists and lesbians most
(72% and 55% respective ly) remove d leg and/or unde rarm hair. The main
reason the y gave was to avoid social disapproval. O pe n-e nde d comme nts
emphasize d the strength and powe r of the hairle ssne ss norm, and the in-
te nse social reaction to violations of the se norms. Responde nts were also
aske d to rate a se t of reasons for why the y began and why they continue d
to remove body hair. Factor analysis identifie d two main factors: re asons
to do with femininity and attractive ness, e .g. It makes me fee l attractive ;
and social/normative reasons, e .g. Wome n are suppose d to shave . The
most important reasons for continuing to re move hair were the feminine /at-
tractive ness one s, and the most important for starting were the social/nor-
mative one s. Basow (1991) speculate d that shaving may act as a rite of
passage for girls, since girls start shaving at pube rty primarily because of
social and normative re asons.
The re is a cle ar ne e d to re plicate the se findings with othe r sample s
in which le sbians are not ove r-re pre se nte d and which contain fe wer well-
e ducate d and fe minist wome n. Thus the aim of the pre se nt study is to
inve stigate the practice of hair re moval in a diffe re nt population, in this
case of Australian unive rsity and high school stude nts. It is e xpe cted that
Basows (1991) findings conce rning the motivation for starting and con-
tinuing to re move body hair will be re plicate d in the unive rsity stude nt
group.
Howe ve r it is not e xpe cted that the findings will be re plicate d for
the younge r high school stude nt group. In particular , the validity of the
importanc e place d on the normative re asons which e me rge d as the most
important for starting to re move body hair can be que stione d. The par-
ticipants in Basow s (1991) study we re on ave rage 30 ye ars olde r than
whe n the y had starte d to shave around the age of 14. Information about
such e ve nts is store d in a subse t of autobiograp hical memory re fe rre d to
as pe rsonal memory ( Bre wer, 1994) . Pe rsonal me mory for actions is far
be tte r than pe rsonal me mory for thoughts, which te nd to de cay faste r,
and with the passage of time ne e d more re construction. Furthe r, such
pe rsonal me morie s are e xpe rie nce d from the vie w of the initial e xpe ri-
e nce whe n the y are re cent, whe re as olde r me morie s are more like ly to
be e xpe rie nce d from an obse rve r s vie wpoin t ( B re we r, 19 88 ) . Thu s
wome n re me mbe ring re asons (thoughts) for hair re moval 30 ye ars e arlie r
are like ly to be doing so with the be ne fit of hindsight and from the ir
pre se nt vantage point, particularly with re spe ct to the growth of the
wome n s move me nt. O n the othe r hand, as adole sce nce is a time of
e merging se xuality and ide ntity formation, young girls are unlike ly to say
the y starte d to shave ( or do anything) for norm ative re asons. It is im-
876 Tiggem an n an d K en yon

portant for pe ople in ge ne ral to fe e l in control of the ir life , but e spe cially
so for young adole scents. Thus it is pre dicte d that the high school stu-
de nts will rate the fe minine /attractive ne ss re asons for starting shaving
re lative ly more highly than the ir olde r (unive rsity) counte rparts.
In addition to age , two furthe r individual diffe re nce variable s will be
inve stigate d. Following Basow (1991) , fe minists are pre dicted to remove
hair less freque ntly, and to place less importance on feminine and attrac-
tive ness as oppose d to normative re asons. It is also predicte d that curre nt
non-re move rs will have highe r self-este em than remove rs. This pre diction
is base d on the re asoning that a woman with low se lf-e stee m is liable to
view the natural body as le ss satisfactory than a women with high self-es-
te em, and there by se ek to alte r the body more fre quently. The se pre dictions
on self-estee m furthe r show the importance of hair removal and sugge st it
is not a trivial be havior.

METHOD

Participants

The re were two groups of participants. The unive rsity stude nts were
129 female unde rgraduate s at the Flinde rs Unive rsity of South Australia,
with a mean age of 22.3 ye ars. The high school stude nts (N= 137) came
from two state co-educational schools in Adelaide , the capital city of South
Australia. The ir mean age was 14.3 years. Almost all participants (> 95% )
were Caucasian.

Procedu re

Q uestionnaire s e ntitle d Women and Grooming were comple te d by

both the unive rsity and high-school stude nts in class time. The question-
naire aske d participants about the ir body hair and re asons for its re moval
or non-re moval, followe d by measure s of se lf-e ste em and feminism, pre-
sente d in that order. Q uestionnaire s were comple ted anonymously and stu-
dents were assure d of the confide ntiality of the ir response s.

Measu res

Body Hair. Participants rated se parate ly how much leg and unde rarm
hair the y had on 5-point Like rt scale s (from 1 = ve ry little , to 5 = gre at
de al) , and also the rate of growth (from 1 = ve ry slowly, to 5 = ve ry
Th e Hairlessn ess Norm 877

quickly) . The y the n indicate d whethe r or not the y had e ver removed their
le g or unde rarm hair (ye s/no) , and if so, the major method, how fre que ntly,
and the age at which they had started.
Reason s for hair rem oval. Following Basow ( 1991) , participan ts we re
aske d to rate the importanc e of 14 possible re asons for hair re moval on
5-point Like rt scale s, from 1 = not at all, to 5 = major re ason. Te n of
the re asons (six fe minine /attractive and four normative ) came straight
from Basows ( 1991) study, two with minor modifications to suit Austra-
lian language usage . Four furthe r (norm ative ) ite ms we re adde d, base d
on the most common ope n-e nde d comments made by Basows partici-
pants: To avoid social disapproval , To maintain profe ssional credibil-
ity , My mum told me I should and My frie nds told me I should .
Thus the final list containe d six re asons in the fe minine /attractive ne ss
cate gory and e ight re asons in the normative cate gory. Participants we re
aske d to rate the above re asons twice , once for starting to re move body
hair and once for curre nt re moval of body hair (ite ms worde d in the past
and pre se nt te nse re spe ctive ly) .
The reliability for the e ntire scale for starting to remove body hair
was high for both Unive rsity stude nts ( a .85) and high school stude nts ( a
.87), as was the case for continuing hair re moval (respective a s = .88,
.88). The division into feminine /attractive reasons and normative re asons
was justifie d by the moderately high reliabilitie s for the se se parate scale s:
starting feminine a .83; continuing feminine a .82; starting normative a
.78; continuing normative a .84.
To furthe r inve stigate whe ther this categorization ade quate ly de scribed
the reasons give n by an Australian sample , two factor analyse s were con-
ducte d. Table I provide s the results of the varimax rotation of the starting
and continuing reasons give n by the unive rsity stude nts (the more similar
group to Basows profe ssional sample ). In both cases, three main factors
(e ige nvalue s > 1.00) e merge d. For the starting re asons, the first factor
(eigenvalue = 4.88) accounte d for 34.9% of the variance , and containe d
all 6 of Basows (1991) feminine /attractive ness reasons (plus one normative
reason). The second factor (e ige nvalue = 2.29, 16.3% of variance ) con-
taine d only de signate d normative items, both Basows original and the ne w
additional items. The third factor (eigenvalue = 1.29, 9.2% of variance )
containe d 3 normative re asons and one femininity/attractive ne ss reason.
For the continuing re asons, the first factor (e ige nvalue = 5.62, 40.2% of
variance ) was a normative factor with 5 out of its 6 items designate d nor-
mative . The se cond factor (e ige nvalue = 1.99, 14.2% of variance ) was
cle arly a fe minine /attractive ne ss factor, while the third factor (eigenvalue
= 1.10, 7.9% of variance ) containe d the re maining normative ite ms. Thus
it can be see n that while the obtaine d factor structure doe s not re plicate
878 Tiggem an n an d K en yon

Table I. Factor Loadings of Re asons for Hair Removal for University Students
Starting Reasons Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3
a
I liked the soft silky feeling. (F) .79 b -.05 .06
It made me feel attractive. (F) .78 .10 .19
It made me feel feminine. (F) .76 .19 .07
I didnt want to look like a man. (F) .62 .00 .51
Me n prefer women without body hair. (F) .62 .13 .41
It made me feel grown up. (N) .60 .47 .11
Body hair is ugly. (F) .49 .26 .41
My friends told me I should. (new N) .09 .82 .09
It was the thing to do. (N) .24 .81 .07
To avoid social disapproval. (new N) .06 .76 .41
Women are expecte d to shave. (N) .18 .52 .28
To maintain professional credibility. (new N) .19 .15 .78
My mum told me I should. (ne w N) .05 .19 .66
Pe ople would look at me funny if I didnt. (N) .19 .39 .65

Continuing Reasons Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3

Pe ople would look at me funny if I didnt. (N) .84 .22 .15

To avoid social disapproval. (new N) .79 .05 .34
It is the thing to do. (N) .79 .09 .25
Women are expecte d to shave. (N) .75 .30 .15
Me n prefer women without body hair. (F) .61 .53 .05
My friends say that I should. (ne w N) .55 .01 .48
It makes me feel attractive . (F) .08 .80 .10
It makes me feel feminine. (F) .12 .76 .15
I like the soft silky feeling. (F) .01 .76 .01
I dont want to look like a man. (F) .38 .63 .11
Body hair is ugly. (F) .24 .53 .19
My mum says that I should. (new N) .29 .02 .80
It makes me feel grown up. (N) .07 .27 .70
To maintain professional credibility. (new N) .29 .21 .69
a
F (= feminine/attractive ) and N (= normative) indicate how the reason loaded on Basows
( 1991) factors.
b
Factor loadings greater than .45 are in bold and underlined.

e xactly, the ove rall division betwee n fe minine /attractive ne ss reasons and
normative reasons e merge d clearly in this Australian sample , confirming
the re lative ly high internal re liabilitie s. Conse que ntly, the original catego-
rization was maintaine d to facilitate comparison be tween the studie s.
Participants who did not re move their body hair rate d 5 possible re a-
sons for not doing so (the four most-highly rate d ite ms in Basows study,
plus to make a state ment ). For unive rsity stude nts reliability was only
mode rate ( a = .54) and for high school stude nts some what highe r ( a .71) .
Fem inism . Basow (1991) asse sse d feminist identification by only a sin-
gle ite m. Here de gree of feminist orientation was measure d by the Women
Th e Hairlessn ess Norm 879

in Socie ty Q uestionnaire (WSQ ; Le wis, Grieve , Be ll & Bartlett, 1989) de-

velope d as a contemporary alte rnative to the commonly used Attitude s To-
wards Wome n Scale of Spe nce and Helmreich (1972) which has a numbe r
of psychome tric proble ms (Smith & Walke r, 1992) . Hende rson and Cun-
ningham (1993) recommend the use of the WSQ as it has be en develope d
and normed on Australian sample s. The scale consists of 21 statements,
e.g. A caree r is as important to a woman s self-estee m as it is to a man s
which re sponde nts rate on 6-point scale s (from 1 = disagre e strongly to 6
= agre e strongly) . Scores range from 21 to 126, with high score s indicating
an e ndorse ment of non-tradition al or fe minist attitude s. Reliability was
mode rate ly high in both the Unive rsity ( a .83) and high school group ( a
.85).
Self-Esteem. Self-este em was measure d by the 10-ite m scale adapte d
by Bachman and O Malle y (1977) from Rosenbe rgs (1965) Self-Estee m
Scale . Responde nts rate on 5-point Likert scales (from ne ve r true to almost
always true) statements such as I fe e l that I have a numbe r of good quali-
ties . Scores range from 10 to 50, with high scores indicating high self-es-
te em. In the se sample s, inte rnal reliability was high for the unive rsity group
( a .92) and mode rate ly high for the high school stude nts ( a .84) .

RESULTS

Frequency of Hair Removal

As pre dicte d, the vast majority of unive rsity women remove both their
le g hair (91.5% ) and their unde rarm hair (93.0% ). O nly 8 (out of 129)
wome n did not curre ntly re move their body hair, of whom 7 had started
and then stoppe d. The most common method of hair removal was by shav-
ing (le g hair 65.5% , unde rarm hair 83.2% ), followe d by waxing ( 23.3% ,
12.6% ). The modal fre quency cate gory was weekly, with 35.9% removing
le g hair and 56.7% re moving unde rarm hair at least weekly.
The re sults for the high school stude nts were ve ry similar. Most re -
move both their le g (92.0% ) and unde rarm (91.2% ) hair. O nly 8 (out of
137) girls did not re move the ir body hair and the se had neve r done so.
The major method was shaving (le g 79.2% , unde rarm 84.7% ). More than
half the girls re move their leg hair (58.5% ) and unde rarm hair (65.7% )
at le ast wee kly. The fre que ncy of le g hair re moval was highe r for the
school girls than unive rsity stude nts, t(239) = 3.40, p < .001, but the re
was no diffe rence in fre que ncy of re moval of unde rarm hair, t(238) =
1.85, p > .05.
880 Tiggem an n an d K en yon

In both groups, degree of leg hair (unive rsity M = 2.5, high school M
= 2.7) and unde rarm hair (Ms = 2.5, 2.5) were perceived as close to av-
erage , as was the rate of growth of both leg (Ms = 2.8, 3.0) and unde rarm
(Ms = 2.9, 2.8) hair. In the unive rsity group, le g and unde rarm hair were
first re move d at around 131/2 years of age (Ms = 13.52, 13.62) , whe re as
the school group reporting starting somewhat earlie r around age 12 (Ms
= 12.18, 12.40) .

Reasons for Hair Removal

As can be se en in Table II, which displays the means for each of the
reasons for hair re moval, both the unive rsity and high school groups rated
the feminine /attractive ness reasons as most important in why the y continue
to remove body hair. For the unive rsity group, the two most highly rated
reasons were It make s me fee l attractive and I like the soft silky fe e ling .
For the high school girls, the two most highly rate d re asons were Body
hair is ugly and Me n prefer women without body hair . This is consiste nt

Table II. Mean Ratings for Reasons for Hair Removal.

University School
a
Starting Continuing Starting Continuing

Feminine/Attractive
I like the soft, silky fee ling 3.13 b 3.50 3.22 3.23
It make s me feel attractive 3.25 3.53 3.42 3.34
It make s me feel feminine 3.01 3.10 3.41 3.27
Men prefer women without body hair 2.92 3.24 3.47 3.50
Body hair is ugly 3.06 3.16 3.81 3.67
I dont want to look like a man 2.10 2.36 3.35 3.32
Overall mean 2.91 3.15 3.45 3.39

Normative
People would look at me funny if I didnt 2.76 2.55 3.39 3.31
It is the thing to do 3.08 2.29 2.84 2.94
Women are e xpected to shave 2.83 2.65 2.94 2.85
It make s me feel grown up 2.73 1.59 2.74 2.55
To avoid social disapproval 2.73 2.22 2.65 2.68
To maintain professional credibility 1.57 1.87 2.50 2.55
My friends say that I should 2.33 1.72 1.73 1.85
My mum says that I should 1.59 1.51 1.48 1.53
Overall mean 2.45 2.05 2.53 2.53
a
Starting re asons were worded in the past tense.
b
Re asons rated at greater than or equal to 3 are in bold.
Th e Hairlessn ess Norm 881

with Basows (1991) findings, although in ge ne ral the mean ratings are
much highe r (Basows highe st rating for continuing to remove hair was 2.6) .
In contrast to Basows (1991) finding for starting re asons, both groups
also rate d the fe minine /attractive ne ss reasons as more important. This was
much le ss pronounce d for the unive rsity stude nts, whose third to highe st
rated re ason was the normative item It was the thing to do (highe st rating
in Basows study). Howe ver, it was e xtre mely cle ar that for the high school
girls their starting re asons were primarily the fe minine /attractive one s.
In orde r to confirm this inte rpre tation and to more formally analyze
the results, a 2 2 2 MANOVA was conducte d with re pe ate d measure s
on time (starting, continuing) and re ason (fe minine /attractive ne ss, norma-
tive ), with group (unive rsity, high school) as the be twe e n-subje cts variable .
The re were significant main e ffe cts of group, time and re ason, whe re by
the unive rsity stude nts gave lowe r ratings than the high school girls,
F(1,238) = 8.98, p < .01, the starting re asons were rate d more highly,
F(1,238) = 4.80, p < .05, and the fe minine /attractive ness re asons were
rate d more highly across the board than the normative re asons, F(1,238)
= 291.58, p < .001. The se were , howe ve r, modifie d by a significant two-
way inte raction betwe e n time and re ason, F(1,238) = 28.78, p < .001,
whe re by normative re asons were rated re lative ly more highly for starting
than continuing hair re moval. Howeve r, the significant thre e -way inte rac-
tion be twe e n group, time and re ason, F(1,238) = 36.74, p < .001, indicate s
that this was much more so for the unive rsity group.
In summary, as illustrate d by the overall means presented in Table II,
for the high school stude nts there is ve ry little diffe re nce betwee n ratings
for continuing and starting hair removal, with an e mphasis on fe mininity
and attractive ness reasons. In contrast, for the unive rsity stude nts, the re is
conside rable diffe re nce in re asons re porte d for starting and continuing the
removal of body hair. The reasons provide d for starting are less feminine
and attractive and more normative , than for continuing.

Reason s for Non -Hair Removal

Table III displays the re asons provide d by the 8 unive rsity and 8 high
school stude nts who curre ntly did not remove their body hair. The two
most highly rated reasons by both groups, Women s bodie s are fine as
the y are and Women shouldn t have to remove body hair , were also the
most highly rated in Basows (1991) study. It should be note d that the Uni-
versity stude nts appe are d to e ndorse all the give n re asons more strongly
than the high school stude nts, t(14) = 2.58, p < .05.
882 Tiggem an n an d K en yon

Table III. Mean Ratings for Reasons for Not Removing Body Hair
University School

Wome ns bodies are fine as they are 4.75

a
4.00
Wome n shouldnt have to re move body hair 4.25 3.13
Its stupid 3.13 1.75
I m too lazy 2.12 1.13
To make a state ment 3.00 2.00
Overall Mean 3.45 2.40
a
Reasons rated at gre ater than or equal to 3 are in bold.

Table IV. Correlations Betwe en Fe minism and Reasons for Hair Removal
University School
Starting Continuing Starting Continuing

.38 a .26b .12 a .11 a

b a
Feminine/attractiveness
Normative .26 .38 .23 .25
a
p < .01
b
p < .001

Femin ism an d Hair Removal

It was pre dicte d that non-re move rs of hair would be more fe minist in
orie ntation than women who removed the ir body hair. Although the means
te nd in the predicted direction, the re was no significant diffe re nce in fe mi-
nism scores betwee n hair-re movers (M = 107.93) and non-re move rs (M =
110.00) for unive rsity stude nts, t(124) = 0.42, p > .05, nor for high-school
stude nts (re spe ctive Ms = 99.96, 104.25) , t(128) = 0.76, p > .05. It should
be note d, however, that the small numbe r of non-re movers provide d only
very limite d statistical power to te st the pre diction.
There was, however, a relationship betwee n feminism and the e ndorse -
ment of reasons for hair-re moval. The correlations in Table IV show that
for unive rsity stude nts fe minism was relate d to a lesser endorse ment of all
re asons for starting or continuing to remove hair. For the small sample of
non-re movers (n = 8) feminism was related to a stronge r endorse ment of
their reasons (r = .87, p < .01) . For the high school stude nts, feminism was
associate d with the lesser endorse ment of normative reasons but not femi-
nine /attractive ness reasons, nor was there any association for non-re movers.

Self-Esteem an d Hair Removal

It was pre dicte d that non-re movers of body hair would score signifi-
cantly highe r on self-estee m than curre nt re move rs of body hair. This pre-
Th e Hairlessn ess Norm 883

diction was confirm ed for the unive rsity stude nts (Ms = 37.86, 43.00) ,
t(127) = 1.94, p < .05, but not for the high school stude nts (Ms = 32.35,
34.00) , t(135) = 0.73, p > .05, although the se results nee d to be vie wed
cautiously in light of the small sample size for non-re move rs.

DISCUSSION

As expe cted, the vast majority (about 92% ) of both Unive rsity women
and high school girls remove their leg and/or unde rarm hair. This is some-
what highe r than Basows ( 1991) rate for profe ssional wome n in the Unite d
State s, but it must be remembered that Basows sample was de libe rately
chose n to maximize the numbe r of fe minists and le sbians. The e xtent of
this conformity to the standard of hairle ssne ss illustrate s the pe rvasive ness
of the hairle ss norm.
The very unive rsality of hair re moval in the prese nt sample made it
difficult to identify predictors, as there were so few women or girls who
did not remove their body hair. Neve rthele ss, in the unive rsity group non-
remove rs of body hair did score significantly highe r on se lf-e stee m than
curre nt re movers. This pre diction was base d on the claim that women low
in self-estee m will view the natural body as re lative ly more unsatisfactory
and be more drive n to alte r the body than women high in self-estee m. Simi-
lar corre lations with se lf-e ste em have bee n found in women for othe r body-
alte ring be haviors, e .g. die ting (Rodin e t al., 1985) . It also sugge sts that
such concerns are not trivial but have implications for wome ns vie ws of
the ir global se lf. Although feminism did not predict the non-re moval of
body hair here, it was associate d with a lesser e ndorse ment of all the pre-
sente d reasons. This reflects perhaps a lower commitment on the part of
fe minists to the be havior of hair removal.
The re asons women cite for current hair-re moval are those re lating to
fe mininity or attractive ness. This appe ars to be the case whe ther they be
profe ssional wome n, unive rsity stude nts or high school stude nts, that is in-
depende nt of age , e ducational leve l or profe ssional status. Hope ( 1982)
pointe d out that linking shaving or smooth skin to fe e ling attractive and
fe minine is the major pitch of nearly all curre nt adve rtising. Yet cle arly
this is an artifactual link which has bee n socie tally constructe d, for biologi-
cally mature fe male sexuality is in fact linke d to the pre se nce of body hair.
The reasons wome n provide for starting to remove body hair, howe ve r,
differ be tween groups. Basows profe ssional wome n (mean age = 44) en-
dorse d primarily normative issues, the current unive rsity stude nts (mean
age = 22 ye ars) endorse d fe minine /attractive ne ss and normative issues
approximate ly equally, while the high school stude nts (mean age = 14)
884 Tiggem an n an d K en yon

e ndorse d fe minine /attractive ne ss issues more strongly. These differences

may be a function of age , profe ssional status and educational level, or time
of starting to shave . During the 30 years age diffe re nce betwee n the groups
the re may have bee n cultural and political change s that will have affe cted
hair re moval behavior. Certainly the age of starting to remove hair appe ars
to be getting younge r.
Anothe r possibility, however, is that this difference is a function of
time since starting hair-re moval and accompanying memory distortion or
reconstruction. Basows conclusion that Girls start shaving at pube rty pri-
marily because of social and normative reasons (1991, p. 92) is calle d into
que stion. While this is what adults (profe ssional women and to a lesser
exte nt unive rsity stude nts) re port, it is cle arly not what the high school girls
in the current study say. They re port that they started (and continue ) to
shave for fe minine and attractive reasons.
In some ways the veracity of the wome ns/girls reporte d reasons for
shaving is not the issue. Rathe r the wome n s re porte d reasons speak more
to the ways pe ople proce ss and analyze information in autobiographical
memory. It is like ly that women will not remembe r why the y starte d shav-
ing, but will ne e d to reconstruct these memories. The se reconstructions may
consist of e laborations base d on general scripts for tee nage be havior, or
on spe cific re inte rpre tations of their own e xpe rie nce from an observers
viewpoint, as sugge ste d by Brewer (1988) . Whate ver the source , women
inte rpre t the ir e arlie r be havior as due to normative pressure s, in a way
the y do not at the time. Some indire ct e vide nce for the latte r proposal
comes from the correlations with feminism. Give n that most women de-
velop in their fe minist orie ntation as they grow, the ne gative re lationship
betwee n fe minism and e ndorse ment of fe minine /attractive re asons for start-
ing (also found by Basow) is most parsimoniously explaine d by interpreting
that earlie r behavior from the schema provide d by curre nt feminist the ory.
Clearly whether wome n start to shave for feminine or for normative
reasons depe nds on the vantage point, whe ther one is looking from the
inside , or from outside with the analysis of an observer. It appe ars that
wome n can recognize the normative pressure s on them to shave , but only
when looking back in time. Whe n conside ring their own curre nt behavior,
howe ve r, women unive rsally (or at le ast in the three diffe re nt sample s that
have bee n inve stigate d) attribute their behavior to fe minine and attractive
reasons. This is e xactly the kind of rationale that fue ls the adve rtisers and
ke eps women insecure about their bodie s. As such, the unive rsality of body
hair removal, toge the r with its somewhat contrasting attribution to feminine
and attractive re asons, certainly contribute s to the notion that women s
bodie s are unacce ptable as the y are. Such normative but unre cognize d
behaviors sure ly warrant furthe r re se arch atte ntion.
Th e Hairlessn ess Norm 885

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