We talk about body sugaring every day! It’s what we do. However, we have found that most people don’t know how body sugaring came to be so prominent in our culture. So today, let’s dive in and figure out where the roots of this wonderful practice originated from.

Keep in mind, understanding the origins of body sugaring involves finding out the history of hair removal itself. When did humans start removing hair, and why? These questions and more will be answered in our article. So let’s get started!

When, How, and Why Did We Start Removing Hair?

When: This practice started not just hundreds of years ago, but thousands! Dating back to our cave-dwelling days, we were known to shave with primitive tools. Additionally, ancient cultures like the Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks practiced hair removal as well. With such a long history of hair removal, we have found new and more effective ways of managing our hair.

How: Well, as stated before, we started off with fairly primitive tools. This includes sharpened stones, flint, and even seashells to get the job done. You can probably guess how that went for most people. With crude methods, we eventually developed safer ways. These would include, waxing, sugaring, and shaving with razors.

Why: In today’s world we primarily remove hair in order to follow beauty standards or personal preference. This isn’t always the case though. There are a plethora of other reasons people remove hair. These could include cultural, functional, societal, and medical reasons as well.

Speaking of Culture. Opinions and Practices Vary Across the World.

The when, how, and why of body sugaring or hair removal in general all stems from culture. Throughout history, the beliefs of how we should treat body hair have varied and evolved dramatically.

Let’s start off with the Egyptian culture. We have to thank the Egyptians for their practices of using body sugar. This is one of the first documented cases of hair being removed without shaving/scraping it off. Back in the day, this was used as an alternative to the crude methods otherwise available. This is also where hair removal started being attributed to social status.

Beauty standards started to emerge more profoundly throughout the rest of the world as well.

Romans and Greeks shared similar beliefs and it became a prominent part of their culture as well. Again, those who could afford the process and the tools of removing hair were seen as a higher class. The norms of what is to be expected of men and women evolved even more as time went on.

Various cultures across the world have different reasons as well. You could look at how monks shave their heads for religious reasons. Even take a look at the Amish, since they focus on modesty and rarely show much skin, this isn’t much of a concern for their culture.

How about athletes? Swimmers and runners are stereotyped to remove all their excess hair for speed. While this may be somewhat the reason why; it’s not the main reason. In actuality, swimmers remove their hair to get rid of the top layer of their skin more quickly. This way their body is more slippery and they can feel the water with more sensitivity, therefore, attributing more speed.

So as you can see, cultures and their beliefs vary through time and place. While religion and culture play an important role in people’s opinions surrounding hair removal, we are forgetting one major player: Society.

Here’s What Society Says About Hair Removal.

Thanks to the Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks, hair removal is now attributed to more than mere necessity. The growth of societal preferences emerged through our developing understandings of ourselves. Hence our current understandings of beauty standards and our focus on body image.

Ask yourself, how many ads do you see every day? Red Crow argues that the average person may see anywhere from 4,000 to 10,00 ads every day! These include tv, radio, internet, and printed ads. It’s nearly inescapable. With this onslaught of advertisement, we see all the models trying the new perfumes, colognes, or driving the brand new cars released by manufacturers. With the advertisement industry so ingrained into our daily lives, it guides our understanding of social norms.

Hair removal and body image practices are heavily influenced by the media. Most people strive to match what is presented by models, whether that be directly or indirectly. For example, women were pushed to shave their armpits in the early 1900s. This was somewhat due to the growing popularity of sleeveless dresses, opening a chance for companies to profit off of women’s insecurities.

Men also see this as well, with shaving commercials left, right, and center. Razor companies profit millions of dollars by pushing the idea that everyone should be clean-shaven. However, a company doesn’t have to directly tell you to shave, they can just show you models which imply how people should look. Now, the argument surrounding body image and the advertisement is a discussion for another day. Let’s try to stay on track.

So Why is Body Sugaring So Popular Today?

Well, hair removal in Canada is the norm. People are expected, to a degree, to follow certain body image standards. Of course, this isn’t chiseled into stone somewhere, so you can do whatever makes you happy! Although, the demand for hair removal is quite high.

You can buy razors, creams, or perform various epilation methods. So with this high demand, comes various options for someone looking for the best method. Compared to most options though, body sugaring reigns supreme!

Some people are looking for options that do less damage to their skin, or simply cheaper alternatives to buying cases of razors. Therefore, body sugaring is growing rapidly. This method is affordable, effective, and doesn’t cause damages to your skin in comparison to sharp razors or aggressive waxing.

With people’s expectations and preferences of how their bodies should look, body sugaring effectively manages nearly every area of the body. Making it the most versatile form of hair removal. So we can thank our ancient cultures such as the Egyptians for their discovery of this wonderful method.

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