A video of a chocolate chip cookie covered with a clump of hair appears on my TikTok feed. “Would you eat this cookie?” asks a woman dressed in a black salon uniform. “No,” she says. “Neither would your man. Book yourself in for a laser consultation today.” While the ad – for a laser hair removal service – is clearly trying to be funny and a little tongue-in-cheek, I can’t help but roll my eyes into my skull. Let’s capitalise and make fun of women’s bodies again shall we? How original.
Women’s body hair has always been a hot topic. We’re told to keep it, remove it, wax it, shave it – depending on the era, the trend or who’s watching. It’s chic, it’s dirty, it’s smelly, it’s empowering. But it’s never really been about choice. Every year brings a new solution packaged neatly into a fresh product: a bamboo razor, a scented cream, a hot wax trend and now, the holy grail of smoothness, laser. And I, and many others, are guilty of buying into it.
