Waxin’ Facts
There’s a scene in the Sex and the City movie hat’s always stuck with me. The four women are sunbathing at this absurd hotel in Mexico, wearing some absurd hats and looking far from their supposed age in the movie. Miranda Hobbes, the hard-working ginger lawyer, rearranges her legs and the audience gets a nice, close, and personal look at her little ging pubes creeping out of her bathing suit bottom.
Samantha Jones, the old-but-fabulous sex goddess and Miranda’s friend, spies these rouge hairs and, in a surprised voice, says: “Jesus honey, wax much?”
Like it’s the worst thing in feminine beauty to skip a trim before hitting the pool deck. Like every woman should have a clean bikini line, no questions asked. But why exactly? Why must women satisfy society’s perception that they are supposed to cleanly wax a physicality that makes them, well, women?
This past summer I have heard of some generally positive women-empowering beauty trends, including a resurgence of the hairy armpit and the “free-the-nipple” Instagram movement. But I’ve heard nothing of embracing the bush, or at least accepting that some women may have grooming habits that don’t typically align with Brazilian models.
In a study from Indiana University researchers Debby Herbenick and Vanessa Schick cited by The Atlantic, nearly 60 percent of women 18 to 24 years old “sometimes or always” have completely smooth pubic areas. According to reporting from the Huffington Post, waxing down there can cause damage to the skin, as ripping hairs out by the roots leaves minuscule wounds under the surface.
Dermatologists cited in this article said that the damage to this area could leave women or men susceptible to STIs and infections. Infections can also arise if the esthetician “double dips” wax sticks into a communal pot of wax, which could potentially spread an infection from one area of the body to another. In 2009, New Jersey was considering banning Brazilian waxing after two women were hospitalized with infections from their waxes. A poorly administered wax can also cause burning in the area, and even scarring.
This leaves me to question why women would subject themselves to these risks, if it only means avoiding some embarrassment at the pool.
But I get it — it’s a personal choice, and who am I to tell you what to do with your body, rug and all? My only hope is that those who do participate in the practice are doing it because it’s their own choice, to satisfy themselves — not their fellow beachgoers, a partner, and most importantly, definitely not Samantha Jones.
