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From the clamshell razors and homemade lye depilatories used in colonial America to the diode lasers and prescription pharmaceuticals available today, Americans have used a staggering array of tools to remove hair deemed unsightly, unnatural, or excessive. This is true especially for women and girls conservative estimates indicate that 99 of American women have tried hair removal, and at least 85 regularly remove hair from their faces, armpits, legs, and bikini lines. How and when does hair become a problemwhat makes some growth excessive Who or what separates the necessary from the superfluous In Plucked, historian Rebecca Herzig addresses these questions about hair removal. She shows how, over time, dominant American beliefs about visible hair changed where once elective hair removal was considered a mutilation practiced primarily by savage men, by the turn of the twentieth century, hair-free faces and limbs were expected for women.



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