In ancient Egypt, depilation was commonly practiced, with pumice and razors used to shave. In both Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, the removal of body and pubic hair may have been practiced among both men and women.
Ancient Egypt: Both men and women commonly removed body hair, including armpit hair, for hygiene and aesthetic reasons. They often used razors made of bronze or flint and also employed depilatory creams made from natural ingredients.
Our hair loss is thought to have happened well before modern humans migrated north of Africa. So body balding would also have allowed our ancestors to better control body temperature in hotter climes. You may need a coat sometimes, but at least you don't have to carry it around all year long.
Ancient Egypt
The Egyptians may have been the forerunners of many beauty rituals, but they invested the most time into hair removal. Women of ancient Egypt removed all of their body hair, including that on their heads, with tweezers (made from seashells), pumice stones, or early beeswax and sugar based waxes.
Later in history, in Ancient Greece and Rome, it was considered uncivilized to have pubic hair, so men and women used tools to pluck the hairs individually. Of course ancient Greek and Roman women shaved the entire body, a habit introduced 3000 BCE from Egyptian women.
Japan: Women in Japan have preferred to shave only their legs and underarms, leaving the bikini and pubic area untouched. It is also quite common to remove facial hair and peach fuzz for a smooth, glass-like appearance.
This suggests that humans had lost body hair (but retained head hair) and developed thick pubic hair prior to this date, were living in or close to the forest where gorillas lived, and acquired pubic lice from butchering gorillas or sleeping in their nests.
In Korea, pubic hair has long been considered a sign of fertility and sexual health, and it has been reported in the mid-2010s that some Korean women were undergoing pubic hair transplants, to add extra hair, especially when affected by the condition of pubic atrichosis (or hypotrichosis), which is thought to affect a ...
Hair removal – Hair cutting, trimming, removing, shaving, plucking, threading, dyeing, or any other alteration from any body part is strictly forbidden.
Hominoids—which include humans and the apes—however, lost their external tail during evolution. The loss of the tail is inferred to have occurred around 25 million years ago when the hominoid lineage diverged from the ancient Old World monkeys (Fig.
Dominant hair-loss theories
It suggests that early humans ditched the fur coat to help regulate their body temperature. When Homo erectus and other ancestors of modern humans hunted during the Pleistocene, they pursued their prey for many hours to drive it to exhaustion.
The need to cover the body is associated with human migration out of the tropics into climates where clothes were needed as protection from sun, heat, and dust in the Middle East; or from cold and rain in Europe and Asia.
Later in history, in Ancient Greece and Rome, it was considered uncivilized to have pubic hair, so men and women used tools to pluck the hairs individually or singed them off with fire. Other forms of hair removal included razors, sharpened stones, and even forms of depilatory cream.
Pumice Stone
Yes! Simply soak the skin in warm water for 5 to 10 minutes, lather with soap, then rub the hair with a wet stone using a gentle circular motion. The movement works to pull the hair from the follicles. It does sting a bit and can dry out your skin, but it can be an effective method for fine hair.
Because hair traps perspiration, it can also become a breeding ground for bacteria and odors. For these reasons, by the early 1900s being “clean-shaven” had become associated with basic hygiene. Concerns about personal appearance have often motivated hair removal practices.
There has been no credible scientific research to support the widespread belief that baking soda may effectively remove hair. In fact, using baking soda on your hair and skin can cause more problems than it solves. Waxes, razors, threads, plucks, lasers, and electrolysis are all better and safer alternatives.
Removing your pubic hair can also increase your risk of catching herpes and other sexually transmitted diseases. This is because the sensitive pubis is left with small cuts where viruses and bacteria can get into your skin.
Men and women alike can benefit from hair removal as it improves hygiene by reducing the likelihood of bacterial and fungal infections. Hair traps moisture, which can create a breeding ground for bacteria and fungi.
Electrolysis and laser hair removal can remove pubic hair long-term, however, there is a higher cost and discomfort to consider. Ultimately, how you choose to groom your pubic hair is your decision based on personal preferences, aesthetics, cleanliness, and comfort.
Seventeen per cent prefer a full bush, 18% prefer the area bare and most prefer a polite “clean-up” of the general genital vicinity. More than 71% of male respondents say they've never been turned off by a partner's pubic or butt hair.
On an average, pubic hair ranges between 0.5 to 1.5 inches. But according to the Illustrated Book of Sexual Records, the longest known pubic hair in history was 28 inches long and belonged to a woman from South Africa. The hair was so long, it reached her knees.
"If we look at that in combination with some of the things we're able to infer about genes that increased human skin pigmentation, then we're able to basically confidently guesstimate that 2-1.5 million years ago… humans probably would have lost their body hair."