I came across an interesting article on BritishBeautyBlogger this week. Essentially, it was a lot to do with the power of marketing, sales strategy and how suggestible women can be when it comes to personal beauty and the idea of beauty.
In a nutshell, in order to sell hair removal products to women in China, Veet’s campaign was to plant the seed of doubt in the minds of Chinese women that body hair made them somehow less attractive than someone with smooth hairless skin. I’m no marketeer but I could see the point in it.
If no one was going to buy a product, create a demand for it. Isn’t that what successful marketing is about? Granted, a lot of this was aimed at a person’s self-esteem and you know how it is when you have to sell something to women. Tell them what will make them look better/thinner/more attractive and you pretty much have their attention. The China market is huge, I’m not surprised why Veet did what they did.
Yet, I’m not here about Veet. I actually am a little more curious about hair removal products and whether you use them. You can probably tell by the dearth of mentions of hair removal products, epilators and the like, that its not a subject matter close to my heart 🙂
As you may have guessed, I don’t have a hairy problem. Epilators, hair removal creams, waxing… it all goes whoosh! over my head. Not for want of caring, its for want of having any noticeable bodily hair to remove. I count myself lucky. One less thing to worry about LOL!
But here’s a funny story. When I was in college, my friends would sometimes talk about not having shaved. I was young and naive having just come to the big city from a small town, and for the life of me, I had no idea what they were shaving. I knew it wasn’t their upper lip or their chins. It couldn’t be their head. What on earth were my friends on about?!
I found out later that they meant their legs. The information made me even more perplexed. I’d look at my legs and wonder if I was missing out on something, or if I was abnormal for not shaving! I now realise I’m lucky but to a young impressionable girl, it was a very confusing, perplexing period of my life LOL! 😀
So, I know nothing about hair removal or epilators. How they feel, which works, or even if Veet is the best way to go about it. I am as perplexed about it now as I was as an 18 year old. The only difference is I now embrace my hairless state 😀
Do you have a hairy problem or is it in your head, planted by the advertisements and marketing tricks? Do you have hair removal products you like?
Or do you not care about the common perception of hairless beauty and just embrace your body hair au naturel? 😀
Paris B
Bwahahhahahah. This is the funniest post I’ve read in a long while! 😀
After years of experimenting with shavers and wax, I’ve come to the conclusion that epillators are the best! It’s quick, it’s easy and it’s almost painless – once you’ve gotten used to it. It’s just like tweezing but you get many hairs tugged out all at the same time. There’s yet another reason to hate summer – grooming 😛
I saw an epilator once and man! it looked scary! >.< So glad its not something I have to worry about 😛
Ahah I was reading in disbelief! I wish I looked at my legs and felt confused… But, no, I am very hairy, unfortunately! I always say that, if I could, I probably would walk into a body only machine that would forever remove all my hairs! Now I do not go as far as removing my arm, back and belly hairs, as some of my friends do (I am blonde so that doesn’t bother me as much), but I do shave my legs, armpits and I “brazilian wax” :p
I shave with a 3 or 4 blade razor as I cannot wax because I have huge (cystic) ingrown hairs that are a huge pain (aesthetically and literally)!
But I am considering permanent methods! 🙂
Wow Raquel, thanks for sharing your insight into hair removal. I actually think it quite interesting, because I do sometimes wonder if its just societal pressure that makes us feel the need to remove the visible hairs 😉 Ah the things we women go through eh? I hope you find your permanent solution soon! 😉
You lucky, lucky girl. 😉
Epilators scare the bejesus out of me. My sister swears by it though.
For me, it’s shavers. In a perfect world, where I have unlimited income, waxing would actually be my number 1 choice. Yes, I’m weird that way. I can’t take epilators, but I love waxing. LOL. 😛 But not the at-home DIY waxing though, I have no talent for that.
Having undergone waxing a couple of times, I can understand why you may prefer waxing. Its something done by someone else and you don’t have to actually see it LOL I didn’t mind waxing either, but didn’t quite see the point after a while 🙂
High 5 PB! I used to think that I need to shave too and I actually tried Veet due to peer pressure =/ And I hated the way it smelled, I literally felt like I was suffocating in the bathroom! Then I realised, there is no need for me to shave my legs, because I just don’t notice any visible differences and its not worth getting myself suffocated every now and then 😛 Well, it’s not like I’m hairless but I just have very thin fine hair, thus not too noticeable to the naked eye 😛
Oh dear, you actually tried it? You know, I don’t even know what these things smell like LOL! I have very very fine hair too, of course, not hairless but I might as well be I guess. Hurrah for embracing our hairless state! 😉
I am very hairy! so I use Veet almost every week to get rid of unwanted hair. I hate shaving because it just feels like my hair is much more coarse. Veet smells bad, my DH hates the smell and sometimes when left too long, boy it stings but what to do I like the look of smooth legs.
I think Veet is the bladeless hair removal system right? Gosh I’m going to have to take a sniff at it some day to see just how bad it smells LOL!
Epilator – best invention ever for women!!
I tried Veet & I hate it. That before I found the wonders of epilator- cheaper solution to replace waxing- Don’t believe in shaving as my hair grow pretty fast..:) basically I epilate & wax (Brazilian that’s it)
I think waxing actually slows down hair growth. I’ve done it (brazilian) and that’s what I realised. But don’t know any other hair removal method heh.
Well… I’m not hairy but my hairs are dark and thick so that one or two strands on my legs are just… BLEH. I also shave my underarms because I tend to wear sleeveless things so yeah ^.^
I started shaving at the tender age of 16, because I grabbed my dad’s razor and slicked those nasty hairs off – the rest is history ^.^
I prefer to pluck! 😀 Lucky I’m not too hairy underarm either hehe…
I am actually quite hairy and I used to hate seeing the hairs on my legs, body and underarms when I was in my 20s. I also have some minor facial hair that maybe is only visible to me. Hahaha. I do not think this was caused by advertisements since Veet was not even well-known then. I guess it was the need to have a smooth and hairless body which made me search for ways to remove the hairs that are visible.
I used to shaved in my younger days and spent a small fortune at Bella to remove my underarm hair and regretted it as I realised later that you need to spent much more for complete hair removal on the areas you want and go for year-long touch ups after that.
I than resorted to shaving which made the hairs grow coarser. I discovered waxing back in 2006 and have never looked back since. I managed to find a wonderful beautician who uses lime, honey and sugar to make her natural wax and it is very effective for hair removal. The hair on the areas I have removed have become finer and in some areas, it has totally disappeared. My beautician has always advised her customers that once you begin the process of waxing, you should never ever go back to shaving or using the epilator again as it will cause your hair problems to return to its original condition. She is also very against the epilator as it promotes a lot of ingrown hair on your skin which will be difficult to remove later.
Having said that, waxing is not for everyone as you need to have a high tolerance for pain when the hair is pull especially in the bikini area. I have also stopped doing Brazilian wax a few years ago as I read that it is unhygienic and could affect the vagina area.
Waxing usually allows your skin to be hair-free for at least 2 weeks before it starts growing again. I used to wax once a month but the frequency has been reduced to once in 2 months for the last few years unless I have a wedding dinner or a special function to attend.
Ooh lovely, Victoria! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and views on what works best for hair removal – see, this is why I love having all of you chip in with your thoughts especially when its a subject matter I know nothing of! 😀
I’m not very hairy. My body hair is very fine and unnoticeable and I can get away with shaving my legs once every 2 months? So I never bothered with Veet or epilators, etc. And that’s also why I never took the time to understand them >_<
haha sounds pretty much like me, except I don’t remove any hair, except for wayward hair on my brows and of course, on my head that needs cutting hehe…
Thankfully, I’m not particularly hairy too. I have an epilator but I have not used it in years and am not sure why I bought it in the first place. The only body part I remove hair from are my armpits.
The Veet campaign is just silly. I don’t even know why Chinese women are so gullible and insecure to fall for such gimmicks.
Hahaha Lyn, I don’t even know why you bought an epilator! I don’t even think you need it hehe… But I know what you mean. Its one of those things isn’t it? Sometimes just feel left out if you don’t follow the crowd 😉 But you know la Chinese women – tell them they’ll look better, get a better job and better husband prospects and they’d be all over it. Tsk!
you are truly lucky Paris 🙂 gosh…goin thru the waxing session every month is like a huge task for me and at the end i feel i should cut off my legs 😀
Yes, I do count myself quite lucky, Swati 🙂 LOL Don’t cut off your legs! I’m told that after a while waxing, the hair becomes more sparse and growth slows. Is that true?
well, i have also heard that but i did not notice anything of the same nature in my body yet! and, to save myself some torture, i tend to go as soon as the hairs cross the threshold length 😀
Haha, so its a fallacy then? Darn! Thanks for clearing that up for me 😀
LOLL! You crack me up! 😀 I am not that hairy but still sometimes may be bothered with fine hairs at the pool 😛 Never like Veet’s or whatsoever hair removal creams, shaver like the Venus by Gilette is good enough for me once in a blue moon 😀 Wuahahahaha! 😀
I must be really blind not to notice my fine hairs LOL! I think it helped a lot that I had very very poor sight growing up and by the time I got my lasik done, I was confident enough in my own skin hehe…
LOL! Yours must be super fine that’s why ~blind not 😀
I’m with LeGeeque on this one – epilators FTW! 😀 not that I’m at risk of becoming the bearded lady, but black hairs (no matter how fine) tend to look a bit funny on pale “hasn’t seen the sun in years” legs.
Personally, it’s more of the sensation…run a smooth leg and a ‘hairy’ leg in between the sheets – the smooth one feels more ‘shiok’ (if that makes sense! 😛 )
hahaha! I’ll take your word for it, Bee! Don’t now how it feels otherwise 😛
I don’t think I’m that hairy as well. But growing up without shaving or any hair removal seems you are not a women during my growing years back then. Now I totally regretted my decision to wax my legs then as I can’t go back and that the hair on my legs grow in every direction and sticking out which is so gross. Even so, I’m not really particular with having hairless legs every second on the day. I use epilator when I can’t stand the look of my legs say about two weeks or when I have special event to attend.
Oh dear, I know what you mean you know. When my friends were talking about shaving their legs I felt rather left out. I’m glad I didn’t try it because I hear it roughens your skin and makes the hair coarser I could have gone from fine/no hair to having to shave often too! Sometimes, ignorance is bliss 😉
Epilators only for my legs but i still shave my armpits… I dont dare to do it at my armpits… Fear i guess..
I can’t imagine shaving at the arm pits actually. I pluck when I have to. Skin is now desensitized LOL!
I’ve been removing hair from my underarms since the first day I saw one growing because my nan said girls shouldn’t keep hair there! *lol* I cannot live without my epilator. I think it’s the best invention for women! So, yes, it’s either waxing or epilator 🙂
You use an epilator on your underarm area? I saw a gadget once and it looked so scary! 😛 I pluck but then, its probably because I’m not too hairy so its quicker (and more cost effective!) 😉
If you’re used to plucking (I pluck too), then using an epilator isn’t scary at all! I’m not too hairy myself, it takes a few secs to get rid of the hair! 😀 It’s easy and fast. I used epilator for my legs but shaving is faster *lol* I have no patience when it comes to hair removing.
i don’t remove hairs from the legs as my hairs is too light and it ‘blend’ with my legs’ color. Yeah, i was perplexed when the friends said that they need to shave their legs. i thought that they had nice leg without hair since the day they were born. *so naive*
heh, the things women do to look beautiful eh? I think sometimes, the less we know the better! 😉
Ive been shaving for a reallly long time and I cant imagine not to. The only thing I didnt try to shave and some of my friends do are forearms. I have love-hate relationship with razors, they are painless but arent as effective as epilators. I bought one epilator, it was very expensive and promising that its massage and you can do it under water and it wont be so painful- talk about being naive! It is SO painful and it left my legs in pain for a day. No thanks.
Yikes! Even looking at the epilator scares me! Thanks for sharing your experience, Catherine!
The hair on my legs are very light and sparse so I only shave 3-4weeks once. I pluck my underarm hair because I don’t have many there & it last longer than shaving.
You’re right about plucking! Get ’em by the roots, I say! 😀
I have dark hair so not shaving my legs is a no go. And now I’ve taken to getting my brows and upper lip waxed too! sigh beauty hurts and I admit a lot of it has to do with marketing and being told it looks more pretty and clean. I wish I could be brave enough just to say no and leave it haha.
Ouch! You’re right, we go through so much pain in the name of beauty! I get my brows done but I prefer it when they pluck. At least the regrowth is not so visible. Shaving for brows is the worst!