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It starts as far back as the Stone Age -

Hair removal was present, though not prominent, through ancient Egypt, Greece, and the Roman Empire. They would use seashells, beeswax, and various other depilatories as a way to keep the body clean.

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Signifier of class -

Ancient Romans also associated smooth, hairless skin with class and purity. And it wasn’t just restricted to women!

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Threading -

In the Middle East, as well as East and South Asia, threading (in which a thin thread is doubled, then twisted and rolled over unwanted hair, plucking it at the follicle level) was used on the entire face, except for one part...

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Unibrows -

Unibrows were actually considered alluring for both sexes, and were even accentuated with early versions of eyeliner.

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Adulthood and marriage -

In Persia, hair removal and brow-shaping signified that a woman was an adult who was about to be married.

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Middle Ages hairline alterations -

Catholic women in the Middle Ages were expected to grow their hair as a form of femininity, but also to conceal it in public. Another fun fact: 14th-century ladies would pluck their hairlines back to give their faces a more oval shape.

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Taking off your eyebrows was fashionable -

Thanks to Elizabeth I, who came to power in 1558, eyebrow removal became fashionable.

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Up until the late 18th century, hair removal wasn’t essential -

European and American women were not yet pressured to remove their hair, although when the first safety razor for men was invented by Jacques Perret in 1760, some women reportedly used them.

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Then Darwin entered the picture -

The modern-day notion of body hair being unattractive can reportedly be traced back to Charles Darwin's 1871 book 'Descent of a Man,' according to Rebecca Herzig's 'Plucked: A History of Hair Removal.'

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The theory of natural selection -

According to Herzig, Darwin’s famed theory associated body hair with primitive and less developed forms of our ancestors, and he conversely associated less body hair with evolution and sexual attractiveness.

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Scientific "experts" of the 19th century joined in -

They began linking hairiness—almost always on women’s bodies, not men’s—to disease, lunacy, sexual inversion, and other terrible connotations, adding the first huge layer of social pressure.

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A way to control women’s rise in society -

Herzig noted that making women think they had to be hairless to be worthy of attention was a form of "gendered social control" on women's role in society. It was an early heteronormative way of controlling their bodies through shame.

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A marker of class and femininity in America -

By the early 1900s, hairless skin had gripped upper- and middle-class white America as a distinguishing look of femininity. Removing the perceived disgusting body hair was a way to separate yourself from the lower class.

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Companies and marketing got onboard -

In 1915, Harper’s Bazaar was the first women’s magazine to run a campaign on the “necessity” of underarm hair removal, and Gillette launched its first razor for women, which, their ads claimed, “solves an embarrassing personal problem.”

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Then fashion changed -

In the first decades of the 20th century, sleeveless dresses, shorter hemlines, and a shortage of nylon stockings during WWII further popularized underarm and leg hair removal in the US.

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The introduction of the bikini - The smaller bathing suit bottom was introduced in the US in the late 1940s, which spurred companies and consumers alike to focus on the trimming and shaping of their nether regions.

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Sexual appeal was emphasized -

In the 1950s, as Playboy debuted, clean-shaven, scantily clad women linked hairlessness with sexiness, and by 1964, a reported 98% of American women aged 15 to 44 were regularly shaving their legs.

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Wax strips and laser hair removal -

Newer methods of hair removal debuted around the same time, but the first laser hair removal process was soon abandoned for its damaging effects on the skin, before being reintroduced decades later.

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Then came second-wave feminism -

Along with the spread of hippie culture, the second wave feminism of the ‘60s and ‘70s rejected hair removal. For many women, body hair became a symbol of the fight for equality.

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Pornography and pop culture -

The “sex sells” method was in full swing within pop culture, and the rising popularity of waxing methods and pornography meant people started getting quite creative and exhibitionist about their pubic hair.

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The Brazilian -

In 1987, seven sisters from Brazil opened a salon in New York City offering the so-called "Brazilian" wax, which involves removing all genital hair. Celebrities like Naomi Campbell started doing it, and the masses soon followed.

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Pubic hair removal wasn’t as popular in the East -

In many parts of Asia, removing or trimming pubic hair still isn't as common as it is in the West. In fact, in Korea, pubic hair was considered a sign of fertility and sexual health, and in the mid-2010s it was reported that some Korean women were undergoing pubic hair transplants to add extra hair.

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In the West, hairlessness became “natural” -

Hair removal started to become synonymous with being clean, and natural hair the opposite. The “gross” connotation of body hair proved so strong that people found using newer, unnatural technology like electrolysis, pulsed light, and more advanced laser technology to be a better alternative.

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Quite the opposite of clean -

This idea of clean comes from the disgust, shame, and hostility women have been trained to feel when they see body hair, but, in reality, most hair removal practices tend to create opportunities for abrasion and infection.

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Homophobia and heterosexism -

The concept of men shaving or women growing their hair, opposite of what society previously expected, soon became an implication of queerness, further bolstering the heteronormative social pressures of who should do what with their body hair.

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Fourth-wave feminism -

In the 2010s, a deeper awareness of the restrictions surrounding women's bodies, as well as of feminism, gender, and sexuality, have fueled a younger cohort of women to push back.

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Celebrities and influencers are changing -

Influencers and celebrities started posting more photos with body hair, and even Harper's Bazaar came full circle and published model Emily Ratajkowski with unshaven underarms.

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Brands are again leading the marketing -

But this time in the opposite direction! Newly launched women's shaving brands like Billie are also making a case for female fuzz, and claiming to be “grow choice.” Their campaigns depict diverse groups of women with varying levels of hairiness.

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Body hair as a symbol for more -

Women are realizing their power in small ways such as the rejection of hair removal, and body hair has quickly become a tool for revolution, activism, and social change.

See also: The surprising history of the bold red lip.

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