If you’ve ever thought that ads for women’s shave products are completely ludicrous, California-based personal care company Billie might just have you covered.
Ever since shaving became a thing, there’s been an unfortunate double standard in how products for women and men are marketed. Body hair is routinely portrayed as masculine and desirable — when properly groomed with plenty of products, of course — on men.
For women, it’s a different story. Pink razor ads are everywhere, promising smooth skin and no nicks — but do you ever actually see any of the body hair those ultra-sharp blades are supposed to be removing? You didn’t — until now.
We’re constantly taught to be ashamed of this naturally occurring part of ourselves — to the point where it hasn’t even been shown in advertising until now. That’s why Billie says it has launched #ProjectBodyHair, encouraging women everywhere to take pride in what’s rightfully theirs.
And if you love your body hair so much that you don’t want to shave it, never fear — Billie’s working to cover all the angles on female body positivity and self-care.
The company has a full range of products that they claim are suitable for all skin types. These include lotions and body washes that are vegan and also free from cruelty, gluten, parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances, and GMOs.
If you’re into shaving, Billie offers a subscription shave box service and silky shave creams as well.
Over the 100+ years that shaving ads have existed, we as a society have had ongoing discussions about why women’s body hair is such a big deal.
Since the first female anti-armpit-hair ad appeared in 1915 to hair removal company Veet’s infamous 2014 ad campaign equating female body hair with masculinity, the question of whether this is about selling hair removal products or about social control is a debate that won’t end anytime soon.
Yes, Billie wants us to buy their products — but as socially conscious campaigns go, people were pretty here for this one.
“I’m so emotional right now. You don’t understand how much this video means for me right now,” one Instagram user wrote. “I spent my whole teenage years being bullied in school and be ashamed of my body hair because I felt non-normal or feminine … thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
“THANK YOU for this!!! I wrote an entire essay about this for my final last semester, and it was incredibly hard to find anyone actually showing body hair on women,” another wrote. “I appreciate this ad. Shaving is a CHOICE and hair EXISTS and it’s completely natural. Thank you.”
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