My razors were out--my dainty pink and purple razors that were clearly designed for my strictly feminine curves. So I stole one of Ronald's* manly black and green ones that are to be used on only grizzly man beards and for no other body hair removal purposes. Full stop.
The result? My legs are silky smooth like only a lady's should be.
It's so ridiculous how gendered personal care products are. Take a walk down any deodorant aisle, for example, and you can see the stark contrast. It's always reinforcing that little cultural narrative that women are flowery, dainty, and beautiful while men are bold, strong, and well...smelly. (Need I remind you of the long running deodorant slogan "Strong enough for a man, made for a woman?")
It's an absurd lie that we (or at least most of us) buy into. We get to believing that there is some substantive difference between the pink razor and the black one. Or the flower deodorant and the spice one.
We even put up with (and at times prefer) totally arbitrary pricing structures. For example, if a dude goes into an eyebrow threading place, he's going to pay more because, you know, all guys are automatically hairier than all girls, right? And if a guy goes into a hair salon, he's going to pay less because all guys hair cuts are short and thereby much more simple than all girls haircuts, right?
Somehow, I ain't buying that. But if you end gendered pricing schemes at these places, then people will get mad. The girl asked to pay the hairy rate for her brows will probably be just as offended as the guy asked to pay the female haircut rate. We're that invested in this cultural narrative.
I don't know, it's all just more or less annoying to me. So I'm just gonna sit here and enjoy my silky smooth (and gender appropriate) legs brought to me by my manly razor. So whatevs.
*By the by, HAPPY BIRTHDAY RONALD! <3
It is kind of liberating to shave with non-girly razors!
ReplyDeleteAlso when I read this I couldn't help but think of this hilarious, fantastic and prophetic Onion article from like 6 years ago, foretelling the ridiculousness that is the razor industry today:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades,11056/
I sometimes catch Jeff using my dainty pink razors!
ReplyDeleteI honestly thought that girl's razors gave a smoother shave. Why do they have all those shoulder pads around the edges and whatnot?
ReplyDeleteValerie--that article is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteSarah--Jeff knows what's up. A razor's a razor! :)
Joe--No! Don't buy the hype! I mean, this rugged man razor left my legs baby smooth.