It isn’t very often that I read about womanly self-care in novels. Although it was briefly in passing and then referenced again later, I found the topic of waxing in Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon, to once again raise my interest in the cultural phenomenon.
Growing up on a small hobby farm in the Northern Midwest of the United States, my family was rather modest and fairly traditional. There wasn’t much talk about self-care and I remember sneaking my mom’s razor from the bathroom shelf when I first thought that that was a necessary part of my life. In a place with long and cold winters, you don’t need the socially promoted smooth skin for about half of the year…unless of course you wear shorts to gym class or belong to a sports team that shows skin. Long story short, shaving was never explained to me nor encouraged, but it was a part of life that needed to be learned for social survival.
In France of the 1740s with the characters Jamie and Claire, there is a scene where Claire has gone and waxed her legs and her armpits. Jamie is confused by her decision to do this and Claire hailing from 1945 England found it refreshing and necessary.
“‘Worth it?’ he said, sounding a little dazed. ‘What’s it to do wi’ clean, that you’ve pulled all of the hairs out from under your arms?'”
To a man who has lived on the run and was raised in the Highlands of Scotland, there has been no foreseeable reason for anyone to be hairless. Claire’s thoughts range back to all the Scottish women she had met, realizing that they did not utilize wax in the same way. However, she notes the upper-class French women wax often their whole bodies, and with that comment to Jamie she sends him into a comedic over the top spurt of muttering.
I just so happened to read this scene while living in Brazil, where I first learned that waxing was common, a fairly short-lived pain, and perhaps much more necessary for the hot climate and popular beaches. I thought back on my friends in the U.S. that still have never considered waxing, my friends that grew up with it and have never shaved, my friends that don’t remove any body hair, and my friends that even wax their arms.
While I was in the same day downtown visiting my favorite waxing place, staring up at inspirational phrases (like: “Do that which you fear most” and “Cry at leisure”), I had two realizations:
- Culture and family tradition plays a huge role in how we perceive self-care and how we pass that on to our children. With internet, friends from various cultures/socioeconomic groups, and the ability to travel, these norms begin to collide with new information and understanding.
- Waxing your legs feels like your skin is being ripped off and would make a great form of practicing for torture.
Life Should Be Lit 