Shaving -- what a waste of time! If you spend three minutes every other day shaving (probably a low estimate), that's nine hours per year you could have spent doing something else!
Of course, you might not like what you look like come New Year's Eve.
Can we do it better or faster?
Long ago, early scientists discovered that a sharp rock could get down to stubble. Centuries of advancements resulted in razor blades, which work quite well (when used correctly) but still take time and skill. Thanks to Michael Faraday's electric motor, eventually electric shavers entered the market. No muss, no fuss, no real good shave either. Maybe good for the CEO to get rid of three o'clock shadow before a big meeting, but you still need a blade as a backup.
Chemical engineers had during this time been conjuring different formulations of specialized creams and soaps for use with a razor. These might or might not have been 90% marketing (though I admit, I do use shaving soap). Unfortunately for many boars and beavers, this also lead to sales of shaving brushes.
Some chemists during World War II — the ones not involved in inventing napalm and Zyklon — said "Hey, this is the 20th century! We can do better!" and they invented depillatories. These are lotions that one can apply to the skin where the unwanted hair lives, wait a few minutes, and wipe away the hair. The March of Progress!
There are side effects, though. The formula will never be stolen by the makers of perfumes and colognes. (Rotten eggs, anyone?) It's a mild chemical burn, so don't leave it on too long. And some areas of skin (you know where I mean) are more sensitive than others. But the folks in the lab came up with different strengths for face, armpits, genitals, etc. More sales, too 😀 In fact, for some reason I don't know, black people can suffer more irritation than others, so there's a brand ("Magic Shave") specifically for them, and some people go right to that for those ouchy areas.
If that's still not good enough, or your D key is missing, you can get an epillatory. While depillatories essentially dissolve hair, an epillatory yanks it out (by physical or chemical means), roots and all. While this might sound permanent, it's not, but it does last longer.
But they didn't stop there. The physicists wanted back in the game, and this was the era of that magic word: LASER. Yes, the multipurpose light can — in the hands of a certified technician — remove your hair and it won't grow back. Takes several treatments, and only works on darker-colored hair.
Hey, Blondie, don't leave! We've got another way that works for everyone: ELECTRICITY! Zap each follicle, and it's deader than a door nail. This also needs expertise, to avoid any infection.
(You might be thinking: shaving's not all that bad after all.)
492 words for HairQuest 2024