Hair removal as a form of payment for challenges or dares lost involving the removal of all body hair. Inmates have their head shaved upon entry at certain prisons. Depilation is the removal of the part of the hair above the surface of the skin. The most common form of depilation is shaving or trimming. Another option is the use of chemical depilatories, which work by breaking the disulfide bonds that link the protein chains that give hair its strength. Epilation is the removal of the entire hair, including the part below the skin. Methods include waxing, sugaring, epilation devices, lasers, threading,
History of removal of leg and underarm hair in the United States magazine, Ladies' Home Journal, had 25,000 readers by the end of its first year. The reach of these women's magazines meant they were extraordinarily influential. Advertisements suggesting that women remove hair under the arm, and explaining how and why to do so, were published as early as 1908, and ran more steadily beginning in 1914. The 1915 advertisement on the right ran in Harper's Bazaar for a depilatory powder called X Bazin is stereotypical of ads during this time in that it defines why underarm hair removal is necessary. It also shows an image of a woman in a sleeveless