On shaving, part two | By Umbra Fisk | Grist | Ask Umbra

On shaving, part two

22 Jun 2005

Got questions about the environment? Ask Umbra.

Dear Umbra,

I just read your response about men's shaving, but what about women? I don't see many women shaving with straight razors, plus we have the depilatory cream and waxing options too. What's our best option, especially for those of us who just hate dealing with it, but must?

Catherine
Appleton, Wis.

Ask Umbra continues below

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Dearest Catherine,

Although I pledged to avoid the widget this year, I am failing -- for the widget's size belies its magnetic pull. As soon as I addressed that male shaving quandary, women -- and men who shave outside the beard region, and men who love women who hate to shave, and so on -- wrote in by the pound asking your selfsame questions.

Neither a showerer nor a waxer be.

I trudged to floor 3B to dutifully begin researching waxes and creams and lasers, when suddenly I awoke to the basic dilemma of widget tyranny. Issues such as shaving are minute in the larger picture, but they begin to feel overwhelming once we stop to ponder. So overwhelming, in fact, that we forget to use logic. By "we," I mean me.

So let's back up. The best widget in any category is durable; non- or less-toxic to manufacture, use, and dispose of; effective and easy to maintain; affordable and easy to use; and as emissions-free as possible. In the case of becoming hair-free, we are distracted by our many "choices" -- which, using these guidelines, are not choices at all.

Many of you gently suggested that straight razors are a no-go for all but a few brave souls. OK. Do creams, waxes, lasers, electric shavers with rechargeable batteries, recycled-plastic razors, or electrolysis beat our second choice -- a permanent razor with replaceable blades -- under the "best widget" criteria? No.

I don't even need to look up depilatory creams to figure out whether they are toxic during manufacture, use, and disposal. Any literate person with a working nostril knows the answer to that. Laser removal and electrolysis machines -- which require electricity to simply operate -- cannot produce fewer greenhouse gases. Body sugaring may be the one alternative with any chance of standing up to the permanent razor.

In general, if you must de-hair, and you wish to be affirmed in your common sense, experts can give you manifold reasons to avoid cosmetics of all sorts. Read to your heart's delight in the Environmental Working Group's report on personal-care products, which brings me to my letter-generating stance of the day: opt out of the "beauty" industry as much as you can. When we buy creams and waxes, or go to salons full of noxious chemicals, we send the message that we like the idea of chemical-based personal-care products. Your money is better spent elsewhere.

Here, readers, is the most important part: when you shave your legs or other bits, don't do it in the shower. Water heating accounts for 17 percent of the energy use in a U.S. home. Your shower is delivering 2 to 5 gallons of water per minute, and just 1.6 gallons of hot water generates a pound of greenhouse gases. Use a bucket, sink, or puddle in the tub instead. Global warming: when we heat our water, we heat the earth.

Catchily,
Umbra

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Please send Umbra any nagging question pertaining to the environment -- but first check out her FAQs!

The claims made in this column may not reflect the views of this magazine. Neither the magazine nor the author guarantees that any advice contained in this column is wise or safe. Please use this column at your own risk.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

Comments: (5 comments)

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Hirsute Yourself

Umbra-

The slightest disagreement on one comment about shaving. The shower. I shave in the shower as it feels easier with a well soaked beard and provides easy clean up, I offset enviro purity issues by using a flow valve and stop the water while I shave as well as the usual Navy Shower routine.

If I was a woman I would definitely go this route.

Save water, shower with a friend or a friendly stranger.

gabh an latha Richard Eugene, OR, USA

by rglater at 5:45 PM on 22 Jun 2005

oh heavens! the easiest way .....................

is to remove hair with just plain tweezing, or another use for the ubiquitous duct tape, although less worthy than saving oneself from terrorist attack, is to use it for the latter part of the frightening 'sugaring', adhere it to the skin and pull.
Tweezing doesn't coarsen the hair like shaving; the Native American used this method and lo and behold they didn't have tweezers or duct tape!

by katesisco at 8:55 AM on 23 Jun 2005

why?

Women's shaving seems to me to be catering to men's perverted sexual appetite for little girls.

by Pandu at 10:25 AM on 23 Jun 2005

Waxing Kind

Wax is not necessarily chemically. I use an organic wax 3 times a year and for the cloth strips I cut up an old pair of jeans. One small tub of wax costs about ten dollars and lasts for a year.
As far as the reasons why women shave, the reasons are multifarious, just like the reasons why people get tattoos, dreadlocks, piercings, botox or whatever. I prefer to show my respect of women by not questioning their judgement. As Naomi Wolf says, "A woman wins by giving herself and other women permission: to eat, to be sexual, to wear a boiler suit or a Balenciaga gown or combat boots- to do whatever she chooses in following her own aesthetic."

by Stella at 11:03 AM on 23 Jun 2005

caramel leg wax recipe

This is more of a thing to pass on mother to daughter, as my mom did to me, but I'll try to use modern technology to explain my waxing regime - very similar to the "sugar wax" recipe.

Here goes:

Put 12 tablespoons of sugar and 6 tablespoons of lemon juice (from real lemons) in a medium saucepan on high heat. DON"T STIR, but 'swoosh' by moving the saucepan by the handle in a circular motion.

Prepare a glass or ceramic baking pan and spread some lemon juice on it.

Allow the caramel to get to a dark caramel/ amber color, but not too dark - not to the point of seeming like burnt caramel (may have to practice a few times to get this right).

As soon as the color is right, pour the caramel onto the baking pan - keeping it gathered in one part. Put some lemon juice on a spoon and bunch up the caramel in one corner with this. Put a little lemon juice on your hands. Let the caramel cool until you can pick it up.

What you should get is a clump of tan caramel that you can hold in one piece in your hand. You can knead the caramel to soften it a bit. If the consistency isn't right even after kneading -it is under or over cooked and you need to try again.

You should use this glob of caramel right away to wax by slopping it on a higher part of your leg and pushing it down in a strip pressed against your leg. Push down and pull up fast on the bottom edge of the caramel mass stuck to your leg and pull the whole strip up towards you as fast as possible. Repeat for the rest of the area. This is enough for your whole body when you get good at it (my Aunts do arms, armpits, bikini - you name it).

The best way is to spread the caramel very thin at the end.

AND the real trick is spit, yes, spit -- the caramel will start to harden and if you spit in it and knead it it will soften.

This is a great method - I really recommend it. I love the fact that it is all natural -- even compostable! and these are ingredients you can find in any corner store. It may seem messy, but it washes away very easily under warm water & soap - just put some old newspaper down under where you are sitting to wax - oh, and don't try to answer the phone!

by joelle at 2:50 PM on 28 Jun 2005

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