Shaving Hair: Cultural Norm vs Personal Choice

[Fire Haired14]

Europeans in the 1600s or whatever were able to endure each other's odor, because that's what all humans have done for 99% of human existence. Odor-killing products are new, the only thing someone could do to take away odor in the past was use water. So, if humans have endured body-odor for 10,000s of years why couldn't Europeans do it before the 1900s? That isn't even a worth-while question.

Obviously yes, people who grow up in a world where no one uses soap-deodorant-perfume-etc-etc or takes shores or used paper towels, is less sensitive to body odor than we're. That's one explanation. Back to my original point that female-shaving isn't cultural but because men prefer women without body hair. Women didn't shave in the past for the same reason few showered. This is a pointless argument.

No man wants this.

 

[Angela]

Europeans in the 1600s or whatever were able to endure each other's odor, because that's what all humans have done for 99% of human existence. Odor-killing products are new, the only thing someone could do to take away odor in the past was use water. So, if humans have endured body-odor for 10,000s of years why couldn't Europeans do it before the 1900s? That isn't even a worth-while question.

Obviously yes, people who grow up in a world where no one uses soap-deodorant-perfume-etc-etc or takes shores or used paper towels, is less sensitive to body odor than we're. That's one explanation. Back to my original point that female-shaving isn't cultural but because men prefer women without body hair. Women didn't shave in the past for the same reason few showered. This is a pointless argument.

No man wants this.

There's no substitute for age, experience and a broad liberal arts education.

 

[LeBrok]

Pheromones don't smell bad, it's the overgrowth of bacteria on our bodies that produces the repulsive body odor. That's because we have evolved to detect rotten meat, which is potentially lethal for humans and since what gives rotten meat its repulsive smell is bacteria we associated the smell with food poisoning.
That is why the very bad odors are nauseating, it is a primitive solution to get rid of whatever rotten meat you have ingested .
Note that animals are O.K. with eating rotten meat and don't seem to find the smell repulsive at all because of their highly effective immune systems.

Right, we can't eat even partially rotten meat like true carnivores, most likely due to our short affair as meat eaters. We didn't evolve such efficient and safe meat digestion gut. However, I'm not sure, if it bears any relevance to bad smell of sweat. In both cases bacteria is implicated as a cause of bad odors, but different bacteria nevertheless. Sweaty people don't smell like rotten corpses, neither sweat is poisonous.
It has to be something else, I guess.

 

[LeBrok]

I never thought of it that way, but you're right. How does it make sense from an evolutionary point of view?

Yet, even the royals in my example above used scents. Perhaps you go nose blind to the smell of the unwashed human body after a while, but you're still attracted to certain smells and want them on you?

Central and Northern Europeans have a good excuse not to bathe. It is too fricken cold for a bigger half of a year. I think most of the time they were doing rag baths. Just wiping themselves clean with wet rugs mostly in "strategic" places.

 

[Christian Ho]

I agree with you, that women in general are better off without body hair, but it depends. There are exceptions as well. Let's not forget at the end, that nature has put this hair on its place for some reason! In order to protect your body! All the best, your Christian Ho

 

[laetoli]

This discussion should be on 4chan