A Big Fat Hairy Urban Myth

Who's That Lady??

Is it...Julia Roberts? and OMG - isn't she American?

But.....

We all know that French Women do not shave their armpits!

Have you ever heard that one? Did you think it was true? Well, I admit I thought it might be true. But, at the same time I respect other cultures, so I wasn't really concerned one way or the other. But just for fun, since I am now researching all things French, I thought I'd do a little investigating and put this one to rest. 

So, let's start with hairy armpits. To make a long story short:  FRENCH WOMEN DO NOT HAVE HAIRY ARMPITS! In checking all of my sources and going through a bunch of replies from French women, it turns out that almost 100% of French women under the age of 60 have hairless armpits. It is considered good grooming in France. As a matter of fact there are probably more hairy armpits on American women than on French women. 


Legs: And, they don't have hairy legs either but they don't shave them. They WAX them! Waxing is much cheaper and much more popular in France than in the US. Waxing lasts for a couple of weeks while shaving only lasts a couple of days. Since waxing is a lot more efficient way of removing hair, it just could be that French women have less "visible" hair than do American women. 


So where did this hairy woman stereotype come from? Most likely it dates back to 1945 and the end of WWII and the stories brought back from US GI's. OK so maybe back then they didn't shave. It was a really different time and France was a really different country. But, geez it's been like 65 years. So let's bring things up to date.


Here's the truth
French women do shave 
Yes they take daily showers
No they don't wear berets everyday
and no, not all French people like cheese


I'm Just Sayin