{"product_id":"plucked-a-history-of-hair-removal-9781479852819","title":"Plucked: A History of Hair Removal","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eUncovers the history of hair removal practices and sheds light on the prolific culture of beauty\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the clamshell razors and homemade lye depilatories used in colonial America to the diode lasers and prescription pharmaceuticals available today, Americans have used a staggering array of tools to remove hair deemed unsightly, unnatural, or excessive. This is true especially for women and girls; conservative estimates indicate that 99% of American women have tried hair removal, and at least 85% regularly remove hair from their faces, armpits, legs, and bikini lines. How and when does hair become a problem--what makes some growth \"excessive\"? Who or what separates the necessary from the superfluous? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003ePlucked\u003c\/i\u003e, historian Rebecca Herzig addresses these questions about hair removal. She shows how, over time, dominant American beliefs about visible hair changed: where once elective hair removal was considered a \"mutilation\" practiced primarily by \"savage\" men, by the turn of the twentieth century, hair-free faces and limbs were expected for women. Visible hair growth--particularly on young, white women--came to be perceived as a sign of political extremism, sexual deviance, or mental illness. By the turn of the twenty-first century, more and more Americans were waxing, threading, shaving, or lasering themselves smooth. Herzig's extraordinary account also reveals some of the collateral damages of the intensifying pursuit of hair-free skin. Moving beyond the experiences of particular patients or clients, Herzig describes the surprising histories of race, science, industry, and medicine behind today's hair-removing tools. \u003ci\u003ePlucked\u003c\/i\u003e is an unsettling, gripping, and original tale of the lengths to which Americans will go to remove hair.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHerzig, Rebecca M.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eRebecca M. Herzig\u003c\/b\u003e is Christian A. Johnson Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Bates College. Her previous work includes Suffering for Science: Reason and Sacrifice in Modern America and, with Evelynn Hammonds, The Nature of Difference: Sciences of Race in the United States from Jefferson to Genomics.","brand":"New York University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50556762489106,"sku":"9781479852819","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_f2b0db80-6d37-4e6c-b2fc-8841af761f84.jpg?v=1731764069","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/plucked-a-history-of-hair-removal-9781479852819","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}