Not Even Inventions

Chindogu, or useless inventions, are only the beginning. Now there are Unnovations as well.

Might I also direct you to The Economist’s recent article on body hair, which begins:

AT THE back of a hairdresser’s shop, just off Piccadilly in London, an Irish beautician called Genevieve is explaining what a “Brazilian” is as she practises her art on your correspondent. A Brazilian strip, some are surprised to learn, is nothing to do with Latin American football. Between each excruciating rip, she explains that she is going to remove nearly all my pubic hair, except for a narrow vertical strip of hairs the width of a couple of fingers. This is known colloquially as the “landing strip”.

In only a few years, this form of waxing has gone from the esoteric to the everyday and is starting to rival the ordinary bikini wax in popularity. At the same time the bikini wax is becoming a normal procedure for women of all ages: the youngest person Genevieve has waxed is a 12-year-old girl. Women are styling their pubic hair into hearts, stars and arrows. It is one of the more notable developments in hairdressing since the permanent wave.

Your correspondent also notes that “The average American man spends about 33 days of his life removing facial hair.” I am SO getting permanent facial hair removal.