The War on Body Hair: Historian Rebecca Herzig

Tweezing, shaving, waxing, corrosive chemicals, hormones, radiation, electrolysis, lasers and now the prospect of genetic engineering: human beings have gone to extreme — and sometimes suicidal — lengths to rid themselves of unwanted body hair. Whence the follicular fear and loathing? Why is a hairless body to die for? Rebecca Herzig examines the modern stigmatization of body hair — especially on women – and the vast arsenal of treatments arrayed against it – in her fascinating new book “Plucked: A History of Hair Removal.”