So I was going through propaganda posters and wanted to focus on WWII. I then decided I wanted to research the history of why American women shave their legs, because it is tied into WWII. Here is my research:

1914 - 1918: WORLD WAR I -

GILLETTE works out a mega deal with the U.S. Armed Forces, which provides his safety razor and blades to every enlisted man or officer on their way to Europe as a regular part of their standard issue gear. This creates tremendous worldwide promotion and publicity opportunities for Gillette’s company and products.

Why Women Shave Their Legs and Underarms -

We all know the power of advertising. At the turn of the century, for example, the South African Diamond company, DeBeers, created the image that the diamond was forever and therefore would make an excellent wedding ring.

Another marketing campaign around this time convinced the women of North America to shave their body hair. Notably, women in the other parts of the world do not engage on masse in this ritual. Even in French Canada, the habit is not largely undertaken.

It all began with the May, 1915 edition of Harper's Bazaar magazine that featured a model sporting the latest fashion. She wore a sleeveless evening gown that exposed, for the first time in fashion, her bare shoulders, and her armpits.

A young marketing executive with the Wilkinson Sword Company, who also made razor blades for men, designed a campaign to convince the women of North America that:

(a) Underarm hair was unhygienic (b) It was unfeminine.

In two years, the sales of razor blades doubled as our grandmothers and great grandmothers made themselves conform to this socially constructed gender stereotype. This norm for North American women has been reinforced by several generations of daughters who role-modeled their mothers.

1920s - 1930s -

Popular female HOLLYWOOD MOVIE STARS in the United States are shaving off their eyebrows with razors, plucking, or using depilatory formulas to get a hair-free face. They then "draw" very thin brows back on the face with an eyebrow pencil. Later, these eyebrows will begin to look exaggerated, unnatural and alien-like, especially when seen on a black and white movie screen. Like the brows of actor GROUCHO MARX, who completely shaves his face and eyebrows before drawing them back on with a black grease pencil in rather unusual shapes.

Info came from http://www.quikshave.com/timeline.htm


here is a video about shaving legs that gets more specifically into WWII