when did women start shaving their legs

Women in the West started shaving their legs in a noticeable, widespread way in the early 20th century, especially from the 1910s–1920s onward, as fashion and advertising pushed the idea of smooth legs as a beauty norm.

Quick Scoop: Key Timeline

• Ancient roots (Egypt, etc.) : Body hair removal (including legs) existed thousands of years ago for both men and women, often for hygiene, ritual, or aesthetics, but it wasn’t a specifically “feminine leg-shaving” norm like today.

• Late 1800s–early 1900s : Western women’s body hair removal was limited and class-based; long skirts and stockings meant leg hair was usually hidden, so leg shaving was not yet common or socially expected.

• 1910s–1920s: The big shift
  • Hemlines rose, arms and eventually calves started to show.
  • New ads (Gillette and others) heavily promoted female shaving products and framed visible body hair as “embarrassing” or “unsightly.”

* Underarm shaving became common first; leg shaving began but was often seasonal or optional.

• 1930s–1940s: Leg shaving goes mainstream
  • Skirts got shorter, bathing suits revealed more leg, and World War II nylon/stocking shortages meant bare legs were more visible.

* By the late 1930s, some commentators could claim that any hair not on a woman’s scalp was considered “excessive.”

* By mid‑20th century, leg shaving was close to a standard expectation in many Western countries.

So, to match the way people usually phrase it: women really started shaving their legs in a widespread, normalized way from about the 1920s to the 1940s, driven by fashion changes and aggressive beauty marketing.

Why Did It Take Off?

Several forces combined to turn leg shaving from “optional grooming” into a strong social norm:

• Fashion changes : Shorter skirts, sleeveless dresses, and more revealing swimsuits suddenly made leg and underarm hair visible, which created new pressure to remove it.

• Advertising & new razors: Companies selling razors and depilatories saw a huge new market in women and ran campaigns implying visible hair meant being “unfeminine,” “unhygienic,” or “embarrassing.”

• War & stockings: During World War II, shortages of stockings meant more bare legs in public; this helped normalize the idea that legs should look smooth if they were uncovered.

• Evolving beauty standards : By mid‑century, “hairless except for the scalp” had become tied to ideals of femininity and modernity in Western culture.

A typical example: 1920s ads showed women in short bathing suits with slogans warning about “unsightly hair” ruining beach fun, pushing women to buy razors and creams specifically for arms, underarms, and legs.

Today’s Discussions and Changing Norms

• Modern pushback : In the 2000s–2020s, there’s growing conversation about body positivity, feminism, and the right not to shave, with some women choosing body hair as a political or personal statement.

• Flexible norms : While smooth legs are still widely marketed as the default in many places, social media and public discussions have made it more acceptable (in some circles) to treat shaving as a personal choice rather than a requirement.

You can see this in recent commentary: some women say they shave only occasionally or seasonally and feel more comfortable ignoring older “must‑shave” rules, while others still enjoy the look and feel of hairless legs and treat it as self‑care rather than obligation.

TL;DR :
Women have removed body hair since ancient times, but leg shaving as a common, expected practice really took off in the West between the 1920s and 1940s , powered by shorter hemlines, visible legs, and very persuasive razor advertising.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.