Millennial Razor Brands Now Embrace Body Hair—but Does It Matter?

Now men's razor brand Harry's is following suit in a big way. Flamingo, its new female-focused line, aims to celebrate "women’s natural bodies (bumps, dry skin, body hair, and all), dispelling the myth of 'feminine perfection.'" It's smart move to capitalize on the momentum, seeing as sales of Harry's razors grew a whopping 943 percent in 2017, while some traditional razors like Gillette's Venus Embrace saw negative sales growth. Plus, 59 percent of women between 18 and 34 are interested in trying subscription services (such as Harry's, Flamingo, and Dollar Shave Club), per findings from market-research firm Mintel.

Today all of the women who've been using Harry's for years will now get to enjoy razors made for them and by them. Allie Melnick and Brittania Boey, who helped launch the brand and used the men's razors themselves, were closely involved in the development of Flamingo, and they took this new attitude toward body hair—and body positivity in general—into consideration.

There's the obvious: Unlike Harry's, Flamingo razors are designed to fit the curved areas women tend to shave most, such as our legs, toes, and bikini lines. But the two wanted to go the extra mile. "While building Flamingo, we talked to over a thousand women about body hair, body care, and everything in between," says Melnick, now the general manager of Flamingo. "As a part of this journey, we saw how personal and private everyone’s body care routines are, so we wanted to bring these conversations out of the shadows and embrace the realities."

Those realities involve not shaving every single day or even at all, depending on your personal preferences. "We’ve created products that address these realities and the in-between shave or wax stubble moments," says Boey, Flamingo's senior vice president of research and development and design. An innovative soft-gel wax strip for face and body—the first of its kind in the U.S.—no longer requires that you grow your hair out first (as was typically the case, since hair had to be long enough for the wax to adhere). Ancillary products in the line are also designed to care for skin before, during, and long after you shave. That's strategic thinking: Ever since a report from Mintel found that women now face less pressure to remove body hair (and less stigma associated with it), brands have been offering formulas that maintain and even nourish female body hair for those who choose to keep it. Flamingo, which spans everything from post-wax clothes to body lotion, takes that seriously.