28/07/2026
A Maudern History: In the late 1960s, Gillette sold women a shaving set called the Scaredy Kit: “When a boy starts shaving, he becomes a man. When a girl starts shaving, she becomes a nervous wreck.” It was marketed as a shaving tranquilizer. Same blade. Same hair. One audience got a rite of passage, the other got a sedative. None of this was grooming advice. It was gender, sold at retail, on a schedule. (Before 1915 nobody was even marketing razors to women, because nothing needed fixing yet. Gillette launched one and wrote the problem into the ad: “an embarrassing personal problem.“)
See, the best way to sell a razor (or anything) is to convince someone something’s wrong with them. That to be masculine or feminine, you must change. But really, it’s just hair. Shave, wax, trim, or don’t—it should be up to you.
