Captain Crab sent in this image (found here) of pubic hair dye:
Here is a link to the betty website. According to the site,
In less than one year, over 100,000 happy customers are using betty to naturally match their hair above, cover gray or just for fun! Whether you’re a blonde (be a true blonde now!), radiant auburn, rich brunette, raven black or want to try hot pink for fun, our easy to use no-drip formula gives you the perfect finishing touch.
These might be useful for a discussion of the ever-increasing standards for personal beauty: once upon a time, you just worried about gray hair on your head. And taking care of things “down there” meant obsessing over odor and controlling evidence of menstruation. Now women get genital plastic surgery and “vaginal rejuvenation” (those sites aren’t work-appropriate) as they age or after childbirth, shave or wax their pubic hair, and apparently can now dye their pubic hair to be sure it doesn’t show signs of aging (or just doesn’t match their hair)–although the betty website FAQ link does mention that men also use the product. I can’t help but suspect that the mainstreaming of porn and increased access (especially online) to images of women’s genitals is providing average women with a new body part to compare to other women and find lacking.
At least the pink seems like something you’d just do for fun, not out of a concern to hide signs of aging. Although maybe there are 50-year-old women out there running around with pink pubes. What do I know?
Thanks, Captain!
Comments 13
jmtorres — June 17, 2008
I seem to recall reading an article about Japanese culture a few years back, and the use of Kool-Aid to dye the hair "down there." (Also shaving into cute shapes. Hello Kitty "down there.")
nee — June 17, 2008
I'm kind of pleased that the packaging shows a pubic triangle and not a landing strip.
Womyn — June 17, 2008
samantha dyed her pubes on sex and the city because her boyfriend "liked a full bush" and she was worried to find some grays. of course, she ended up waxing again because she accidentally left the dye on too long and looked like she had a clown vulva!
Eleanor — June 17, 2008
I'm more concerned about how the dye actually works and what would happen if it were to get places it shouldn't be...
Anonymous — June 17, 2008
Then you can use these http://www.amazon.com/Shaped-Pubic-Stencil-bikini-trimming/dp/B000ASGZ8S to turn your pink bush into a pink heart.
Maggie — June 17, 2008
The magazine where I work received a sample kits from their PR people a few weeks ago. Not only did they include 6 boxes (ranging from fuchsia to green), they also included special little stickers of novelty shapes. I mean, doesn't every girl want a fuchsia bunny romping around on her green bush?
Village Idiot — June 18, 2008
For the first few days, these dyes taste absolutely awful.
And green bush is a little weird. It's probably because it resembles a Chia pet a little too much, but others may disagree.
Elena — June 18, 2008
There are also merkins if you want to change your colour but don't want to dye :P
Gislina — August 18, 2008
At least this sends the message that it's normal not to shave. I wouldn't mind having pink pubes. Though the whole thing seems like it could be dangerous.
amy — February 9, 2009
I think betty beauty bikini hair dye is great! I heard about it on the show the doctors, they said it is completely safe, i want to try their new color lilac called Sexy betty...fun!
Angela — May 3, 2009
I'd go pink xD I see no reason not treat it the same as the hair on one's head. Although, we do let our hair conform to some standards, don't we?
Ankhst — May 31, 2010
I have a full head of pink hair, and have done for years. It's something of a protest against the normalisation of beauty.
I've also considered getting fun betty to make my pubes match (that would be for fun though).
I find it interesting that the part of the Betty website you focus on is the grey hair aspect. She tells a whole story about how this product came about, which is so much worse than being self conscious about a grey bush. This line of dyes was created because the developer saw women buying dye from their hairdressers for "down there" - because they didn't want their partners to know that they weren't naturally a blonde/brunette/redhead. I find this more upsetting than being afraid of aging (and the threat of mortality that comes with it) because of the pressure on women to be natually 'beautiful' even if they have to go to drastic measures to get there.