The prevalence of hair removal salons for both men and women, and in recent years, even for children in Japan reflects a commonly held belief in Japanese society that hairless bodies look better than hairy ones. In Japanese, body hair is often referred to as ムダ毛 mudage, meaning "unwanted hair."

However, the concept of body hair positivity is also beginning to make inroads. One company that is sensitive to this trend is Schick Japan K.K. which boasts the top share of the wet shaving market in Japan. Today, the company announced that it will discontinue the use of the expression mudage in all channels it operates from April 9th, 2022, in order to accommodate changing attitudes towards facial and body hair.

According to their press release, they are committed to providing products and services that are not bound by stereotypes such as "all 'unwanted hair' on your face should be shaved," "it's ridiculous for men to be concerned about body hair and shave their bodies," "it's natural for women to take care of their body hair," and "one must remove body hair to avoid disapproval from the opposite sex."

In 2020, they adopted the brand tagline "It's in your hands™" to express their desire to help customers find and express their true selves when they pick up a Schick product and use it, whether that means shaving, trimming, or just leaving your hair alone.

The company will gradually phase out the usage of "unwanted hair" on their various websites and printed materials by the end of December 2022.

Schick's #BodyHairPositive project

Schick's #BodyHairPositive is a project that aims to create a society in which people can think positively about their own body hair and feel free to say: "this is the kind of body hair I find beautiful" rather than following a uniform concept of beauty, a society where people can talk about body hair in a positive manner, a society that celebrates body hair diversity.

They've enlisted model, actress and TV personality 香音 Kanon (center) and real size model 北原弥生 Mika Kitahara (right) in their latest ad campaign. See their website for details.