Canadian Women On Hair Removal

Toronto, Ontario - According to an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted on behalf of Veet, Canadian women who remove hair do so from a mean average of 2.5 body parts. Incidentally, both legs count as one body part. In looking specifically at leg hair removal, the majority (69%) of women in Canada have removed leg hair in the past month and 37% removed unwanted leg hair in the past day/few days. Few Canadian women (13%) say the have never removed leg hair. Typically, leg hair is removed more often in the summer than in the winter. Overall, more than half (56%) of women who remove leg hair do so at least once a week in the summer, decreasing to 28% in the winter.

The majority (83%) of Canadian women who remove leg hair do so by shaving, 14% by waxing and 9% use a depilatory or hair removal cream.

When asked on an aided basis what the most and/or second most important reasons are for removing leg hair, women who remove leg hair cite the way it looks (68%) followed by the way it feels (59%). One third (33%) feel hair removal is expected or just something women do. Leading dislikes of removing leg hair among women who remove leg hair are the time involved (32% saying they dislike this aspect the most) and the resulting nicks and cuts (16%).

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Veet study conducted between March 16 and March 25, 2004. For the telephone survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1,129 adult Canadian females was interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

How Much Do They Remove And How Often Do They Do It?

On average Canadian women who remove hair do so from 2.5 body parts - with, for example, legs being one body part not two. Overall, 8% remove hair from one body part, 46% from two, 32% from three and 13% remove hair from four or more body parts.

• Women from the younger (18-34) age group are most likely to remove hair from three or four body parts (61%), whereas women in the older age group (55+) are most likely to remove hair from one or two body parts (77%).

Specifically looking at leg hair removal, the majority (69%) of women have personally removed leg hair within the past month (37% in the past day/few days, 20% in the past week and 12% within the past 2-4 weeks/month). 3% of Canadian women removed leg hair 1-3 months ago, 2% say it was 3-6 months ago, 3% say 6 months-1 year ago, and 8% say the last time they removed leg hair was more than one year ago. Few women (13%) say they have never personally removed leg hair.

In Canada, females residing in British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta are more likely to have personally removed leg hair in the past day/few days (43%, 44%, 45% respectively). Women living in Quebec are least likely to have removed leg hair in the past day/few days (23%) and most likely to never remove leg hair (19%).

• Those from the younger (18-34) and middle (35-54) age groups (51% and 45% respectively) and those living in high income ($60K+) households (50%) are most likely to have personally removed leg hair in the past day/few days.

For those not removing leg hair, half (52%) say they have little or no leg hair to remove. To a much lesser extent 7% say it hurts or is painful, 6% say they are too old and a similar proportion say the do not remove leg hair because their hair is blond (5%) or they typically wear pants/slacks (5%). Responses given by 4% of respondents or fewer can be seen in the accompanying detailed tables.

When, How And Why Canadian Women Remove Leg Hair

Seasonally, Canadian females who remove leg hair are removing leg hair more often in the summer than the winter. More than half (56%) removes leg hair at least once a week in the summer, dropping to 28% in the winter. One quarter (26%) is removing leg hair daily/5-6 times per week in the summer and 12% are doing the same in the winter.

In the summer, 9% of Canadian women who remove leg hair do so a few times per month, compared to 11% in the winter. In the summer 6% of Canadian women who remove leg hair do so once a month, compared to 18% in the winter. In the summer 3% of Canadian women who remove leg hair do so less often, compared to 12% in the winter.

Overall, in the summer women who remove leg hair do so on average 11.2 times per month, whereas in the winter leg hair is removed on average 6.5 times per month.

• Regionally, in the summer, more women living in British Columbia (36%) followed by Ontario (29%) and Atlantic Canada (29%) remove leg hair daily/5-6 times per week than women living elsewhere.

• During the summer women from the younger (18-34) and middle (35-54) age groups (33% and 28% respectively) and those living in high income ($60K+) households (30%) are most likely to have personally removed leg hair in the past day/few days.

• During the winter, younger (18-34) and middle (35-54) age groups remain most likely to personally remove leg hair in the past day/few days however frequency drops to 11% and 15% respectively.

The majority (83%) of women who remove leg hair do so by shaving. To a lesser extent, 14% remove leg hair through waxing and 9% use a depilatory or hair removing cream. The remaining 3% say they "don't know."

• Regionally, only 62% of females living in Quebec remove leg hair by shaving, where 25% wax and 17% use a depilatory or hair removing cream.

  Women from the younger (18-34) age group (20%) are more likely to remove leg hair by waxing and women from the older (55+) age group (12%) are more likely to remove leg hair by a depilatory or hair removal cream.

When asked when they are most likely to remove leg hair, on an aided basis half (51%) of those who remove leg hair say before wearing a bathing suit or shorts. Following, 23% say they are most likely to remove leg hair prior to a night out or special evening, 10% before a romantic evening and 5% prior to going to the gym.

Reasons for removing leg hair can vary among women. Overall, 68% who remove leg hair feel the way it looks is the most and/or second most important reason for removing leg hair. Following, 59% say they like the way it feels and 33% feel removing leg hair is expected or just something women do. To a lesser extent women who remove leg hair feel removing leg hair makes you feel more attractive/confident (19%) or cite their spouse or partner as an important reason for removing leg hair (13%).

• Reasoning behind leg hair removal varies regionally as well. In comparison to other regions, women living in Quebec cite the way it looks (86%) as important, however are less likely to place importance on the way it feels (50%) or the expectation of removing leg hair (20%). In contrast, women residing in the Atlantic region are more likely to place importance on the way it feels (70%).

• Women from the younger (18-34) age group are most likely to say the way it feels (65%) is an important reason for removing leg hair. Whereas, women from the older (55+) age group are most likely to place importance on the way it looks and the expectation or removing leg hair being just something women do.

Of those removing leg hair, 32% say what they dislike most is the time involved, followed by 16% saying the resulting nicks and cuts are most disliked. To a lesser extent, 10% say they dislike the necessity or nuisance of removing leg hair and 8% say what they most dislike is how leg hair grows back too fast. Responses given by 4% of respondents or fewer can be seen in the accompanying detailed tables.

• Regionally, those residing in the Atlantic (42%) are most likely to dislike the time involved in removing leg hair, whereas those females residing in the Quebec (10%) are more likely to dislike the associated pain than women living elsewhere.

• Demographically, women from the younger (18-34) age group are most likely to dislike the time involved in removing leg hair (45%) whereas, women from the older (55+) age group are more likely to dislike the necessity or nuisance of it.

Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

Janet Lazaris
Senior Vice-President
Consumer Strategy Group
(416) 324-2900