"Vajazzle dazzle"
[This is my trend article on vajazzling. I'm proud to say I got an A on this article]
When Ashley goes out with the girls on Friday night she’ll double-check her glittering earrings, her sparkling necklaces, her shiny bracelets, and her newly gemmed sunburst currently exploding on her “vayjayjay”.
It’s going to be a bright weekend, indeed.
What is vajazzling? It’s the decoration of the “naughty bits” region of women with gems in various patterns, and it’s been making quite a glittering splash in popularity this year. These gems have adhesive glue which allows the crystals to remain on the skin for 5-10 days and can be placed either on top of the pelvic bone or on the nether lips themselves.
Call the vajazzling look the “pink disco ball”, “labia sprinkles”, or my personal favorite, “va-dazzling”, vajazzling has been making 2010 a very shiny year.
New York City’s Completely Bare Spa has taken credit for originating vajazzling, as it has offered the Brazilian Wax vajazzle combination deal for a few short years. This past March Jennifer Love Hewitt went on air with George Lopez talking about her own vajazzling, and the trend has gained popularity every since.
Vajazzling is often done at salon, but vajazzle take-home kits are now available. Vajazzle Kits™ was established in early 2010 by Australian businesswoman, Susan Butler, who watched Hewitt’s interview and decided to market the crystals on a global scale. Vajazzling kits can now be found in The United States, The United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
Vajazzling Kits™ and knock-off kits are available at adult shops or, for the Martha Stewart types, any general store with gemmed temporary tattoos. These kits usually run for about $15. Full vajazzling services, from the wax to the dazz can run about $75-$115 depending on the salon.
While vajazzling itself is new, it is a part of a larger trend of wide-ranging female grooming. In some Middle Eastern countries female pubic grooming has been around for centuries, but in the United States, the trend of bikini waxing and later full Brazilian waxing has gained popularity since the 1940s when bikinis and underwear began to shrink in size, exposing the hair. In the 1990s it became the norm in pornography to feature Brazilian-waxed girls and the full Brazilian movement has taken off ever since.
Oddly enough, there aren’t many hard statistics on vajazzling, let alone numbers on shaving, trimming, and waxing. Dr. Debby Herbenick , a sexual health educator at The Kinsey Institute, Associate Director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University and author of Because It Feels Good: A Woman's Guide to Sexual Pleasure and Satisfaction notes with frustration on kinseyconfidential.com that, “There have only been a handful of studies on the topic and most have used convenience samples that don’t give us valid or reliable information about American women on the whole.”
No major institute, from the Kinsey Institute to any American university has done any deep research into this hairy issue. While forums and articles on waxing are popular in female magazines, no sturdy polls can be found.
There are a few websites that conduct their own independent polls, such as misterpoll.com which stated that out of 231 anonymous online voters 64% responded that they shave all of their pubic hair, 12% of participates said that they shave 90-100% of all of their hair, and only 4% voted that they don’t shave at all. Scientificamerican.com cited a 2008 issue of Sex Roles where Flinders University psychologists Marika Tiggemann and Suzanna Hodgson, for example, found that 76% of a sample of 235 female undergraduate students from Australia reported ever having removed their pubic hair. Of course, turn on any tv show or pick up any female magazine and you’ll find waxing jokes and tips galore.
Considering that “Brazilian wax salon” rips up 104,048 results on Google maps, and typing in “vajazzle” to Yahoo! Search puckers in 929,000 results, clearly there is an untapped market of research on “Chewbacca”-fearing women.
Ashley heard about vajazzling about a year ago on the late night series Real Sex on HBO. Last week she vajazzled her sunburst via a home kit. “I wanted to try it myself before I got it done professionally,” she said. “I like it a lot. It’s something new. I don’t think I’d vajazzle all the time, but for special occasions like Halloween, or fun nights out with the girls. It’s for me. I think body decoration is fun; a way to express yourself.”
Ashley joked, “I would bully all of my friends to vajazzle. This sunburst is just the beginning. Next time I’m going to have the whole solar system on my vagina.”
Ashley isn’t the only woman raving about vajazzling. Vajazzling has been mentioned on Fox News, Salon.com, and it’s on the September cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine.
“I can’t wait to get vajazzled!” said Elizabeth. Elizabeth heard of vajazzling from her friends and is hoping to set an appointment sometime next week. She wants to go all out for her first design. “I want to my vagina to be as pretty as possible. If we’re going to wax it, we might as well get it gemmed.” She has a few ideas of what she wants to get gemmed south of her geography, including something for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but her current top choice is “something extreme like a massive butterfly that’s spreading its wings on my vagina. My vagina makes a statement.”
Men seems to be split on the topic of vajazzling. Some find the idea erotic, others find it gratuitous.
Thedoctorweighsin.com quoted Ian Kerner, PhD, author of She Comes First, the Thinking Man’s Guide to Pleasuring a Woman, in saying, “Most men don’t pick up on minutiae like that, they’re just excited to have access to the area.”
Joshua has his own thoughts on vajazzling. “I think personally it’s a little much; it’s a little bright,” he said. “Some landscaping would suffice. As for jewelry, it would make me feel uncomfortable—like I need to be up to par with the sparkle.”
When I mentioned to Josh that “penazzling”, the decoration of the penis with gem stones, is now available in salons, Josh responded with a hearty laugh.
Vajazzle crystals do not need to be placed near the pubic area exclusively. Some women chose to place the crystals on their arms, backs, or stomachs. As long as the skin is smooth from hair, vajazzling may take place.
There is no age limit for vajazzling. The only requirement is full wax or shave, which women of all ages participate in, though body decoration in general is more common in younger generations. Pew Research Center has found that about 54% of Gen Nexters, Americans in the age range of 18-25, have done one or more of the following: gotten a tattoo, dyed their hair an untraditional color, or had a body piercing in a place other than their ear lobe.
Rio Wax Salon in Phoenix has since seen the vajazzle business grow since the Hewitt interview. Salon worker Catherine (who would not issue a last name) stated that “Vajazzling is a very popular service. Quite popular with all ages.”
There is little danger associated with vajazzling, aside from possible allergic reactions to the glue, and the ripping-your-skin-raw feel of a getting a professional Brazilian. However some men I’ve talked to have expressed trepidation in swallowing a gem by mistake.
Patrick, for one, isn’t worried about this possibility.
“If a girl puts in the time to vajazzle, I’d appreciate that and show her that,” he said. “I’d go to town on her. Yes, definitely go to town.”
Not all women, however, or keen on vajazzling.
“I think honesty it’s sad,” said Alyssa. “I don’t see why women have to go to such extremes to please men. And what the hell kind of fetishes for you have If you vajazzle for yourself?” Alyssa sees vajazzle as another type of self-deprecation. “I think it’s sad all these people put all this time into personal appearance. We’re in a world where personal aesthetic is more important then what’s inside.”
Will vajzzling last? It’s too new to tell. However, vajazzling belongs in a larger menagerie of shaving, trimming, waxing, piercing, stenciling, dying, tattooing, and other procedures of the “pink lady”. Josh for one wonders what will come next for those who dazz their vag.
“I mean, why not throw in a disco ball or a strobe light? I mean, if you’re really trying to go all out…maybe a promoter?”
Most friends do lunch. In honor of this article, my friends and I vajazzled. Perhaps in a statistic of its own, all of my twentysomething friends and I were already bare to begin with for a home kit.
I’ll be honest, the gems are quite pretty and they were easy to place on top of the skin, but I don’t find them to be particularly interesting. However, as a proper journalist, I decided to webcam my out-of-state boyfriend for a reactionary response. Let’s just say I got a visible thumbs-up.
If all it takes is a few gem stones to rejuvenate my relationship of four years and have a fun conversation with the girls, I for one don’t mind the sparkle.
Maybe it’s time to add a little dazzle to your weekend too?
Sources:
1.) Block, Jenny. “Fox on Sex: Vagazzling: Do you dare decorate ‘Down There?’”. foxnews.com. FOX News, np. 19 Apr. 2010. Web. 30 Sep. 2010.
2.) Williams, Mary Elizabeth. “The secrets of “vajazzling”: Lady parts: now with more sparkle”. salon.com. Salon, np. 15 Jan. 2010. Web. 30 Sep 2010.
3.) Pew Research Center. (2010). 36%--Tattooed Gen Nexters [Data file]. Retrieved from http://pewresearch.org/databank/dailynumber/?NumberID=237.
4.) Patrick. Personal interview 30. Sept 2010.
5.) Elizabeth. Personal interview. 5 Oct 2010
6.) Catherine [Rio Wax Salon worker]. Personal interview. 6 Oct 2010.
7.) Ashley. Personal interview. 9 Oct. 2010
8.) Joshua. Personal interview. 12 Oct. 2010.
9.) Alyssa. Personal interview. 12. 0ct. 2010.
10.) Mister Poll. (2010). Pubic hair method, ect [data file]. Retrieved from http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/450027/results
11.) Herbenich (M.P.H., Ph.D), Debby. “Q&A: Young American Women: Only Ones Who Shave Their Pubic Area?”. kinseyconfidential.org. Kinsey Confidential. 8 Feb 2010. Web. 11 Oct 2010.
12.) Bering, Jesse. “A bushel of facts about the uniqueness of human pubic hair.”. scientificamerican.com. Scientific American. 1 Mar 2010. Web. 12 Oct 2010.
13.) Salber, Patricia. “Want to look pretty “down there?”. thedoctorisin.com. The Doctor Is In. 12 July 2010. Web. 12 Oct 2010.
