Meet Fur, The Beauty Brand That Wants To Destigmatize Pubes
“People either love it or they hate it. I mean, it’s a pube brand.”
On its website, Fur, a new, New York-based pubic hair grooming brand employs the saying, "few things in life are certain, but pubic hair is one of them." For something so natural, the pressure to tame, remove, and trim the hair from our nether regions (our whatever delicate euphemism you prefer) is surprisingly weatherproof. As Emily Schubert, who co-founded Fur with her younger sister Laura, put it over email to The FADER, "our pubes are handled as a problem, and removal as the primary treatment." Fur represents an alternative; an impetus and incentive to treat pubes as delicately and luxuriously as your face or the hair on your head. Fur's oil is packaged in a spherical glass bottle as covetable and aesthetically pleasing as RMS' Beauty Oil or even Rodin's famed Olio Lusso. But Fur is non-judgmental: while the oil is meant for longer pubic hair, the product line also features a Stubble Cream for "those who wax, shave, or laser." Here, Schubert dives into the origins of the line, and shares the brand's latest video offering.
How do you feel about the mainstream resurgence of female body hair? Are pubes and armpit hair perceived as "trends"?
EMILY SCHUBERT: In the mainstream media all of the value is placed on the look; hair or no hair. Pubic hair is spoken about like athletes foot—something to be ashamed of and addressed, but not discussed. [Something] “unclean” or “unfeminine.” Fur suggests you take a similar attitude towards your pubes as the rest of your body. We have fur oil for people with more hair, and the cream for people with less. Both formulas soften the hair and keep your skin clear. Rather than treat it as a trend we encourage the idea that any choice you make about your body is the right one, if you are the one who is making it.
Have you always been fascinated by pubic hair?
No, not pubes in particular, rather I have always been fascinated by character identity.
When I was in high school I thought that either you wax and you’re hot or you don’t and you’re not sexually active. The way one prepares themselves to be received by the world—this has always fascinated me. As a makeup artist, I read scripts and imagine how a character treats themselves. In my mind, the modern woman is evolving but the industry is frozen in an uncomfortable and unforgiving place.
In no way am I saying that waxing is not modern, but the choice to wax or not to wax is modern. And the fact that it is [a choice for] men and women is also modern. We all have the option of deciding where we fall on the spectrum of what is sexy to us as individuals—to define ourselves as masculine or feminine or somewhere in between. The idea of Fur is to keep doing what you’re doing, but to do it with care and to be upfront about it. There is something supremely elegant in accepting and caring for what comes naturally to you. That is, if your idea of care is using products in the first place.
What led you to create Fur?
About two years ago I became curious if there were any products made specifically for pubic hair. I was Googling pubic hair care products for myself and every link that showed up in my search referred to removal, camouflaged with words like “bikini” and “intimate” presented in pinks and purples. This is pretty wild considering, with some exceptions, every adult human has this hair—man or woman. So I G-chatted my sister, Laura, about it. She's a former finance consultant and general powerhouse. A couple days later she started seeing this as a legitimate business idea and Fur was born.
How has the reception been to the product so far?
Pretty polarizing. I find people either love it or they hate it. I mean, it’s a pube brand. It’s clearly hilarious but also very serious. Reviews in the press have been largely positive, stores and individual customers are reordering for themselves and recommending to friends. This indicates to me that the product works. We have definitely gotten a fair share of negative responses; I take this as a victory because it means we are creating a dialogue.
Is Fur essential?
It depends what your definition of essential is. I would say Fur is as essential as a face cream or a body lotion. Right now, what is popular is that women go to a third party to “take care” of the presentation of their vaginas, to make it “clean.” To me, Fur is literally filling in the spectrum of what is available in the beauty space. It's for everyone on every day of the week—it's not for men or women; its for pubic hair.