Do women need to shave?

Marie Carsson, by email

Absolutely, purely out of a sense of decency. Not to onlookers - frankly, if onlookers find your sense of fashion or personal hygiene choices offensive, they should just stop looking at you and get a life. No, out of a sense of decency to razor manufacturers. Seriously! Now I must confess, this consideration had never occurred to me before last week, when I read an article about the impressive lengths and hilarious depths to which a certain razor company is going before "unleashing" its women's razor on the quivering and stubbly world at large.

The razor itself is called a Venus (I'm guessing - though I could be wrong, but I bet not - that it's pink), so the adverts will feature a "leggy model running with a jogging stroller". She is, according to a spokesperson for the ad agency, "the goddess of trailblazing". Yes, any model who runs with a poncey three-wheeled baby stroller is right up there with Emmeline Pankhurst in the pantheon of female trailblazing.

Prompting a coo of "but ambassador, you are spoiling us", the company is making another exciting advert for this new razor that shows a woman texting. She is, apparently, "the goddess of communication". Boy, those Rollerblading Bodyform women will be well jealous. Tragically, these adverts are currently only scheduled to air in the US, but I think we can all spot an international classic when we see one. Truly, these adverts are the Esperanto of the advertising world, the way they speak to women across the planet.

Incidentally, though, wouldn't it be cool to see, just once, an advertiser of a "feminine hygiene" product say: "Look, what you're going through - it ain't fun. No one's breaking out the Rollerblades or text messages. Just buy this. It'll make your life moderately easier, and we're not going to treat you like a baby and pretend that it's some special treat ... a special treat that you endure every sodding month." Just a crazy little thought there.

But the most intriguing thing about this much-vaunted new razor (it's got five blades! Can there be any more hurdles on this planet to scale?) is the amount of guff - I mean research - the manufacturers spout about it. Just listen to them dribble on about how women have different shaving needs because "their bodies are more topographically varied and also they tend to vary a lot in terms of the physiology of the skin and the hair", in the words of Kevin Powell, director of Gillette Technology Centre in Reading. Yuhdoansay, Kevin Powell. Maybe that's because we tend to shave in more areas than just our chin, hence the topographical variation. It's not some special biological gift, just a matter of geography. And if Gillette has only just figured this out, I'd be wary of using any of its products, quintuply, octuply or decahedrally bladed or not.

I have fallen in love with a designer handbag but my husband says the patent leather makes it look cheap. Who's right?

C Dawson, London

Your husband is right - patent leather does look cheap. And Vivienne's fondness for the material in Pretty Woman has not helped its image in the long run. But the real question here is, does that matter? For a start, you are the one who's going to carry the bag, not your husband, and his expressed qualms seem not to have dampened your ardour. Moreover, the intimation that "looking cheap" is bad suggests that "looking expensive" is good. Is that really the point of forking out for a designer bag - to show off how much you've spent? Judging by the number of logos and labels flashing around, yes, that does seem to be the raison d'etre for many a person's purchase.

But C, I take you for a wise woman, and not just because you have written to me (OK, that is entirely the basis of my judgment - heck, I don't even know your name beyond the first letter. What else do I have to go on?). I don't think that is what you want. What you're really worrying about is whether you could get it cheaper somewhere else, and the answer is, probably. But you can always get everything cheaper somewhere else. Sometimes you just really want to treat yourself to the proper deal, whether it be a flash TV, a super-nice holiday or, in your case, a lovely handbag that will last you an age and that makes you happy every time you reach your hand into it, even if all you find are a load of old Kleenex.

So I say, go forth and work that Pretty Woman look, girlfriend. Though perhaps restrict it just to the bag. Oh, and the bit when she ordered the pizza in the store. That was awesome.