Long story short, there is nothing dirty or unclean about pubic hair. There is no medical reason to remove it. And yet, many people feel pressured to shave or wax because of our society's long-standing ideas of gender, beauty, and purity.
Your Pubic Hair Serves a Purpose
It helps reduce the amount of sweat produced around the vagina. It helps block your vagina from the following bacteria and infections: Sexually transmitted infections. Urinary tract infections.
Here's what they found: 80% of women said they had removed their pubic hair recently at the time of the survey. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that number was only 39% for the guys. Just 3% of women said they had never removed their pubic fuzz.
In separate studies, 59% of women and 61% of men stated that they groomed their pubic region for hygienic purposes. However, there is currently no scientific evidence to suggest any health benefits associated with removing pubic hair — other than the removal of pubic lice.
The length of the anagen phase is based on genetics, but it can also be affected by hormones and stress levels. The anagen phase lasts between three and five years for head hair and a couple of weeks for pubic hair. The longer the anagen phase, the longer the hair grows.
Pubic hair removal is common — approximately 80 percent of women ages 18 to 65 report they remove some or all of their pubic hair.
Pubic Hair Trends
According to the researchers, when asked if they removed their pubic hair, 80% of women and 39% of men removed their pubic hair near the time of the survey. Also, 3% of women and 21% of men had never removed their pubic hair.
Male pubic hair is currently less "full bush" and more "clean-cut," which is the current trend. As a result, not all men should completely shave off their pubic hair because doing so can cause excruciating discomfort and even unpleasant skin conditions like razor burn or ingrown hairs.
MYTH: A full bush is a turn-off.
Reality: Technically, it depends on your partner, but there is some evidence that pubic hair could be a turn-on because it's full of pheromones.
Almost 60% of Austrian and German men shave their pubes. This is followed closely by Belgium and The Netherlands, where over half of the men surveyed like to keep their downstairs tidy. Islanders are apparently much more conservative about body grooming. Only 10% of British and Irish men even shaving their arm pits.
There's no right time or age to start learning to shave. So, how do you know when should your daughter start shaving? Learn answers to common shaving questions. Puberty can hit earlier in life or later, and with it comes thicker hair on the legs, as well as new hair growth under the arms and around the pubic area.
The main role of pubic hair is to reduce friction during sex and other forms of exercise, protecting the delicate skin around the genital area. Just like eyelashes and nose hair, pubic hair helps prevent the transmission of bacteria, trapping any dirt, debris, and microorganisms that could be harmful to the body.
In general, pubic hair in females naturally covers the labia majora (outer lips) to the inner thighs and form a triangle-like shape up to the pubic bone. Some women will naturally grow thicker or thinner hair than others, so typically there's no cause for alarm when there's slight variation.
Is this normal? It is totally normal to have pubic hair extend to the upper part of your thighs. Even after your period begins, your body keeps developing: your breasts get fuller and your pubic hair continues to spread for a couple of years. You might have a trail at the groin area of your upper thigh.
The length you trim your pubic hair to is all about personal choice – begin using the 6mm comb on the Gillette All Purpose Styler to get an idea of what it'll look like, then adjust to 4mm or 2mm if you'd like it shorter.
Does pubic hair cease growing once it's reached a certain length? All hair grows at a contstant rate, but eventually falls out. With body hair, which typically does not grow as long as head hair, the rate at which it falls out is greater. This results in hair that appears to reach a certain length then stops growing.
It's fine to say to her, “I'd like it if you shaved sometime, and I was wondering if you'd be open to that,” and maybe even suggest shaving her yourself and making it a sexy activity—as long as you understand, it's her choice in the end.
For females, the most common areas to depilate are underarms, legs, pubic area, eyebrows and face. For males, the most common areas are the face, abdomen, back, chest, groin and legs. Shaving is the most common way to depilate the underarms, legs and pubic area.
Amongst Muslims, hair removal is part of an impulse towards general purity and cleanliness and includes the trimming of nails and the removing of armpit and pubic hair. Both men and women should remove armpit and pubic hair at least every forty days.
The practice of removing female body hair is not new, it can be traced back to ancient Rome and Egypt. Some of the first razors, made of copper, were used in Egypt and India around 3000 BCE. Egyptian women removed their head hair and considered pubic hair uncivilized.