The hair on your head keeps your head warm and provides a little cushioning for your skull. Eyelashes protect your eyes by decreasing the amount of light and dust that go into them, and eyebrows protect your eyes from sweat dripping down from your forehead.
Head hair, meanwhile, became thicker and more luxuriant, protecting our ancestors' brains from the midday sun, and also retaining heat in the cold. Genetic evidence suggests that we became furless around 1.7 million years ago.
A more widely accepted theory is that, when human ancestors moved from the cool shady forests into the savannah, they developed a new method of thermoregulation. Losing all that fur made it possible for hominins to hunt during the day in the hot grasslands without overheating.
Weiss speculates that one of the main reasons that human beings uniquely evolved a “thick bush of wiry hair” around their genital regions is its visual signaling of sexual maturation. (It also likely serves as a primitive odor trap and aids in the wafting of human pheromones.)
It reduces friction
Armpit hair prevents skin-to-skin contact when doing certain activities, such as running and walking. The same thing happens with pubic hair, as it reduces friction during sex and other activities.
Everyone has some hair in the area between their butt crack. This hair wicks away moisture and protects the sensitive skin around your anus. Some people have hair that appears thick or dark in this area. Other people have hair that is fine and harder to see.
“[Body hair] keeps mammals warm. It protects their skin from a lot of external influences, from abrasion, from water, from chemical attack, all sorts of things,” she says.
Millions of years back our ancestors were likely as hairy as chimpanzees and gorillas. Over the course of human evolution, our lineage traded its fur coat for a covering of minuscule body hairs and a few ample patches over the head, armpits and nether region.
Much later, when they evolved into primates, their tails helped them stay balanced as they raced from branch to branch through Eocene jungles. But then, roughly 25 million years ago, the tails disappeared. Charles Darwin first recognized this change in our ancient anatomy.
Recently, researchers uncovered a genetic clue about why humans have no tails. They identified a so-called jumping gene related to tail growth that may have leaped into a different location in the genome of a primate species millions of years ago. And in doing so, it created a mutation that took our tails away.
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.
There are some benefits to not shaving like better sex, a reduced chance for skin infections, and a more regulated body temperature. Ultimately, you should go with whatever style makes you feel comfortable.
Development and growth
Although vellus hair is already present in the area in childhood, chest hair is the terminal hair that develops as an effect of rising levels of androgens (primarily testosterone and its derivatives) due to puberty. Different from the head hair, it is therefore a secondary sexual characteristic.
Plenty of modern men choose to shave or "manscape" in order to maintain their preferred appearance. Many romantic partners find this look to be attractive and support the preference. Some men with dense or dark leg hair feel more confident in shorts and swimming suits if they've shaved beforehand.
Fun fact: We have hair follicles covering just about every inch of our bodies. The only guaranteed hairless spots are the lips, the palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet.
You really don't need to remove your pubic hair for any health reasons, sexual or otherwise, other than perhaps decreasing odor from sweat. When it comes down to it, pubic hair grooming is a personal preference.
The Hairiest Ethnicities: What Ethnicity Has the Most Hair? According to Personal Health via the New York Times, Caucasians are the hairiest ethnic group, with Semitic and Mediterranean people being the hairiest out of all Caucasians.
Still, there are genetically influenced variations in people: Whites tend to be hairier than blacks, and among whites, Mediterranean and Semitic people tend to be hairier than Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons. The least hairy peoples are Asians and American Indians.
Men all have roughly the same amount of testosterone. Certain genes make your hair follicles more or less sensitive to the amount of testosterone in your body. Basically, an enzyme converts testosterone into a substance that shrinks hair follicles.
Not shaving reduces skin-on-skin contact friction, which means when you do activities that involve arm movement, like running or walking, your skin is much less likely to get irritated by the friction. This might lead to fewer skin issues like rashes and ingrown hairs.
Protection from bacteria and other pathogens
It follows that pubic hair may protect against certain infections, including: cellulitis. sexually transmitted infections (STIs) urinary tract infections (UTIs)
According to a study published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, not shaving your armpits has little to no effect on body odor. As long as you're still regularly showering and using deodorant you should expect to smell the same as you always do.
Removing pubic hair may therefore make a person more susceptible to common infections, such as UTIs, vaginitis, and yeast infections. Hair removal can also irritate your skin, leading to skin infections such as cellulitis and folliculitis. In other cases, grooming-related injuries, such as cuts, could become infected.
In the 1920s, the new fashion for sleeveless tops and short dresses meant that the legs and armpits of American women were now visible in social situations, and advertisers seized the opportunity to encourage women to shave their legs and their armpits.
Stats show that men are split right down the middle when it comes to pube grooming, so it's really all about personal preference. Some men go completely pube-less, while others just keep it trimmed. Some men don't pay any attention to it beyond keeping it clean — and either way, it's totally okay!