The war on pubic hair must end
by EMILY GIBSON, MD

I must have missed the declaration of war on pubic hair.

It must have happened sometime in the last decade because the amount of time, energy, money and emotion both genders spend on abolishing every hair from their genitals is astronomical.  The genital hair removal industry, including medical professionals who advertise their specialty services to those seeking the “clean and bare” look, is exponentially growing.


But why pick on the lowly pubic hair?  A few sociological theories suggest it has to do with cultural trends spawned by bikinis and thongs, certain hairless actors and actresses, a desire to return to childhood,  a misguided attempt at hygiene or being more attractive to a partner.  Surely human beings are not so naïve as to be susceptible to fashion trends and biases.

It is a sadly misconceived war.  Long ago surgeons figured out that shaving a body part prior to surgery actually increased rather than decreased surgical site infections.  No matter what expensive and complex weapons are used—razor blades, electric shavers, tweezers, waxing, depilatories,  electrolysis—hair, like crab grass,  always grows back and eventually wins.   In the mean time, the skin suffers the effects of the scorched battlefield.

Pubic hair removal naturally irritates and inflames the hair follicles left behind, leaving microscopic open wounds.  Rather than suffering a comparison to a bristle brush, frequent hair removal is necessary to stay smooth, causing regular irritation of the shaved or waxed area.  When that irritation is combined with the warm moist environment of the genitals, it becomes a happy culture media for some of the nastiest of bacterial pathogens, namely group A streptococcus, staphylococcus aureus and its recently mutated cousin methicillin resistant staph aureus (MRSA).   There is an increase in staph boils and abscesses, necessitating incisions to drain the infection, resulting in scarring that can be significant.   It is not at all unusual to find pustules and other hair follicle inflammation papules on shaved genitals.

Additionally, I’ve seen cellulitis (soft tissue bacterial infection without abscess) of the scrotum, labia and penis from spread of bacteria from shaving or from sexual contact with strep or staph bacteria from a partner’s skin.

Some clinicians are finding that freshly shaved pubic areas and genitals are also more vulnerable to herpes infections due to the microscopic wounds being exposed to virus carried by mouth or genitals.   It follows that there may be vulnerability to spread of other STIs as well.

Pubic hair does have a purpose,  providing cushion against friction that can cause skin abrasion and injury,  protection from bacteria and other unwanted pathogens, and is the visible result of long awaited adolescent hormones, certainly nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about.

It is time to declare a truce in the war on pubic hair, and allow it to stay right where it belongs.  We owe it to our patients to encourage them to let it be.

Emily Gibson is a family physician who blogs at Barnstorming.

I guess Emily has never tried to fish a pubic hair out of the depths of the back of her throat for an hour or two until she gagged and teared up?  And I guess she has never watched her partner do the same?  

Besides I love the heightened erotic feeling when my clothes brush against the smooth bare skin.  Blue jeans rubbing on my clit.....Delicious!  And hair causes odor.  The less body hair the more lickable the body!

Disclaimer:  This is not a marketing message.  I currently do not have any tour plans for your area.  Time for another beer!  Lick on!

Ol' Sticks is right; she be a sex hatter. Sticks is always awsome.

I enjoy sex,just not so much with a childs genitals.Leave the hair!

Shave because it makes it look bigger?!?!?!? Also shaving slows the wrinkle process, my sack don't need any more wrinkles!  But as for sexually, hair helps emit pheromones. I not sure if that is as important as the other assests on a woman. Cannot remember last time made a visit to a provider and was making sure my biological chemisty was picking up the pheromones. Shave or don't shave, just play ball!

I think it was written by someone who just doesn't view sex as a main part of their life! She might be religious, be saving herself for marriage, and not understand why women would care to have sleek and shiny vag area.

Oh anyway, free speech and love ooh rah. This is obviously an opinion blog lets not get our panties in a wad.

....and Natalie, I would like to get your panties....off...oh how I love those shiny vag areas...LOL.  
I suppose I should start using an alias for this kind of post..... I know,  hardwoodjohnny

Posted By: AlastiNatalie

Oh anyway, free speech and love ooh rah. This is obviously an opinion blog lets not get our panties in a wad.

She may also like hair in her spaghetti.

without hair down there. As I continue to grow in to a mature young woman, I find some things (e.g. hair vs. no hair) not to be so black and white, and I love variety! xoxo

PS. I have been offline for the past week. I will return all emails shortly. Thank you for your patience.

Well groomed or none on the lady... as for myself I like wearing kilts which means the less the hair more the breeze

Hasn't made the news or anything so I guess people aren't dying by the dozens or being terribly disfigured by this practice.  Here's my idea of a truce.  Those who want to remove the hair are free to do so and those who don't are also free to do so.

Having slept around the world (ahem), I just learned to appreciate whatever I found.

That said, performing oral sex if someone is much more pleasant if the pubes are at least trimmed. Trimming is all that is really necessary, and even that is not, strictly speaking. If you're all natural, your partners just has to limit the area of stimulation to avoid mouth full of hair, that's all.

Nothing especially dirty OR clean about armpit/pubic/leg/anal/chest hair so long as you wash. I've slept with hairless Brazilians who stank much more than the hairiest Europeans.

... the young woman doctor started giving me that line. Kind of pissed me off, so I told her "Honey, at my age I trim everything. I trim my nose hairs, my ears, my eyebrows. I pluck a couple hairs that grow out the side of my nose. Hell, the drops I take for glaucoma make my eyelashes grow so I trim them. I trim my chest hair, neck hair, underarm hair, and have my back waxed about once a quarter. Why wouldn't I trim down there, too? You ever get a pubic hair caught in your zipper? Hirsuteness is just another facet of aging."

Maybe I wasn't quite that eloquent and concise, but it shut her up.

Was that TMI?

It might have been, but shutting up a doctor is a rare treat. Nicely done.

Getting my degree I realized that there are people that got the same degree as me but with a letter grade average of a D.  So remember Ds get degrees, meaning you doctor might be a dumbass... and getting to shut is indeed a rare treat!

Shaving and waxing do have their health risks. They DO make micro-cuts in the skin that can let bacteria and viruses thru that otherwise would not. This was a good article for explaining risks. We all know the benefits. We need to know both, and so make informed decisions. That said, trimming is a much safer option.

After all, no one gets out of it alive.  I'm sure I would live longer if I changed some habits but life would not be as much fun.

so they can make their own calculations as to what is acceptable risk, and what is not. With all emphasis on shaving these days, I thought this was a good contrary opinion article. I may not agree with some of it, but it's food for thought nonetheless.

I have such a fat clit and lady parts that taking away the hair is a free pass to desensitization, which I certainly don't want. I leave all my body hair to nature and have found that most men are overwhelmed with appreciation to be with a provider who actually looks older than 12.