pubic hair - a question

[Mousie]

what do men like generally. do they care? I have tried most things including a Hollywood last year as a special treat for him... and now am bored and a bit tired of ingrowing hairs. Do men notice what is down there, quantity? whether it is trimmed or not, etc.. Obviously stray pubes outside bikini line not nice, I get that. my dh is very reticent about what he actually likes - I think he is scared of making any comments on my appearance in case I cry or shout! quite right. anyway, I wanted to canvas this one.

I'm cracking up at John mutton chops!! I have tears rolling down my face!!

Swedes - do you not remove hair from your legs and underarms?

No different to removing pubic hair - the question is entirely cultural.

lol, anna, cultural as well as genetic.

I don't need to remove any hairs from my body (except maybe tidy up my eyebrows from time to time). I did not even need a shave for my caesarean. I am quite tidy and neat.

Some people (me included) don't have much body hair .

But when it comes to the conscious act of deciding whether or not to remove it, surely that is cultural?

Am currently debating whether or not to pluck my eyebrows. Not plucking them is also a cultural decision - like having short fingernails, very rive gauche .

Am also trying to convince my partner that grey hair is so much more chic than dyed. He is still under the cultural influence of his 16th arrondissement childhood and Neuilly-sur-Seine first married life .

DP says he prefers the more natural look with just a gentle bit of trimming!

Luckily I don't suffer from knicker spiders, so it's one less chore I have to do!

I can't believe this thread. 'What sort of pubic hair do men (plural!?) like on women'? Why? Why, why, why?

Anna, I understand what you are saying.

In the context of what you are describing, it is possible that cultural preferences can be so specific to an individual (in that my sister and I have the same childhood and environment, yet I choose to shape my eyebrows but she does not) that it amounts to a personal preference?

People can be steeped in the same culture, yet have different preferences ie for hairy look, neat look, the stubbly look (ingrown and all) or the arguably unnatural hairless look.

Generally I think that what we fondly like to imagine are our personal preferences actually stem from pretty widespread cultural preferences ie we are not as "individual" as we flatter ourselves that we are .

oh yes, I don't deny the influence of culture. But our individual make-up also comes into play as to which strands of culture we assimilate into our preferences and values more than others.

I don't flatter myself about being an individual but I don't accept that I am a sheep either. Certainly I come on mn precisely because I want to loosen cultural influences and open my eyes to others' perspective.

I agree that the decision to remove or keep hair is cultural. So are we making the removal of pubic hair cultural in this country? At what age should I subject my daughter to the waxing salon? Am I going to teach her that her public hair is something to be ashamed of?

There is undoubtedly a point in life when one becomes aware of the absolutely massive influence of culture upon our lives (for good and for bad) and that awareness enables one to make freer choices, be less bound by the influence of family and environment and be less of a sheep, for sure.

The globalisation of people means that there are ever more people who travel about and pick and choose the "best" from each culture.

Swedes - did your mother not teach you that underarm hair should be removed? Mine did.

As for pubic hair - well, my daughter knows I remove mine. At some point we might discuss why - but not for a while .

So why do you Anna? Genuine question.
FWIW My mum didn't teach me to remove any body hair apart from teaching me to bleach my top lip and pluck the middle of my unibrow (gosh I sound attractive ). She was gutted when I started shaving my legs and arm pits. I will be too when the dd's become aware .
FWIW I truly do not thing the naked look should be encouraged.
Gosh. What a subject for me to have an opinion on!

think

I do think Anna is making a good point about 'cultural' pressure in regards to depilation and what we are taught or think is 'normal'.

I have a friend who is French and we've discussed this - well, not this topic specifically (!) - and she states that French women are expected to spend more time on their appearance, and men comment on it more freely then they would do over here. I realise that's a massive generalisation but just using it as an example.

Also, Mr 'pubic hair is disgusting' was from the Czech Republic and was of the opinion that women over there take more care of their appearance than British women. Again, MASSIVE generalisation.

Personally speaking I prefer to shave my arms and legs and trim my pubic hair, otherwise it grows down the side of my legs which I really dislike.

Anna - My mother is French

VanillaPumpkin - I started removing my pubic hair because it was culturally becoming the aesthetic norm. I'm not a particularly hairy person, but I found myself finding lots of bushy pubic hair less and less appealing.

I'd "done" my bikini line for ages, btw.

Once I'd started doing much more radical removal, I also discovered that sex is much, much, MUCH more pleasurable without pubic hair - for me and for my partner.

So I continue

So I presume she taught you to wax, not shave then, Swedes?

Is it really? I always thought the hair was important to avoid friction (burn) issues.
FGS it is 1100 and I am talking about hairless sex and popped in on Twigs sex thread too . I must do my cleaning.....

I'm inclined to agree with Swedes on this, but that's interesting about the sex, Anna. Does your partner remove all his pubic hair too then? Is it much, much, much, MUCH more pleasurable in consequence?

I thought the sight of pubic hair was meant to be sexually stimulating, as it indicates someone is sexually mature?

Janos - by that argument the sight of underarm hair ought to be sexually stimulating.

No, I think what we find sexually stimulating is a mixture of the biological and the cultural. And soft, hairless skin is much more attractive to men, I find, than rough and/or hairy skin (wherever it may be).

No, my partner doesn't go in for hair removal himself - he's a testosterony alpha male type not a metrosexual.

You would think, wouldn't you Janos.

Ruskin is famously said to have fainted on his wedding night on the appalling discovery that his wife had pubic hair.

"Janos - by that argument the sight of underarm hair ought to be sexually stimulating."

Um, well I like it so I guess it is!

Some men do too of course.

I do see where you are coming from with the soft skin thing Anna - I mean, I can see why men would find that appealing. But equally, lots of men like women to have pubic hair as well.

I suppose it's very much a personal preference. But I certainly didn't appreciate having my pubic hair described as disgusting!

Oh yes, that's true about Ruskin. What a big jessie, eh?