Are we heading back to the 1970s?

[sxround]

I am unexpectedly back into the dating pool again and wondering what to do with my pubes?
I know for many years they have been out of fashion and the bald look was the default option. Personally, I don’t like shaving but also don’t want to send a potential partner running either. So what is your current style? If you could just say smooth, trimmed or full bush along with your age to give me an idea of current trends, that would be a big help. Thanks x

I am currently:

51
full bush.

@SunshineShowers543566 I use Lumea for a full Hollywood effect. I've never had any issues

Interesting those that have used the IPL. Must admit it sounds ideal, albeit takes a long time for full effect. I have been hairless for such a long time now a more permanent solution would be ideal

@Gymbunny2025

Thanks for that info. I wanted to buy my partner one from Costco, but the Lumea rep said not for intimate areas and I wondered if they were just being over cautious and went with that advise.

Far be it for me to contradict a rep, but it also says this on instructions for Veet and other epilation creams. Plenty of people use it without any trouble. But not everybody and it could prove to be an expensive experiment.

Yes yes. It's totally your choice but if you are prickly as a cactus and it is giving him a facial rash he may choose not to go down on you which is his choice. You can't someone to disfigure themselves for your pleasure

Men with perma-stubble rubbing their faces on me is worse because the skin down there is more sensitive 🤣.

I swim regularly and of the ladies I see in the shower - all ages, shapes and cultures - the vast majority have pubes. I find this quite reassuring as when I have read threads like this and others on Mumsnet it has made me feel I'm in the minority by not removing mine.

I used to shave in my 20s but got sick of the maintenance so let it go which I was fine with for years but then finding myself single in my early 40s I decided to shave it off to see if I preferred that again. It was shaven when I met my new partner and during discussions he doesn't care what I do but generally prefers it gone so I have continued that because I like it and I know he does too. Might consider something more permanent but for now I just shave every second or third day.

Interestingly, this subject cropped up when 7 of us (all female) were out for a birthday celebration recently. The age range was late 20s to early 50s. As the old saying goes “drink talks”.

The eldest and the youngest along with me were in the “all off camp”.

One had a landing strip (now, that is high maintenance!), one lightly trimmed (scissors) occasionally and 2 went for their bikini line only.

A question to those who prefer to be au naturel: do you shave your legs and/or underarms, and if you do, how do you delineate?
I get that some women regard pubic hair as a sacred expression of femininity, and I respect that right to choose (I prefer not to have pretty much any body hair), and there are an increasing number of women who don't shave their armpits, but I get the impression there are still very few who don't shave their legs.

No, I rarely shave my armpits and legs completely bare. It's a political decision - women have been expected to be hairfree for decades, and yet still so many women say, 'but I just prefer to have smooth legs', without seemingly any acknowledgement or understanding of the societal pressure/expectation that might have informed that "preference". I try to keep mine (in the visible months anyway) short enough that I don't look completely gorilla like/feel really sweaty, and long enough that it looks deliberate and not that I've just forgotten to shave for a week. It's a delicate balance that probably exists only in my own head 😂

So I'm just out there as proof that women can wear shorts or short skirts with hair on their legs and it's not the worst thing in the world. I never catch anyone frowning at my legs anyway 😂 and I have come to think that people don't actually notice. I do ocasionally shave my legs - see it as part of a "dressing up" outfit.

Armpits I will sometimes shave if it's particularly warm, or if there's some reason to (recently I was doing a course that involved physical assessment and my partner may have had to palpate axillary lymph nodes, so I shaved because I thought that was nicer than probing through hair. I am certain that the blokes on the course did not have this thought). My boyfriend actually prefers a fuzzy armpit and will (light-heartedly) complain when I shave 😀

38 and I am trimmed to accommodate bikini.
There are comments from women with male partners. I see a full range of answers. How about women with female partners, do you have preferences?

@PaulRevere - Surely the expected to be hair free logic also applies to men shaving their faces. Also, in my view, deodorant and hair don’t go together very well. The only hair on my body is on my head; I unashamedly do prefer it that wayit’s not for anyone else's benefit. But l wouldn’t expect anyone to follow my example. I have been asked in the distant past by men to grow my pubes, sorry but that’s not my style. I know a few men who shave their underarms too.

@mollymile - I’m past the curious stage. ‘Prefer no hair or minimal hair, but not strongly so. I know lesbian women who remove their hair and others who don’t.

Allegedly hair removal was popular in Ancient Roman and Greek bathhouses as a service offered; I’m to young to know first hand 😀.

I'm fuzz free all over as I can't imagine wearing a bikini (at the gym/spa/beach pool) and having hair visible. Partly this is my own insecurity/what others would think. Partly I think it looks better for me.

I also prefer oral on me hair free (but do like a guy to not be completely bald down there!)

It was hairs poking out at school swimming lessons and giggles from others back then which first got me to go hair free. All off was and still easier to maintain than doing part. Razor was bought for me by my mother and removal advice from elder sister.

@StarlightLady men's faces and beards are their issue, I really don't have an opinion on them.

And I think that Mumsnet contributors on the whole are more likely to have examined their preferences in context, my comment was very much directed at the wider society than this thread 😊

Thanks @BeenThere101

I have been having a look at one again. They appear to have gone up like everything since last time I looked but it could quite possibly been on a Costco deal.I might just wait it out again when it does go on offer.

Thank you

I used to do nothing other than a trim. Then a decent tidy up if I went swimming because I'd be self conscious.
Since becoming single in my late 30s a few years ago I decided to try a wax with landing strip.
I find any form of hair removal there causes me issues. No matter what prep and care routine I try I get ingrowns, pustules, the whole lot. I find that it generally stays nicer for longer after a wax so go for that route or I'd just be a constant cycle of stubble and puss spots if I shaved.
I tried all off but I got really bad irritation and it was not pleasant.
I also prefer the idea that a man is turned on without it being hair free because it's natural.
But I'm also the type who wants to dye my hair grey/white as I'm almost all in on that front too so I'm probably not the most stylish/socially accepted on a fashion/norm front.

Try IPL (if you want to!) I no longer get any irritation or ingrowing hairs that I did with waxing

Prefer smooth
Clothes were invented to keep us warm.
No need for extra hairy layers around the best bits to deal with as a back up 😂

A long time ago, I read something about vestigial body hair, especially pubic and under arm, being about trapping scent rather than warmth. They are, after all, pretty warm parts of the body. Obviously humans have out-evolved the need to communicate with scent, that doesn't explain other body hair or why men have retained more, and I don't remember how dubious the source of info was, but I could imagine the idea having some validity.

This makes sense to me. I know 2 women who decided to stop shaving their underarms and then started again, because they said that the hairy armpits came with BO, no matter what deodorant they used.

@StarlightLady That's my experience too.