Why removing pubic hair is a bad style choice

[FastidiaBlueberry]

Article here

I'm a great fan of the fuller minge. I probably knock people sideways at the swimming pool, like the woman in .

I don't wax because I feel my body is sinful either. That's just laughable....

And where I swim it would be most likely be unacceptable. In France and Italy men aren't allowed to swim in public pools in board shorts, as they have an issue with loose hair, so why wouldn't excessive hair on women be the same problem?

I'm not talking about a few loose wisps - but last year in our local outdoor pool a woman insisted on standing crotch to my face whilst I was supporting my DS in the water. Her pubic hair was excessive and practically poking in my face, and yes, I did notice it. How could I not?

Actually, the aforementioned lady in the French pool wasn't far off that sketch.

I guess if she was standing so close to you, crotch to face, that her pubic hair was nearly poking you, the problem might have been more to do with her sense of personal boundaries than with her having hair. Does it bother you when people's head-hair is close to your face?

Is that the reason for the French no-board-shorts rule? I often wondered but I decided it was because the extra fabric in shorts harboured extra dirt, added to which people might wear them all day as shorts before getting in the water.

So presumably you have to wear swimming caps, too, in French pools to keep your loose hair confined?

In our local pool you are supposed to yes, but for some reason they never enforce the rule. Seems rather unbalanced.

I had always thought similar, and people wear board shorts all day for example, but the lady shouted at us about loose hair. (DS is 7 btw, not a hair in sight!)

And no, I would be less inclined to care about head hair personally, because there'd be less chance that it had come into contact with urine, and other body fluids. Would you rather balance a strangers Alice band, or their knickers on the end of your nose?

Urine and bodily fluids dissolve into the water though, surely? Unless you wear hermetically sealed pants? :S

The idea that the reason I shave my pubes off from time to time is because I've "internalised" some foul, negative message about my ladyparts is making me laugh out loud!

I first shaved when I was a teenager because, well, I decided to shave my legs and went a bit razor-happy. I hadn't seen porn, I didn't know people shaved down there - I just did it. I happen to prefer how it feels and looks - nothing more than that.

But this isn't about our personal feelings is it. It is and objective fact that if you remove pubic hair, you remove a layer of protection against bacteria. That is not more hygienic, it is less hygienic, whatever it actually feels like.

As for not feeling sinful...erm, I think literal-mindedness is not very interesting.

It's funny how things change.

When my mum gave birth to me, it was practise to shave women's pubic hair as it was deemed " cleaner and more hygenic", by the medics, but really it was just a way of de-sexualising women at their most vulnerable- on their backs, pushing. Shaving was gradually phased out as a " degrading to women" practise.

Now women do this willingly themselves- remove all body hair- in the name of " hygiene".

It was proven that shaving does not make anything any cleaner or more hygenic, in fact possibly the opposite as cited in the feature linked by the OP.

My personal view is that women who shave it all off do have some skewed body-image issues- hiding under the guise of " hygiene". It's a sign of mature feminity and fertility- along with boobs and armpit hair.

I remove armpit hair because it does trap sweat, and I don't like the look of bushy pits in sleeveless tops- but I regard that as a kind of social condiitoning as many european women have fuzzy pits and it's acceptable.

I wonder if the women who shave for "hygiene" are equally OCD about discharge, periods and other bodily functions?

This thread has gone daft. The fact that the hairies are trying to project OCD, insecurity, man-pleasing and self-loathing on to those of us who wax speaks volumes.

I don't swim. I don't wear anything that would show off my bush.

No-one apart from DP sees my minge. So that rules out the 'doing it because men expect it' argument.

I don't watch porn, read women's magazines or base my body choices around the cast of TOWIE.

I don't do it because having pubes feels sinful Even 7 years in a convent school didn't leave me with that much of a warped view. I don't flagellate myself on a daily basis when I do have hair. It doesn't bother me in the slightest. I just prefer to have it waxed.

I (ME) like how it feels. How it looks. And how it enhances my sexual experiences. There is nothing more to it than that.

Having it done doesn't hurt. I'm not embarrassed. I have a good natter with my beautician. I've never had spots, ingrown hairs or a rash. Stubble is not an issue with waxing.

I couldn't give a shiny shite if you wear your abundant pubes in a plait reaching your knees. Why do you all care so much what we do??

And if the hygiene argument is valid then how come the many of us who remove their hair aren't stricken with infections??

My DH doesn't like pubes in his mouth. I love oral sex so to make sure DH does it often I shave the lot. We are a couple in our forties.

Some women do have problems with ingrowing hairs. They have said so on this thread and I have seen the spots on friends bikini lines.
However, what worries me is that this is becoming what women are expected to do. Young girls receiving a message from all of the images they see that they must remove hair. My impression is that for many women it is not simply a personal choice but one they feel pressurised into doing.
So fine you have a personal choice. What about my friend who told me that I must get waxed 'for sex'?

If smoking causes lung cancer, how come my grandmother lived until she was 98 when she smoked all her life?

I don't care if you shave your pubes or not, am just amused by the defensive responses to the article which merely states the bleedin' obvious.

Am less amused by the frankly unintelligent grasping onto the use of the word sinful. It's a bit tiresome.

I have problems with ingrown hair. I have salon wax when I was younger. Switched to the razor when I got sick of the stubbly look. I am pale with dark black hair, so regrowth really shows. Only thing that fixed it was IPL. Because obviously hair isn't really growing back anymore .

I have ingrown hair from both shaving and waxing. So I know what I talk about. Others might not feel pain, might not look stubbly, might not have ingrown hair. I've never done a brazillian. I'm a a strict clear it up to my bikini girl. I laser off all my body hair, including the bikini line. So I'm not anti-bald. I just line my fanjo to look trimmed, not bald.

Haha I have a grandma in her 90s who smokes all her life too. She is still smoking and living.

And obviously also I agree with the article shaving and waxing can cause skin problems. Because I had it on my pits, legs and bikini lines until I discover IPL.

If smoking causes lung cancer, how come my grandmother lived until she was 98 when she smoked all her life?

I can't quite see the connection between shaving pubes and smoking. Are you trying to be ironic- or are you just being thick WRT smoking?

Bunny The fact that the hairies are trying to project OCD, insecurity, man-pleasing and self-loathing on to those of us who wax speaks volumes.

No one is trying to project anything. (God I hate it when non-psychotherapists use words like project so loosely) .

The point is simple: if women see their body hair as unhygienic, then it's pretty clear that they may regard bodily fluids, natural clean odour and other signs of womanhood as being distasteful- like the kind of women who buy "feminine " sprays and washes- if anything was so ironically named they are!

I also wonder if these men who find the odd hair "distasteful" were so fussy with their previous sexual partners- or if in fact their current ones are using their own hang ups as the reason? I have never ever met a man who didn't like a woman " natural"- and if I did he'd get the boot very quickly.

I cannot bring myself to read the article because it talks about horrible things.

However I do refuse to shave and I would never pay to get waxed either.

I tried shaving once or twice when I was young as an experiment and it was dreadful. However well you do it, there is regrowth, and stubble, it's horrific.

I decided it looked far better in its natural state, and felt better too. If it gets too much I just trim it a bit. It's not like anything decides to live in it if you keep it there.

I can understand not wanting it to stick out of your swimming costume but there are degrees of control and moderation is I think the way to go.

I hate having to do my legs as well but I do it. actually I just wear jeans all the time, even in summer. That's easier.

I feel sorry for blokes who have to go down on hairy bushes. I will never stop having Hollywood waxes. I do it for me because I like it. Just so happens my bf loves it too. I've been waxing for years and I've never had any infections.

I love pubic hair. I think it's like a cushion.

I love pubic hair too. I'm genuinely fond of my nice shiney curly patch, even the disallowed bits beyond the pale bikini line.

"It is an objective fact that if you remove pubic hair, you remove a layer of protection against bacteria"

Fastidia, seriously? You DO believe everything you read on the internet?

These 'experts' change their opinions every 6 months or so. How many times have we been told a certain food is bad for us, only to be told the opposite a few months down the line?

Sorry but Fastidia is right.

Like a lot of what you read in the papers- there's not a lot that is new.
Gynaes and dermos have been saying for years that pubic hair removal was not good- that it allows infections to take hold more easily than if hair was left well alone.

You might not have read it- but the info was out there.