Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your lady garden grow?

[PinkandBlueMotherofTwo]

So I’ve become a bit obsessed with this lately as let’s be honest when do you ever see other people’s real life lady gardens? So time for a straw poll:

Are you a bare naked kinda lady? Landing strip? Wide berth? Trimmed? Au naturel?

The media makes out it’s weird to have public hair. I’m thinking naked truth on channel 4, hair removal adverts, you name it. But what is the majority status quo? Do most women these days really remove all their hair? I’m taking the above examples as an unrepresentative sample of the population considering if you choose to go on a tv show and have your naked body scrutinised you will probably not go on there without some grooming for show.

So hit me

I’ll go first. I reserve bikini waxes for high days and holidays. I don’t shave as I get awful awful shaving rash. So I trim from time to time, but I am most definitely not neat and tidy. I do wax my legs and my eyebrows and shave my armpits regularly. Dh doesn’t care about the state of down there so I don’t bother doing that much but now I’m really self conscious when I use shared swimming changing rooms terrified of being judged by the bare waxers out there!

Bryjam
The times I tried different ‘styles’ were definitely for me rather than any of my DPs too.

Genuinely considering a full blown stripped vajazzle for the look on DH’s face though.

Used to wax but since last summer I haven’t bothered. Started IPL on the bikini line recently so I’ll see how that goes.
Since I got fat I can’t really see my Bush so I forget what’s down there. But generally full and fluffy. My partner trims and would prefer me to trim mine but I can’t be doing with the itchiness.

I hate these pervy polls.

I shave the edges so no strays can be seen outside the underwear, I was wondering if there's any curling product for down there mine tends to be straight and then flick upwards at the end, sometimes has a handlebar moustache look going on

Oh I definitely prefer my men hairy. I guess I quite like it when dh has trimmed a bit as sex feels better but no way would I want him to shave! And really if he never trimmed I wouldn’t care.

Surprised to hear of so many full bushes but power to the women, hair removal anywhere is a time consuming uncomfortable pita.

Whoever said naked attractionthats the tv show I meant when I said naked truth. Everyone seems to be hairless on there!

For those who shave/wax how do you avoid ingrown hairs? I trim/shave round the edges so I don't have spiders legs escaping from my swimming costume.

I use men’s razors, Gillette. I shave every other day and have never had ingrown hairs from them.

@reallemonade I used to shave, now wax. My tips are -

get Lycon hot wax (so much better, don't know why!)

use a cotton wool pad soaked in either glycolic acid / salicylic acid (used in face toners) - failing that, get dispersive aspirin in a tiny bit of water & swoosh that over [the acids help exfoliate the skin so can help avoid ingrowns]

When in shower / bath, give your fanny a scrub with a flannel (again helps to exfoliate)

If you do get ingrowns, use the aspirin trick, and the flannel (it'll be sore) & pointed tweezers.

It all sounds a faff, but I only use the acid toners etc for first day or so, until skin settles.

I love a man to be shaved / trimmed - I have some weird gag when (this is crude) my mouth's near hair.

My friend is a sexual health nurse in south London and said the norm from her clients is zero hair at all.
She mainly sees clients in their 20s/30s so possibly not typical of the whole spectrum of ages. And maybe channel 4 interviewed people of that age and found the same.

I trim the lot to a neat length with an electric trimmer, because it grows very long if I leave it, and i tidy up the edges with a razor now and then. Takes ten minutes total, whenever I remember.

A quick swipe round the shaved edges with a little bit of pixi glow tonic on a cotton pad a couple of times a week, and then a bit of light body lotion keeps ingrown hairs at bay, I used to get the odd one, and now don't, so it definitely works for me.

I used to wax it all off when I was with my ex, but I didn't really like how it looked or how it felt, the regrowth stage was itchy as fuck and I realised that I was being a fucking idiot going through all that hassle just because my ex (who maybe had a trim once a year if I asked him to) liked it, so I stopped. I'm much happier without both the waxing and the twatty ex

Was completely au naturel for 49 years apart from a brief time when I had a partner who was turned on by shaving me (though didn't care particularly whether I allowed it to regrow or not). Generally like contrasts and having pale skin and dark hair was quite erotic to me. Was having a good look at my vulva a couple of months ago as part of a personal growth kinda deal, and saw a huge clump of WHITE pubic hair. Had a Hollywood the following week and I'm amazed how unpainful it was and how much I like the results.

I have been influenced by MN posters who point out just how completely cultural all forms of hair removal are. I love hair on a man but wouldn't reel back in horror at a shaved bush which a lot do now (knowing me I'd barely notice). New partners haven't commented either way. Meh.

Thanks @LilQuim. I'm the same, I like a man to be trimmed and groomed, not keen on going down if it's a jungle, I think some men think the same way about women.

Nearly 60 and full Hollywood for years. I had my bikini line lasered about 20 years ago ( plus legs)
For some bizarre reason I have no armpit hair. Never have 😀

I use a wet electric shaver which doesn't cause bumps like a manual razor. I pretty much aim to take everything off as I have grey hair there now and I cannot bear to look at it!! I don't do it often enough though. I would love to go for waxing but not organised enough and would also have to grow it in between which I wouldn't like. Occasionally I go for a wax pre holiday.

@reallemonade I always say it's a "clean plate to eat off"!

I find the whole pubic hair removal thing bemusing. Where do these people find the time? I can barely manage to get to the hairdresser every few months.

Full triangle, then absolutely everything removed from the undercarriage.

Currently Au Natural, but it’s not a ‘70’s bush, man, some of those are huge 😳

I prefer it all waxed off (sex is better for me & prefer no hair in the way when I have my period) but the woman who used to do it has moved away and being a bit overweight I’m not that keen to go elsewhere.

Years ago I tried waxing myself. No fucking way am I trying that again.

Shaving I get too many ingrown hairs and the regrow is itchy!

Veet I have used but I have very sensitive skin and the balance between it being in long enough to work but not so long it burns is way too difficult. Especially underneath.

OH doesn’t have a preference which is lucky for him.

I prefer men au natural which works him. He’d shave if I asked, but is very happy I prefer it all unshaved

Boy shorts for swimming, but that’s because of the podge, not the hair!

Basically natural, but 2 or 3 times a year i do a small trim to make or easier to keep clean during periods.

When I remember I shave the sides and trim a bit, or else it is a full on 70’s bush, but that’s it. Have shaved all off a couple of times but it’s itchy growing back through and I’ve a 5 o’clock shadow by the next day plus I got loads of painful ingrown hairs. I tried waxing myself but it was agony and the beauty lady has enough problems waxing my eyebrows and always comments how strong they are, so no way am I letting her near my pubes.
DH occasionally has a trim but is mostly natural.
We are the wrong side of 40 and met before having it all removed was a thing.
In fact I remember watching SATC and Sarah Jessica Parker once exclaimed how she’d been mugged because they had waxed it all off and asked “is this a thing now?”, it certainly wasn’t a thing in our area or amongst my friends

After years of au natural we now both go for a no2 all round & I tweeze the few side strays. Dh is lucky his strays blend into his hairy legs. There is definitely more contact during sex without the tufty bush.

Zero hair removal here, except for the random wiry chin hairs and the bit between my eyebrows! The last time I did my armpits and legs was about 3 years ago when I was bridesmaiding for a friend and I didn't think it was really the right time to make a point about societal beauty expectations.

I haven't been in a relationship for many years but for all those wondering how women manage to get men to go down on them with a full bush - up until about 15 years ago, hardly anybody took their pubes off other than "tidying around the edges" when they went swimming. Men seemed to manage just fine! I remember my brother's lad mags during the 90s being full of tips for giving oral, and none of them suggested that pube removal was necessary. Pubes were just what they expected to find on a woman and that was that!

I find it depressing that so many young men seem to be disgusted by women's natural-state bodies these days. I haven't bothered dating for such a long time because I know very well that my body won't meet their expectations of what women are "meant" to look like and, frankly, I can't be arsed with all the maintenance!

I was looking at a photo of Germaine Greer with her legs around her ears. Proper 70’s bush. But how liberating. No one can see anything!