# Females: Do you groom your pubic hair? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 12, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205 "2010-03-12T04:29:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/41 "2010-03-12T21:58:51Z")
I don’t think that the women of this forum represent an accurate picture of women in general. All this poll shows are the grooming habits of the type of women who come to this forum, would come into this type of thread and respond to this type of poll. What’s this forum’s chief female demographic? But just to show what I mean- every single girl I’ve dated has been completely shaved. That’s 100% of the women I’ve _studied_. So 100% of women must go completely shaved, right? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/42 "2010-03-12T22:00:54Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Er… maybe TMI, but I’m wondering… > > I’ve got a question- people who let it grow, what texture do you have? Not having seen other people’s parts, but is pubic hair generally course and kinked? Or do the befurred girls have some sort of soft, downy tufts. Mine’s coarse and kinky. I mean, it’s not really pretty, but honestly, it’s not like anyone is seeing it. Though most people don’t see my legs in winter and I still wax those, so I don’t know. I guess I’m just not that bothered by how my cooch and surrounding cooch area looks. ETA: Didn’t mean that as snarky. I’m just saying it’s not like some beautiful downy hair, but I still don’t really remove it. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/43 "2010-03-12T23:02:03Z")
It’s **coarse** , people, **coarse**! The word of course, I’m not telling anyone what mine is. 😉 Before you guys start going down the path of generation, please stop to consider that there is a mix of women who have answered this poll, whose answers vary, and are all over the age map. Putting it simply as a “young” vs “old” is incorrect. There may be a shift, but it is nowhere near as sudden and big as some of you guys think. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/44 "2010-03-12T23:59:43Z")
Well, some of us have been fairly sexually active for a few decades, and…no. It was not NEARLY as common 20 years ago, anywhere. 20 years ago, if you did it, it was then considered pretty kinky. Ok, relatively kinky, relative to ‘normal’. 😉 Go ahead, define that! Now it’s normal. Not that I’ve been EVERYWHERE, so for form’s sake let’s keep it to unmarried women of childbearing years in the USA. In the last century 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Deanna\_D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@Deanna\_D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deanna_D)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/45 "2010-03-13T00:46:06Z")
Didn’t vote in the poll, since there was no option for ‘got tired of the constant grooming and got it lasered.’ But yeah, I like to keep my girly bits almost hairless, and decided to make it a permanent deal. And for the record, it’s because \*I \*prefer it that way…not to please my man. Although he seems quite pleased with the results! ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/46 "2010-03-13T00:46:36Z")
I’m not talking how it was X years ago. I’m talking about right now. I’m saying that there is no sharp divide between the group ages being mentioned as to where it is more “common” (20’s, early 30’s), and the ones where it is less so (30’s, 40’s). Why do I say this? Because I know (from other threads) the relative ages of the women answering in this thread. And they’re all over the map (in age and in responses). ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/47 "2010-03-13T01:01:04Z")
I shave everything but allow it to grow in for a while. My stubble isn’t sharp as all my body hair is relatively fine (pubes are still pube-like, but they are soft to the touch). Longer hair is itchy and uncomfortable so once I start to feel it, I shave again. I am 24. I didn’t groom at all (pits or bits) until I was 18 or so, and the first time I shaved it all I preferred it so much I have rarely gone longer than a couple weeks between hair removal. My biggest issue when I had a full bush is that I got ‘pube soreness’ (like scalp soreness when your ponytail is too tight or your hair has been styled differently). The hair would get mashed this way or that from clothing or activity and my skin would be so tender, it was really a PITA. I have also seen a big reduction in odor (pits and bits) and ease in cleaning with no hair. The aesthetics are last on my list - looks-wise I would be just as happy with trimming or partial removal as long as I didn’t have fuzz all down my thighs, but full removal on a regular basis is just the most comfortable and easy (trying to get a patch up top even with a razor is difficult, and then the ‘pube soreness’ issue crops up as soon as it’s past a certain length). ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/48 "2010-03-13T01:12:25Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > I don’t understand these kinds of comments. Lemme 'splain. To me, my pubic hair is a physical characteristic showing I have gone through puberty and that I am a woman. I keep it clean and tidy, and I don’t let it peek out from undies or swimsuits. I am not interested in ‘beautifying’ my pubic hair, because I don’t see anything wrong with it. However, my unfortunate experience in sexual relationships has been that some male partners expect me to conform what they saw in pornographic pictures and videos, and that if I don’t, I must therefore be less feminine, less sexy, and less desirable. Having fallen for that bullshit view a couple of times and taken damage from it, I’m now very, very protective about my boundaries and my decisions regarding my body and its appearance. I have shaved. It was nice for a day and then it was a hell of prickles, ingrown hairs, and itching. I have never waxed. I’m not saying I never would, but I find the look very artificial and slightly distasteful. It would take some powerful convincing for me to give it a try, and honestly, I doubt I’ll ever be in a relationship with a man who is both that interested in me grooming that way _and_ is not trying to impose some unrealistic expectation on me. I could be wrong. That’s me. I would never, _ever_ pass judgment on another woman’s grooming decision. So long as everyone’s a consenting adult, and - where appropriate - in private, I support an individual’s right to shave, wax, espalliere, bonsai, prune, paint, sculpt, braid, weave, or otherwise manipulate their pubic hair in whatever manner is pleasing to them. Just don’t give me a hard time for not joining in. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/49 "2010-03-13T01:37:54Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > I would never, _ever_ pass judgment on another woman’s grooming decision. Just don’t give me a hard time for not joining in. Certainly not. But the child/barbie comparison has _so_ often been used by women who were indeed passing judgment on other women’s decisions about what they did with their short and curlies. The implication was always that women who removed all or most of their pubic hair were too stupid to know that they were victims of a society that was trying to infantilize them and/or force them to achieve unattainable standards of beauty. In addition, they contended that there was a terrible double standard regarding body hair removal, and that it was sexist for women to be obligated to do all that extra grooming when men were considered fine just the way they were. The irony, of course, is that the double standard is diminishing, but not because women are grooming less, but because men are grooming more. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/50 "2010-03-13T01:45:06Z")
It seemed to me that the percentages would vary with age. I went Googling, and didn’t find a real survey, but I found an online survey over at [MisterPoll](http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/204280/results) that includes age information. The numbers are a little wonky, because every sub-poll is independent, and they weren’t all answered consistently. For example, 271 people said they were women, but 299 people answered the “if you are female, how much do you shave” question (the line “Direct Total” below). They then asked the ages for each shaving category, and that added up to 379 responses. All three of those numbers should have been the same. I collected the results relevant to the OP’s poll below (there are results for men as well). I thought there’d be a greater shaving percentage for younger women, but that isn’t especially apparent from the numbers. ```auto response -> complete partial trim none Total Age under18 46 12 7 4 18to25 64 23 22 7 26to35 39 14 13 7 36to45 36 16 10 6 over45 34 9 2 8 Total 219 74 54 32 379 Women 271 Direct Total 173 52 50 24 299 ``` ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/51 "2010-03-13T01:56:21Z")
I have hair. Deal with it. I’ll make sure it’s not peeking out of a bathing suit and I keep it clean, but beyond that I don’t worry about it. I don’t care how other women deal with their pubic hair. I _do_ care if a man starts pressuring me to depilatate my entire body below my earlobes on a daily basis because I find shaving a PITA and waxing is not something I’d consider because I don’t like pain. Don’t tell me it doesn’t hurt or I"ll get use to it - I don’t want unnecessary pain, period. It’s on par with people who push me to get my ears pierced. I _don’t want them pierced_ I don’t care that the pain will go away, and I don’t want yet another pile of grooming and accessories to deal with. That’s me. What you do with your body is up to you, just do what makes you happy. That said, shaving/trimming pubes at all ages does seem a lot more common these days than 20 years ago. I will also point out that porn isn’t the best source of information on what the typical woman is doing. Most porn is produced to please _men_, it’s not about what women want (although there’s no question that some women like porn and that’s OK with me, they’re just not the primary audience). What women do with their pubic hair and for what reason could differ considerably from what men like to see women do with their pubic hair. ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/52 "2010-03-13T02:01:22Z")
If by “groom” you mean “shave” then yes! ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/53 "2010-03-13T02:56:39Z")
> [@Pullet](#): > > Mine is decidedly on the course and kinky side. I actually didn’t realize it came in a straight and downy variety until I was studying a bunch of Asian nudes for an art class. Actually downy, or just looks it? I’m 0% Asian, and mine isn’t at all curly. I wouldn’t call it downy, though. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/54 "2010-03-13T03:32:56Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > I’m not talking how it was X years ago. I’m talking about right now. I’m saying that there is no sharp divide between the group ages being mentioned as to where it is more “common” (20’s, early 30’s), and the ones where it is less so (30’s, 40’s). > > Why do I say this? Because I know (from other threads) the relative ages of the women answering in this thread. And they’re all over the map (in age and in responses). Oh! My apologies for going on, then. 20 years ago I had a friend who pierced both her nipples because her kids did. Being that she was 52 at the time \ I suspect her kids thought it was rather less cool after that, but c’est la vie. Once something’s relatively mainstream, I’m not sure there is such a strong divider as to who will or won’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/55 "2010-03-13T04:08:39Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > I can’t help but think this is sort of a ‘new’ thing. And by new, I mean not so common 20 years ago, and very common now. Classical art suggests otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/56 "2010-03-13T04:12:01Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Classical art suggests otherwise. The classical period may indeed seem to have been only 20 years ago, but I assure you it was quite a bit before either of our times. 😉 It’s not surprising; went from Woodstock hairy to lean and bald and will swing back and forth for as long as we hunger for something ‘new’. Maybe we can start a trend of shaving everything, and then tattooing it all back on! And I’m sure if I google that, someone will already be doing it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/57 "2010-03-13T04:23:18Z")
Bowling ball, it’s just so much cleaner and I seem to get more oral offers. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/58 "2010-03-13T04:24:40Z")
I started shaving completely last summer. Wasn’t pressured into it, just wanted to try it. I LOVED it! Just feels so much cleaner, especially during my period. Haven’t been intimate with anyone since the end of December, so have kind of let it go. I would love it if I could permanently be hairless from the neck down for the rest of my life! If I had the bucks, I’d do it. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/59 "2010-03-14T17:12:33Z")
I used to just trim with my husband’s beard trimmer, until this year. I decided I wanted to get a Brazilian wax, so I had to go four weeks without trimming at all. Yeah, it hurt, and it took about an hour but it was so worth it! I prefer a “landing strip” so it wasn’t a full Brazilian. But was $50, and we live on one income, so it seemed expensive to repeat it. Now I shave (or he does it for me) once a week or so. I lotion thoroughly afterwards, and haven’t had any issues with razor burn, ingrown hair, or bad stubble itchiness. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205/60 "2010-03-15T16:12:05Z")
I didn’t start grooming until I looked down one day and realized that I was going gray down south first. Rug went salty before the curtains did. (My head hair is still not very gray, but my pubes are salt and peppa!) I was only in my mid-30s, so I was horrified. To avoid looking like I’m 90-years-old when I’m nekkid, I keep a nice, neat little Marines-style buzz cut going (I use a #1 guide on my shaver), carefully trimmed and edged… It’s like a golf course down there now. [insert obligatory hole in one joke here] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/females-do-you-groom-your-pubic-hair/532205.md?page=4)