I prefer to keep mine around 1 inch long, all around. I use scissors, and just snip away until it’s how I like it. If I let it grow unchecked, I think it would go to my knees.
I’ve never shaved it - at least, not much of it. On the rare occasions that I go swimming, I do shave the edges off, as it naturally extends a bit past the pantyline.
Don’t know about going bald. If I didn’t have to shave it or keep up with it myself, I’d probably agree to it. I really don’t like to shave. I’m blind as a bat, and shaving with my glasses off is not fun. I usually end up looking like I have mange, I miss so much.
I maintain it, maybe once a month or so, but I especially make sure it’s tidy for special occasions, like my wedding, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, etc. One time I got a wax just for the hell of it and my husband thought he missed something. He was afraid he forgot an anniversary or something.
I don’t have any more of an issue than I do when I have a “full bush”. I don’t have a ton of hair down there to start with, and I’ve found that some pants are less flattering and more prone to slight camel toe effect than others and have learned to avoid them. I don’t recall ever having an issue with camel toe in bathing suits, but I definitely don’t go for anything less than opaque either when covering in such a skimpy manner.
It isn’t about appearance. Trimming or shaving just seems functionally superior. If a woman doesn’t care about it, it makes me think they don’t really care about or like sex.
It is less of an issue for males, but even then trimming is functionally superior IMO, and therefore I do so. Appearance is irrelevant to me.
Is it just me, or do the majority of self-identified males in the thread seem to have a strong preference for severe trimming/shaving, to the point of thinking ill of the woman if she doesn’t?
I’ll be 47 this month and I have been going bowling ball since about the age of 17 (lost a bet with my then bf, now husband). I had always trimmed neatly before the bet. Once I shaved it all for the first time, I loved it! Don’t know why I didn’t think of doing it myself before. Since then I have mostly been bald, seldom would let a landing strip grow, but it is so much easier to just shave it all off when I’m shaving. And I love the soft smooth feeling. I’ll be shaving until I am physically unable to do so.
This makes me wonder if our preferences have a stronger grounding in biology rather than aesthetics. I have thick enough pubic hair that I’ve got a 5 o’clock shadow by 10 am. Strangely, I have very little leg hair. So, not only is there little reward for me shaving, but I’m rarely shaving my lower half anyway.
In my experience, most women had either shaved or really short pubes. There was one particular woman i dated who initially had full bush and was in her early 20s but after several months dating, she experimented and stuck with shaving for both aesthetics and oral/vaginal sex.
It’s not a big surprise that guys around my age (30) are into shaved, but if any women here encounter those guys who are not into some bush, then so be it.
It’s not hard to understand why there would be a strong preference, especially if they’re into cunnilingus. Smooth skin feels really nice and excess hair can get in the way. The only reason I trim my pubes is they get in the way (during oral or otherwise) if I don’t.
Is that a problem otherwise? The concept of being with a woman and not at least offering to do that is rather foreign to me. That said, it’s definitely easier that way, both from a no-hair-in-teeth perspective and an ease of access perspective.
I started doing Brazilian waxes about 15 years ago (late forties now) - I really don’t remember what it’s like to let it grow in. Yes, the wax hurts like hell, but after you get used to it, it’s not any worse than plucking your eyebrows (except it’s like plucking a giant eyebrow all at once). Once the first wax is completed, if you keep up on it (that is, re-wax when the growth is still light, rather than waiting until it all grows back), it is not painful at all. I’m too cheap to pay $60 when I can do it myself.
Waxing is infinitely better than shaving because there’s no itchy stubble, lasts SO much longer, and is so much smoother. I do it for myself, because I feel “neater” and “cleaner”, but the fact that my SOs have really liked it has been a bonus.
My current SO does a little manscaping to keep things neat (I know, men’s grooming was another thread), which I found a little odd at first; but he does it for himself because he feels better that way, and it doesn’t bother me one way or another.
What she said. The all-bare thing happened once to me (had a bit of a Nair incident where it accidentally got smooshed further into the hair than I’d intended) and it was not a nice feeling at all. Plus it wasn’t a turn-on to my then-boyfriend, now-husband, so it works for both of us. I keep it trimmed shorter and smaller, but more than a thin “landing strip.” No interesting shapes.
Maybe I’m just a weird outcast, but I actually prefer hair that I can run my fingers through. The only girl I ever dated who did the bowling ball was also one who wasn’t interested in going to bed (this was high school) and most of them I don’t think even trimmed before they started dating me. It was especially surprising for a girl I dated for a couple of years who had a pretty big age gap below me, since just about everyone else her age who she knew took it all off (and strangely enough, her early-50’s mom did too), but she didn’t think it was worth the trouble or pain. Another one of my ex’s actually shaved it all off right after we broke up, and even sent me photos to prove it. I wasn’t impressed.
I voted before I read the “females” part so let me just follow up with the “couple times a year thing” … just some scissors to cut it shorter, followed by dranoing the shower. If I don’t trim, it’s no big deal since it really doesn’t affect me one way or another…
Not gonna mention any specific names, but a couple of your dopers surprised me with your answers
I like how it feels. My partner (male) matches me, so I can’t say he’s holding me to a standard that he does not himself meet. 