Shaved. Completely please. Landing strip or little heart if you must but I don’t really see the point.
I see absolutely nothing pre-pubecent about it either. The suggestion alone is absurd.
Try the shaving yourself and you might understand why some people prefer not to. It itches like hell, and you do get bumps and ingrown hairs. We’re talking some pretty significant discomfort. If you shave regularly, this subsides after a while, but lots of people can’t be bothered.
I have no itching, razor bumps, or ingrown hairs. It’s smooth and soft and so pretty.
And another thing: if someone looked at my vagina, framed by full grow woman thighs, wide, “child bearing” hips, killers legs, and huge knockers, and they think “prepubescent” - it’s a pretty safe bet that I’m not the one with a problem. And I’d run far and fast away from that creep.
“Natural” is a funny word. I guess I should stop shaving my legs and armpits, too. Because, you know, shaving makes one “ugly”. To each their own.
That is one of the daftest things I’ve heard on the SDMB for some time. How is “natural” and “nuisance” in anyway related either positively or negatively?
Tuberculosis is natural, does that make it somehow not a nuisance?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with liking or not liking pubic hair.
Nothing wrong with liking to be natural, or shaved, of course not. Calling other people “gross” though, for having pubic hair, or saying, “I don’t want to look like a pre-pubescent child!” isn’t okay.
I do agree with nyctea scandiaca that there’s some sort of backlash going on against women who aren’t bald as a cueball. If I read one more comment from some adolescent boy saying, “Eeeew, pubes are gross!” I’m going to hurl. It’s one thing if you prefer that sort of thing, but it’s NOT gross to not shave. As long as you wash regularly and trim every so often, you shouldn’t be gross.
And hair removal cream-I assume you’re talking about Veet, or Nair? It says right there on the bottle you’re NOT supposed to use it on your genitalia.
You’ve been shaving for ten years.
I’m not against it. I do it myself. I’m just saying that it can be a hard habit to start, and it can be a tedious habit to keep. I don’t blame anyone who feels it isn’t worth the trouble.
Usually I settle for a beard trimmer and some conditioner, but I’ll break out the shaving cream if I’m feeling lucky. In addition to all the reasons already said, I live in the tropics. Industry standard down here, in my experience.
I really second this. I’m tired of hearing it, too. It’s for ME and if you’re not interested, that’s OK, but don’t project!
I said this sarcastically last time a thread like this came up, and I’ll say it seriously now. There are other, subtle ways to tell if I’m pre-pubescent or not. As Ana says later, just because one likes it smooth down there - or not - is no indication of anything so please stop it!
Ok…so I should never clip my toenails, never cut my hair, never apply lotion, nor wash anything, nor brush my teeth, nor wear clothes…after all, all of that is “natural”. And I only put “natural” in quotes because you had to go and put “nuisance” in quotes.
Keep it unshaved, keep it shaved. Plenty of men have professed loud preferences for either side.
Aye, I have been. Just to be clear, I wasn’t responding to anyone in particular. There’s just these huge, blanket generalisations that for some reason those of us who prefer to keep it shaved are somehow dirty or gross, or influenced by some kind of media. I’ve been shaving since I was a teenager, and no one convinced me to do it. I didn’t like mine. For the record, I want to say that I don’t think that anyone who doesn’t shave it is gross or unclean. I said it makes ME feel cleaner. That doesn’t mean I really am, or that anyone who doesn’t is unclean.
I’m not a slut, or dirty, or gross. I’m not unnatural, or weird, or encouraging pedophelia. My vagina is beautiful, just like everyone’s is, and I wish more women could feel comfortable enough with themselves that they don’t feel the need to bash me over something they don’t see or have to deal with. My husband loves me for who I am, not what I do to my vagina, or legs, or armpits. I don’t have to care what another man thinks of it. I will, however, promote the idea that it isn’t filthy, slutty, gross, or unnatural, because there are a lot of women out there who might like to experiment, but are afraid to because of all the ignorance that still abounds in this area.
There are so many beautiful bodies out there, of every shape and size, hair colour and skin colour, shaved and unshaved. I get tired of one group trying to paint another group who does something they do not prefer as something twisted and dirty. It’s not. It’s beautiful, natural, and wonderful. All of it. From the biggest bushes to the smoothest shaved, every women should love their bodies. And they shouldn’t let any man or woman dictate what they should or shouldn’t do with themselves.
And that’s where I’m coming from. 
I have a feeling most of us are on the same page about this, but there’s some miscommunication and assumptions going on. I’m sure I’m guilty of it, too.
It works fine so long as you keep it away from more sensitive skin. When i’ve used it, it’s been for the outer areas closer to legs/belly. For the…um… how you say…landing strip type areas it’s better not to use as i believe it stings like a mofo. Razors are best there IMO.
Off topic slightly but wasn’t there once some artist who didn’t realise that women also had pubic hair and was grossed out by his wife?
Turn on. Big time. Mmmmmmm.
Oh, I thought you meant to go bare. I use Veet for my bikini area if I have to wear a bathing suit.
Quite frankly, the idea of sticking a blade in my naughty bits doesn’t appeal to me-I’m a klutz who tends to cut myself shaving my LEGS often enough. And waxing? OWIE!
Blame George Lucas.
Stranger
What really bugs me most about all this is that it’s a fad promoted by the pornographic industry and media. Only in the past 15 or so years has porn (movies, images, magazines like Playboy) been featuring shaved women. Ever see old playboys from the 1960s, 70s or 80s? Or “vintage” porn? The women had pubic hair…
The problem is this: Boys grow up looking at girly magazines and watching porn that soley feature bald women. So that is what they come to expect, they think that is normal, and they think it is the standard of beauty for women. They don’t know any better; they have never seen any different. So when they see what a woman REALLY looks like down there, they will likely respond with disgust. Therefore women feel a pressure to shave their pubes so they are seen as attractive and not responded to with disgust.
So in the end, in my opinion, what you have is that the majority of women who shave are doing so out of societal pressure born out of and promoted by the porn industry. I don’t want to follow some trend started by the porn industry!!
Maybe some people like Anastasaeon would do it regardless, but I’ll bet they are in the minority. I really doubt that if it were not the standard for naked women in the media, that many women would just all on their own come up with the idea to shave all their pubes off. I just doubt that it would occur to most people.
A side note: my theory is that the porn industry started featuring shaved women so they could get better “penetration” shots. Seriously. Think about it. In porn nowadays they often feauture the close-up penetration shot. You can’t see it that well if both people have full pubic hair.
I gave my pubes a perm.
+1
Hey, nyctea scandiaca, your words with a few small changes.
Seems a majority of women survived the pit (and leg) shaving trend without much emotional scaring.
Thoughts?
You say this like it’s a bad thing. 
That doesn’t necessarily follow. You’ll get hopelessly tangled up if you try to work out to what degree media dictates fashion and to what degree it merely reflects it.
Pubic grooming has gone in and out of style since time out of mind. It wasn’t hard-core pornography that prompted them to do it in classical Greece, or in renaissance Europe.
All I have to say is that one thing I’ve grown to appreciate about a closely-trimmed hoohah over an exuberant bush is that it doesn’t rub my nose raw.
I’m just going to quote something said by a board member ChiefScott in one of these pubic hair threads a few years back:
Trimmed or shaven: Good
Yeti: Bad
I would be quite amazed if there were many guys who, when presented with a naked woman desiring to have sex, said “Ewww. (Pubic hair/shaved bald) is gross. I’m putting on my pants and going home.” There may be minor preferences one way or the other, but I just can’t see how it would really be an important “make or break” decision to agonize over.
I don’t shave, and I only recently started trimming…I agree with BoringDad that most guys aren’t gonna say no 
The subject of hair actually comes up quite often with guys I’m interested in, before we see it. I’m honest about my “Eastern European-ness” and no one has been turned off.
Although, I am truly jealous of Anastasseon. I would like to shave if I could. But any attempts at shaving just around the edges leaves me with definite stubble, no matter how hard I try. My legs, even, are impervious to a close shave. I got them waxed once and STILL had stubble 
So I tell dudes that bring up the idea of me shaving that it’s not really in anyone’s best interest to see me all stubbly down there. Such is life