# Why do we have pubic hair? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 22, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490 "2006-03-22T21:53:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/21 "2006-03-23T03:10:51Z")
> [@Civil Guy](#): > > … is simply for visual effect. Its advertisement by visual, scent and pherome. And yes black hair shows up even on dark skin. What I find interesting is that most natural merkins hide the privates better than most bikinis. Yet public display of natural merkins can get you arrested. go figure. r~ ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/22 "2006-03-23T04:02:50Z")
Er. I first read that as 'merkins. As in them what lives in 'Merica. Ah, never mind. I’m liking the visual theory the best, the more I think about it. What pubic hair does is advertise across a distance that the owner is in fact past puberty. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/23 "2006-03-23T04:08:16Z")
There are enough other secondary sexual characteristics that sexually mature individuals of either gender are readily identifiable without pubic hair. I’m with **Blake** on this one–we have hair where we have scent glands, so it seems pretty likely that there’s an advantage to trapping the smell. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/24 "2006-03-23T04:33:02Z")
We have pubic hair because it is cute and attractive. It prompts mating behaviors. It accentuates gender. And it’s cute. ---
**Author:** ![blueslipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@blueslipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blueslipper)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/25 "2006-03-23T04:36:31Z")
> [@FisherQueen](#): > > Sweetie, those women have body hair on their legs and under their arms, just like you. They just remove it. Toots, there are many Japanese and asian women who have no body hair except for public hair. Believe me you can not market a women’s leg razer there. FLURB- As for the Master speaks. He says “Clearly more scientific research is called for.” ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/26 "2006-03-23T04:54:26Z")
> [@Baffle](#): > > Well, yes. Once the hair is saturated the sweat does drip down. However, (for example) while running nude, the wind will evaporate the sweat before it runs down your legs and becomes a discomfort. Ahh, no. Humans evolved in tropical Africa. In those climates sweat is produced in sufficient quantities that it won’t all evaporate. So we are back to square one. Unless you are suggesting that such a silly and parasite prone patch of hair evolved for a tiny range of conditions between “too little sweat to run at all” and "so much sweat that hair can’t catch it all. That is implausible to say that least. > [@](#): > > my personal pubic hair begins on my lower abdomen and extends all the way down and ‘behind’, so to speak, covering the preineum and growing into the … er… butt crack. :o When the hair there is lacking, friction problems are definitely experienced. The upper abdomen pubic hair doesn’t do much for this. the first problem is that we have no evidence at all that hair does a damn thing for friction. As I have pointed out numerous times, children lack pubic hair yet never suffer from such problems. Why do you believe that hair has any effect at all on friction? > [@](#): > > External genitalia (especially in males) has to be regulated at a very precise temperature, and it’s possible that the insulation properties of hair are necessary here. The massive problem with this is that the external genitalia of males is largely hairless. The penis is almost totally devoid of hair and the scrotum has only a very sparse coating of hair, far too thin to have any effect on temperature regulation. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/27 "2006-03-23T05:24:55Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > the first problem is that we have no evidence at all that hair does a damn thing for friction. As I have pointed out numerous times, children lack pubic hair yet never suffer from such problems. Why do you believe that hair has any effect at all on friction? This could be accounted for by physiological changes during puberty which changes the way we walk. Not the most convincing explaination, but a possible one. ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/28 "2006-03-23T05:27:07Z")
I must be a genetic freak. ☹ All of my posts have been based on personal experience only. That’s my evidence that it has to do with friction; as it’s a primary source it’s rather hard to cite. Children don’t sweat in the same volume or composition as adults, though. Completely dry, there’s no need for the extra hair. It’s only when you have a need to absorb and whisk away sweat does it prove to be useful. I’m sorry that I can’t prove this to you from an evolutionary standpoint. All I can do is state with certainty that this is the purpose it currently serves today. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/29 "2006-03-23T05:35:15Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > This could be accounted for by physiological changes during puberty which changes the way we walk. Not the most convincing explaination, but a possible one. True, but as you say, it’s a stretch. Not all adults walk the same way, and many modern children are larger than many adults in times past. So the explanations a real stretch. That only gets worse when we try to justify axillary hair being absent in children. > [@Baffle](#): > > Children don’t sweat in the same volume or composition as adults, though. Completely dry, there’s no need for the extra hair. Children sweat in the same quantities relative to body size AFAIK. If you have evidence to the contrary then by all means present it. It’s true the composition changes as the apocrine glands become active at puberty, but that is essentially restating what I said originally: the pubic hair functions to disperse the exudate form the apocrine glands. > [@](#): > > I’m sorry that I can’t prove this to you from an evolutionary standpoint. All I can do is state with certainty that this is the purpose it currently serves today. No, you can’t state that with certainty because you have no evidence. You can’t even state that the friction you personally experience is due to the absence of hair as opposed to being caused by shaving. ---
**Author:** ![Voluble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/4af34b/32.png) [@Voluble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voluble)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/30 "2006-03-23T05:58:21Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > the first problem is that we have no evidence at all that hair does a damn thing for friction. As I have pointed out numerous times, children lack pubic hair yet never suffer from such problems. Why do you believe that hair has any effect at all on friction? I have shaved there before (don’t ask) and it definately affects friction. I suggest you try it yourself and see what results you get. I consider this empirical evidence of the first order. As to hair not appearing until puberty, children also do not sweat from their armpits like adults do and I would be willing to bet that applies to the pubic area as well (this certainly comports with my memory of childhood). Children sweat mainly from their heads. Again, this is from firsthand observation of a limited sample group. So while none of these may be the reasons we evolved the way we did, it is in no way unreasonable to begin our search with the known consequences of having these little patches of hair as we have each experienced them. Of course, my wife says that her pubic hair keeps her from peeing all over herself. This I did **not** get from first hand observation. I would not however posit this as a reason for evolving pubic hair in the first place so there… I…um…um…errr… contradict myself again! Curses and drat! ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/31 "2006-03-23T06:03:32Z")
I’m not disagreeing with your reason, dear. It’s still incomplete. The original question is “why do we have pubic hair” and believe it or not, it’s quite possible that it can serve more than one purpose. ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/32 "2006-03-23T06:15:11Z")
> [@](#): > > the scrotum has only a very sparse coating of hair, far too thin to have any effect on temperature regulation. Hey, speak for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![ResettingComp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ResettingComp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ResettingComp)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/33 "2006-03-23T19:55:34Z")
> [@blueslipper](#): > > Toots… FisherQueen: Owned 😛 ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/34 "2006-03-23T21:02:56Z")
It’s to help ‘aerate’ the musk that your genital area produces - getting sexual smells ‘out’ to arouse a partner. Similarly, before societal influence changed our reactions to it, hair under the arms radiated one’s scent, and b.o. was, at times, sexually appealing. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/35 "2006-03-23T21:36:20Z")
> [@blueslipper](#): > > Toots, there are many Japanese and asian women who have no body hair except for public hair. Believe me you can not market a women’s leg razer there. Really? So what are all those pink razors in the _combini_ and drug stores, then? I know my Japanese is pretty bad, but I’m reasonably certain that they are in fact for women. A quick survey of the Japanese women in the office indicates that 25% have had laser hair removal, 50% shave and 25% wax (okay, so it’s a sample of four… not exactly statistically significant). ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/36 "2006-03-23T22:01:43Z")
It seems we made a good “Blake-time” on this thread. Blake-time: The time it takes from an evolutionary question is raised until Blake has convinced everyone that he is right. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/37 "2006-03-23T23:49:49Z")
\*\*Blake \*\* mentioned the similarity between pubes and underarm hair. FTR, my pubic hair and underarm hair are nothing alike, at all, in texture or appearance. My underarm hair is soft brown and straight (could this be a side effect of 20 years of deodorant? who knows), whereas my pubes are black and curly. My head hair is dark brown/black and curly/wavy (not in a pube way), I have significant body hair (esp chest, and back (when not regulated – hey it comes with chest hair)) that is short and black. All this hair (except the stuff on my head) came to me in adolescence. Why? ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/38 "2006-03-24T00:03:17Z")
> [@Baffle](#): > > I’m not disagreeing with your reason, dear. It’s still incomplete. The original question is “why do we have pubic hair” and believe it or not, it’s quite possible that it can serve more than one purpose. Indeed. Alternately, it may have no function at all in some or all of us. Unless a feature makes those who possess it less likely to have children (even by a miniscule amount), it won’t be selected against. ---
**Author:** ![Hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@Hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hombre)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/39 "2006-03-24T00:12:39Z")
> [@Voluble](#): > > I have shaved there before (don’t ask) and it definately affects friction. (snip) I consider this empirical evidence of the first order. > > As to hair not appearing until puberty, children also do not sweat from their armpits like adults do and I would be willing to bet that applies to the pubic area as well (this certainly comports with my memory of childhood). Children sweat mainly from their heads. I have to go with Blake on the friction angle. First, even the best shaving job will leave you with stubble. Shaving is not not having any hair. My personal experience: at 51 I started gaining weight. This caused more friction under my arms. My bodies response? I lost hair there. No friction problems. Re: kids not sweating as much, try hanging around a kid who doesn’t bath for a day or two… ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490/40 "2006-03-24T00:32:44Z")
> [@Civil Guy](#): > > I mean, even a lot of caucasian blondes have dark pubic hair… (from the pictures I’ve seen. Scientific research, donchaknow.) Oh, sure, and you \* believed\* they were really blondes? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-have-pubic-hair/349490.md?page=3)