The Hair "Down There"

[tigerrouge]

I'm 33, so I was a teenager way before all the current body fascism kicked in, and back then, it wasn't an issue, it wasn't discussed endlessly in magazines followed two pages later by a p*rno-chic fashion editorial, so I never gave 'hair down there' a second thought, and I never heard any complaints either. But these days, it seems bodies have to look like they've been airbrushed in real life.

My approach is pragmatic - I get rid of my armpit hair by shaving because you smell cleaner for longer without it. If I lived in a warmer climate, everything else would be coming off as well, by wax, but as I don't, I trim.

I'm not 11 years old, so the world will have to cope with the fact that I have hair. I don't care for this attitude that it should be removed or else I'm less than feminine, but once perception of a grooming practice starts forming into a 'beauty rule' it's hard to remember that it's actually optional.

 

[Ksanochka Vanmra]

I've just got a brazilian done. It wasn't that painful, I thought it was going to be worse, and the woman did it with my thong on. She asked me if I had one on, and I said I had one in my bag, just in case. Now I feel lighter, lol.

 

[Hanne]

I'm 33, so I was a teenager way before all the current body fascism kicked in, and back then, it wasn't an issue, it wasn't discussed endlessly in magazines followed two pages later by a p*rno-chic fashion editorial, so I never gave 'hair down there' a second thought, and I never heard any complaints either. But these days, it seems bodies have to look like they've been airbrushed in real life.

My approach is pragmatic - I get rid of my armpit hair by shaving because you smell cleaner for longer without it. If I lived in a warmer climate, everything else would be coming off as well, by wax, but as I don't, I trim.

I'm not 11 years old, so the world will have to cope with the fact that I have hair. I don't care for this attitude that it should be removed or else I'm less than feminine, but once perception of a grooming practice starts forming into a 'beauty rule' it's hard to remember that it's actually optional.

Beautifully put

 

[xmodel citizen]

I'm not 11 years old, so the world will have to cope with the fact that I have hair. I don't care for this attitude that it should be removed or else I'm less than feminine, but once perception of a grooming practice starts forming into a 'beauty rule' it's hard to remember that it's actually optional.

I agree with this comment, especially the bolded part! It's scary when people start to think it's gross, or oddly enough, "unnatural".

 

[Les_Sucettes]

I'm 33, so I was a teenager way before all the current body fascism kicked in, and back then, it wasn't an issue, it wasn't discussed endlessly in magazines followed two pages later by a p*rno-chic fashion editorial, so I never gave 'hair down there' a second thought, and I never heard any complaints either. But these days, it seems bodies have to look like they've been airbrushed in real life.

My approach is pragmatic - I get rid of my armpit hair by shaving because you smell cleaner for longer without it. If I lived in a warmer climate, everything else would be coming off as well, by wax, but as I don't, I trim.

I'm not 11 years old, so the world will have to cope with the fact that I have hair. I don't care for this attitude that it should be removed or else I'm less than feminine, but once perception of a grooming practice starts forming into a 'beauty rule' it's hard to remember that it's actually optional.

i totally agree with you. i do not understand this obsession. I do not have much hair down there, i do not even need a bikini wax,but I really quite like to see the hair that I have there, i see no reason whatsoever why I should get rid of it. I do not know why would someone demand to see a total shaved body,instead on sounding modern this is starting to look very old fashioned when in other centuries the old masters could not paint pubes because they were offensive and had to be censured.

.

 

[izzie stevens]

^ i don't think that it's so much about wanting to see a hairless body as much as the fact that it is simply far more sanitary and hygienic.

 

[xmodel citizen]

No, not having pubic hair is NOT far more sanitary and hygienic

Pubic hair protects your vagina from unclean particles. It acts as a barrier between any unwanted outside contaminants and one of the most sensitive parts of a woman's anatomy.

Where do people get these ideas from? Is removing the hair on your head more hygienic? As long as you keep yourself clean, having pubic hair isn't going to hurt you in any way.

 

[izzie stevens]

^ that is arguable.

sure, pubic hair protects you from contaminants. but pubic hair can also contain and carry contaminants that are far more harmful than not having pubic hair. think about it... i mean, even when you pee, that hair gets wet and you don't dry your pubic hair after you pee, do you? just how hygienic and clean is that?

 

[kurt vonnegut]

^ that is arguable.

sure, pubic hair protects you from contaminants. but pubic hair can also contain and carry contaminants that are far more harmful than not having pubic hair. think about it... i mean, even when you pee, that hair gets wet and you don't dry your pubic hair after you pee, do you? just how hygienic and clean is that?

for all of the darwinists out there, i don't think pubic hair would have stayed around if it did more harm than help.

just because one has hair does not automatically mean that the lice have their eye on you as their new home.

and as for the part i bolded, the same argument could go for your head. its the risk one runs by not living in a plastic bubble.

 

[izzie stevens]

^ on no, i am not saying that having pubic hair automatically means anything. what i am saying is that people can argue that having pubic hair is hygienic, but others can also argue the complete opposite for many reason, such as the ones i stated.

 

[Meg]

Ultimately, I don't think anyone should do any sort of 'beauty ritual' for anyone other than themselves. I would never ask my boyfriend his opinion because quite frankly, it's my body I agree really with the last bit that tigerrouge said though that once these ideas become ingrained as beauty rituals, they are hard to shake and I would say waxing is increasingly ingrained. I wax because I personally prefer the look and feel but if someone didn't, it's their own choice and I don't think it's unnatural or weird. Just different aesthetic preferences.

 

[GannetGuts]

Ultimately, I don't think anyone should do any sort of 'beauty ritual' for anyone other than themselves. I would never ask my boyfriend his opinion because quite frankly, it's my body

I feel like I should print this out and put it up on posters, Seriously, it's a personal choice on your own body, who cares what you choose to do with it?

I personally do it sometimes because I er, like the feel of it. And sometimes I don't because I can't be bothered. Eh.

 

[adorefaith]

this argument that pubic hair is in any way unhygienic is complete rubbish. sorry.!
that is a completely unfounded social construct....probably started by cosmetics companies with great PR teams who thought they'd slowly program women to believe having hair was "dirty" and "unhygienic" in order to sell more product....

the scary part--->>> it has worked..!!!!

 

[Elegance.Is.Refusal.]

well my belief is cleaning is hygenic and not cleaning is well unhygenic

this has nothing to do with the hair at all each to their own. i keep going through phases no hair, abit of hair, all hair

 

[adorefaith]

^totally agree...the hair is there to protect against germs and bacteria entering your body...if you're unhygienic it's because you aren't cleaning yourself properly....NOT because the hair is causing hygiene problems.!

 

[Working Girl]

I remember being in a drugstore and this one woman about in her 20's didn't know how to shave. She didn't know about waxing or using a razor. I think we forget somethimes that other people in the world could care else about body hair. I think the question "to wax or not to wax" is socially constructed.

 

[tigerrouge]

We would all be a lot cleaner if we also shaved the hair on our heads - we'd never fear lice, we'd be able to treat scalp conditions a lot more easily with topical creams, we'd be able to wipe the sweat off with no need for shampoo/conditioner. But we would never consider removing our head hair, because we would be deemed unfeminine without it, even though we don't need it to function.

So the logic of efficient cleanliness is not always the motivating factor behind social views on the hair we have.

That said, I do agree with the cleanliness idea, in that body hair does help personal smell to stick around - supposedly one of its functions - so the hotter it is, the less hair I like to have. But I don't see body hair in every circumstance as being 'dirty'. And if we're worried about pee on hair, isn't pee supposed to be quite sterile, if whiffy? Are all our functions below the waist something to fear?

What deters me from year-round waxing is it increases the chance of producing the ingrown hair that progresses to a boil, a lingering red mark, or a scar. Now that's unsightly.

 

[Les_Sucettes]

^ i don't think that it's so much about wanting to see a hairless body as much as the fact that it is simply far more sanitary and hygienic.

This is not true,where do you people get this ideas?

This discussion of pubes as not sanitary is going the same way as the circumcision urban myth.

 

[xmodel citizen]

this argument that pubic hair is in any way unhygienic is complete rubbish. sorry.!
that is a completely unfounded social construct....probably started by cosmetics companies with great PR teams who thought they'd slowly program women to believe having hair was "dirty" and "unhygienic" in order to sell more product....

the scary part--->>> it has worked..!!!!

Thank you!! I was going to reply with something to this effect but you said it before me. It's so true. Pubic hair is NOT unhygienic and unsanitary in any way, period, end of story.

 

[xmodel citizen]

That said, I do agree with the cleanliness idea, in that body hair does help personal smell to stick around - supposedly one of its functions - so the hotter it is, the less hair I like to have. But I don't see body hair in every circumstance as being 'dirty'. And if we're worried about pee on hair, isn't pee supposed to be quite sterile, if whiffy? Are all our functions below the waist something to fear?

Yes, and urine poses no danger to our nether regions. Slightly wetted pubic hair dries quickly and has no damaging effects on the body. By the same token are the rest of our excretions from our genitalia dangerous? Absolutely not. Just because it may look and/or smell different than what we perceive to be clean doesn't mean there's anything gross or unhealthy about it.

I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with shaving and/or waxing pubic hair (I'm planning on trying a wax once I work up the courage) but the idea that there's anything inherently wrong with pubic hair is absurd.