Pubic hair, in context
How men and women actually keep it, who grooms and who doesn't, why they do it, and what it costs the skin. Most figures come from national surveys designed to represent all US adults, the best data available anywhere.
Find your style
Move each slider until the diagram matches you, or the style you prefer. You'll see how much hair that is and how many people keep it the same way. The dashed blue line marks the underwear line, and the dotted outline shows where hair grows if left alone.
Men
Women
Style shares come from two 2023 US national surveys, 495 men and 522 women, and describe the style people who groom said they prefer. The diagrams are schematic and not to scale.
Who grooms, by age
Grooming peaks between the mid-twenties and early fifties, then falls away. For men in 2023, the youngest and oldest groups were the least likely to have ever done it.
Men, 2023
Ever trimmed or removed, and in the past month
Women, 2013
Ever groomed, including trimming
The women's age breakdown comes from a 2013 national survey of 3,316 women aged 18 to 65, in which 84% had ever groomed. The 2023 survey asked more narrowly about removal and found 62%, so the women's figures may now be lower than shown. The 2023 survey reported only average ages for women: 44.5 for those who had removed hair, against 54.7 for those who hadn't.
Relationships and sex life
For men, marital status makes no difference at all, and for women, only those who were previously married stand out, as less likely to groom. The bigger divide is sex: in both sexes, people who'd had sex in the past month were far more likely to have removed hair.
Men who have ever trimmed or removed
2023
Women who have ever trimmed or removed
2023
In a 2010 study of 2,451 women, going completely bare was most common among women in a relationship but not married, rather than single or married. In the 2013 national survey, one of the strongest predictors of whether a woman groomed was whether her partner preferred it, while relationship status made no difference once other factors were allowed for. In 2023, gay and bisexual men were more likely than straight men to have removed hair (77% against 45%).
How men and women keep it
Among people who groom, men mostly trim, while women split almost evenly between trimmed, partly removed and bare.
Women's "other answers" are everything outside the three most common styles, the only ones the paper reported for women. Among all adults, 38% of women and 53% of men had never trimmed or removed any pubic hair.
Why people do it
Feeling clean and comfortable top the list for both sexes, ahead of what partners like, and far ahead of porn or social media.
Women's reasons
Share of women who groom who agreed, 2023
Men's reasons
Ranked by average agreement, 2023
In the 2013 surveys, the most common occasion for grooming was sex (56% of women; up to 73% of men aged 25 to 34), and about one man in five said it makes his penis look longer.
What partners prefer
In a study of 1,110 US college students, men were far keener on a hair-free partner than women were, and women were far more likely to be hair-free themselves.
College students are younger and more likely to groom than adults overall, so treat these as the high end. The same study found that 80% of groomers had experienced genital itching at least once.
How often, and with what
How often people who groom do it
2023
Methods ever used
People who have groomed, 2023
Razors or scissors dominate for both sexes: 94% of women and 99% of men who groom have used them. Women are much more likely to have tried creams, waxing or laser.
What it does to your skin
1 in 4
People who groom have injured themselves doing it: 27% of women and 24% of men in a national survey of 7,570 adults. Most were cuts (61%), then burns (23%) and rashes (12%). About 1.4% needed medical care.
5x
The rise in US emergency visits for grooming injuries between 2002 and 2010, an estimated 11,704 visits in total. Razors caused 83% of them.
1.8x
The odds of reporting a past sexually transmitted infection among people who groom, after allowing for age and number of partners. For those removing everything more than 11 times a year, the odds of skin-to-skin infections such as herpes and HPV were 4.4 times higher.
The infection link doesn't prove grooming causes infections. Tiny cuts may let infections in, or people who groom heavily may differ in other ways the survey couldn't capture. Injury risk was highest for men who had removed everything 11 or more times.
Safer grooming
Trim rather than shave
Scissors or clippers with a guard avoid most cuts. The researchers behind the emergency data suggested doctors advise against manual razors for this area.
If you shave, go gently
Use a fresh blade and shaving gel, shave with the direction of growth, and don't go over broken or irritated skin.
Less is safer
Injuries rose with how often, and how completely, people removed hair. Going fully bare every week carries the most risk.
Know when to get it checked
Spreading redness, heat, swelling, pus or a painful lump after grooming can mean infection, and is worth showing a GP.
Myths, rated
Why we have it at all
Pubic hair grows at puberty in response to rising hormones, and its shape differs between the sexes: flat-topped in most women, and often extending up towards the navel in men. Nobody knows its purpose for certain. The main theories are that it reduces friction during sex, protects the skin, helps hold scent, or simply signals sexual maturity. None of them is proven, and none suggests it's unhygienic.
Sources
- Walsh-Buhi ER, et al. Pubic hair removal practices and motivations among a nationally representative sample of U.S. men. American Journal of Men's Health, 2024 (495 men surveyed in 2023).
- Javidi H, et al. Pubic hair removal practices among women: findings from a U.S. nationally representative survey. Women's Health, 2024 (522 women surveyed in 2023).
- Rowen TS, et al. Pubic hair grooming prevalence and motivation among women in the United States. JAMA Dermatology, 2016 (3,316 women surveyed in 2013).
- Gaither TW, et al. Prevalence and motivation: pubic hair grooming among men in the United States. American Journal of Men's Health, 2017 (4,198 men surveyed in 2013).
- Herbenick D, et al. Pubic hair removal among women in the United States: prevalence, methods, and characteristics. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2010.
- Butler SM, et al. Pubic hair preferences, reasons for removal, and associated genital symptoms: comparisons between men and women. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2015.
- Truesdale MD, et al. Prevalence of pubic hair grooming-related injuries and identification of high-risk individuals in the United States. JAMA Dermatology, 2017.
- Glass AS, et al. Pubic hair grooming injuries presenting to U.S. emergency departments. Urology, 2012.
- Osterberg EC, et al. Correlation between pubic hair grooming and STIs: results from a nationally representative probability sample. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 2017.
- Mayo Clinic. Don't believe shaving myths.
- Ramsey S, et al. Pubic hair and sexuality: a review. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2009.