Swimsuit season is on the horizon that means many of you have already made an appointment with your favorite waxer. I’m here to tell you, don’t do it. Let’s ride the 2017 wave of feminine power and say no to bikini waxes.
Hear me out: Some of you are having the same reaction my husband did when I told him we should all stop waxing and shaving our nethers … “Ewwww!” But I want to know why it’s ewwww? We all have hair there for a reason, right? Do we shave the hair on our heads so it doesn’t peek out of our hats? No! So why do we fight what mother nature or father pervy has put in our pubic area?
Let’s take our pubes back! So what if a few stray curlies sneak out while we’re at the beach or lounging by the pool? It’s a natural part of our bodies that we’ve been conditioned to think is gross or shameful but in reality is put there to protect our lady bits from dirt, bacteria and viruses.
Whilst pondering pubes, I started doing some research to find out when this trend started and why so many women wax away or groom their bikini line. I personally think the trend gained mass appeal with the popularity of the Brazilian.
Remember that "Sex and The City" episode where the girls get waxed? Who can forget how invigorated and powerful they all felt? Then suddenly, and honestly, they felt an itchy regret. Who’s been there? *slowly raises hand*
The Brazilian became popular in NYC in the '90s when the J Sisters started waxing the undersides of the New York elite. One of the sisters says she saw hair protruding from a woman’s bikini while on vacation and was “horrified.” So she experimented on herself and developed the Brazilian. The specialty service boomed into a $6 million business and has become a staple of many bathing suit season routines.
That's my lady mag findings. Here's what science says about why we wax.
Only 4.1 percent of women reported not trimming or removing any pubic hair, leaving 95 percent of the women with groomed, trimmed or removed pubic hair.
Studies show that pubic hair grooming is becoming increasingly common. In 2016, researchers reported in JAMA Dermatology that 84 percent of the American women who took part in their survey had done some grooming, with 62 percent removing all of their pubic hair. Younger women were much more likely to groom than the over-forties.
In a study from The Journal of Sexual Medicine (yes, this is a thing), conducted among 2,400 sexually active women under the age of 30, 88 percent of the women ages 18 to 24 reported removing some to all of their pubic hair, while 59 percent of the women reported their pubic hair status as typically or sometimes completely hair-free.
In a similar study from the JSM, 49.8 percent of the women reported being typically hair-free. Only 4.1 percent of women reported not trimming or removing any pubic hair, leaving 95 percent of the women with groomed, trimmed or removed pubic hair.
Now before you filet me for my scientific feminist rant, let me say I do understand why some women would simply feel more comfortable having fewer hairs down there. No one wants to sit on a fur coat at the beach. In this post I’m specifically talking to women who feel like they have to go bare, because they’re embarrassed that someone will see their hair. Don’t be! It’s part of who we are as women, and you don’t have to be ashamed of a protruding pube or two. Or five.
Whether you shave it for yourself, your man or your co-worker Steve, it’s up to you.
An article on the Scientific American website notes that in recent years, as more people have trimmed or eliminated their pubic hair, incidences of pubic lice—more commonly known as crabs—have decreased. However, reports of chlamydia and gonorrhea have gone up.
Your choice!
That being said, personal grooming is a, well, personal choice. Whether you shave it for yourself, your man or your co-worker Steve, it’s up to you. I just want to empower those women who feel like it’s embarrassing or gross to have pubic hair and let them know it’s not and shouldn’t be.
Right now, I just want us all to agree to take back our pubes. Who’s ready to organize a march on behalf of the short and curlies? I think everyone already has hats that would work.
I’ll start making signs.
