Body hair: a matter of hygiene or aesthetics

Why do we need pubic and armpit hair

There are two theories explaining why we have quite dense vegetation in these areas.

To reduce friction. In the case of the armpits - when walking, running, working with your hands, and on the pubis - during sex. However, the absence of hair does not appear to contribute to the appearance of scuffs in these areas.
To attract the opposite sex. Apocrine glands are located in the armpits and pubis, whose task is to secrete secretions from proteins, fats and fatty acids. This wealth is fed by bacteria, which provide a specific flavor. Scientists speculate that the secret permeates the hair, which enhances the smell and, in theory, attracts partners. Nevertheless, the vestigial vomeronasal organ (how animals define pheromones) and dysfunction of the apocrine glands in the pubis suggest that this feature is a relic and is not so necessary for finding a sexual partner.

Thus, there is no urgent need for hair on these areas of the body.

Why people started shaving their body hair

Shaving your legs, armpits and pubis is not such a modern invention. Shaving was practiced in the ancient cultures of Egypt and Greece, in ancient Rome and even during the Middle Ages to get rid of pubic lice.

In the 20th century, marketing is blamed for the spread of sleek body fashion. In 1915, the first Gillette ad came out with the message that it was feminine and hygienic. And in 1924, the first bikini swimwear appeared, and women began to shave their hair below the abdomen.

For men, the fashion for shaved skin, not only on the face, reached a little later. Nevertheless, today many men in the West prefer to get rid of pubic and armpit hair.

The production of shaving and hair removal products, as well as the development of various methods of hair removal, is a huge industry in which a lot of money is spinning.

The hairless body is promoted not only in advertisements, but also in fashion magazines, films and TV shows. They also talk about the proliferation of pornography, in which pubic hair is very rare. Young people absorb this experience and begin to perceive the lack of hair as one of the criteria for sexuality.

But despite the fact that the image of an ideal body, enshrined in popular culture, does not have hair, only a small percentage of people believe that they shave because of social expectations.

What other reasons are there

Studies in the UK, New Zealand, Australia and the United States show that pubic hair is shaved by 65–89% of women and 65–82% of men. A survey of more than 4,000 men and 3,000 women in the United States found that the main reasons for shaving are sex and hygiene.

Most often, people of both sexes shave before sex, especially before oral sex.

In addition, 61% of men and 59% of women do it for hygiene, while 44 and 46% perceive it as part of their routine personal care. Interestingly, some primitive communities with no access to fashion magazines or porn are getting rid of groin hair for the same reasons.

The study found 26 such pre-industrial societies. In 22 of them only women shave the pubis, in 11 men do it too. Scientists have found information about the reasons for the tradition in some communities: in two of them it was done for attractiveness, in seven - for hygiene.

Is it hygienic

Probably the most common reason for underarm shaving is to get rid of an unpleasant odor. In men, removing hair from these areas does help to immediately weaken the smell of sweat, as opposed to simply washing with soap. Moreover, women find the smell from shaved men's armpits more pleasant than from those that have been overgrown for 6-10 weeks.

For women, this is a little less relevant, since they have less sweat and its smell is weak. But because hair increases the area in which bacteria live, women still benefit from shaving.

When it comes to pubic hair, hair removal can help treat pubic lice, but otherwise the benefits are controversial.

The odor problem here is not as acute as in the case of armpits. The fact is that the apocrine glands in intimate places do not produce apocrine sweat. Therefore, there is never a smell from the groin area, like from the armpits, and there is no need to fight it. To maintain hygiene, you can simply wash regularly and that will be enough.

In addition, pubic shaving has some risks: cuts, skin infections, sepsis. One small study even linked pubic shaving with an increased risk of vulvar dysplasia. This is a change in the epithelium of the external genital organs, which can lead to cancer.

To reduce the risk of injury and infection, you can skip the razor and either trim your hair with a trimmer or remove it using other methods.

It can be concluded that hair removal in terms of hygiene only makes sense in the armpit area. In other places - on the pubis, legs, arms - it performs only a purely aesthetic function. In any case, to do it or not is up to you.