Like hair on your head, your pubic hair may also thin out with age. If you've got a lush patch now, many factors could thin it, make it go gray or white, or even cause it to bald. For ladies, menopause is one of them. For men, it's the natural aging process and dropping testosterone levels.
As we age, some pubic hair thinning, or loss, is normal. However, certain conditions like alopecia or an adrenal issue can also cause hair loss. If you have any concerns, it's best to contact your Axia Women's Health provider.
Causes of pubic hair loss
Hormonal changes: In the body, hormones perform the task of controlling the function of hair and hair growth. During puberty, the body increases the production of androgen hormones to stimulate pubic hair growth. But as we age, the production of androgens decreases, leading to pubic hair loss.
Pubic hair may extend out to their thighs, and some boys may have a line of hair up to their belly button. Most boys finish growing by age 17, but some may continue growing through their early 20s.
VULVA: After menopause, there is a loss of pubic hair and the labia shrink in size. The opening to the vagina, the introitus, narrows in the absence of regular sexual activity, and heterosexual women becoming sexually active after a time of abstinence can suffer pain and difficulty with penetration.
Pubic hair, unlike head hair, stops growing at a certain point. So leaving your hair untrimmed won't cause a Rapunzel situation down there.
The main role of pubic hair is to reduce friction during sex and other forms of exercise, protecting the delicate skin around the genital area. Just like eyelashes and nose hair, pubic hair helps prevent the transmission of bacteria, trapping any dirt, debris, and microorganisms that could be harmful to the body.
Does pubic hair cease growing once it's reached a certain length? All hair grows at a contstant rate, but eventually falls out. With body hair, which typically does not grow as long as head hair, the rate at which it falls out is greater. This results in hair that appears to reach a certain length then stops growing.
Hormonal changes
During puberty, an increase in hormones called androgens triggers the growth of pubic hair . As a person ages, their body begins to produce fewer androgens. This may result in pubic hair loss.
Pubic hair of infancy is due to transiently elevated androgen levels in the first few months of life and increased sensitivity of sexual hair follicles to androgens. Precocious puberty can be differentiated by the concomitant appearance of pubic hair with breast development in girls or testicular enlargement in boys.
According to board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Felice Gersh, MD, there is a “basic normal amount” of female pubic hair. She explains, "Typically it should cover all of the labia majora to the inner surface of the thighs and up to the pubic bone-roughly shaped like a triangle."
Just like the hair on the head, the hair on the rest of the body, including the pubic area, is subject to graying. As people age, their skin produces less melanin. Melanin is the pigment responsible for giving skin and hair its color.
Treatment may include corticosteroids or topical minoxidil (Qi, 2014). If a hormonal insufficiency, such as DHEA deficiency, contributes to pubic hair loss, DHEA supplements may restore pubic hair growth (Binder, 2009).
It is normal to have hair on the inner part of your vagina. The “flaps”, or labia, typically have some hair, which may be thinner or finer than the hair on the outer part of the vagina. Removing this hair is unnecessary, as it cannot be seen even when you wear a bathing suit.
How long is a typical pubic hair? Most pubes grow between half an inch and 1.5 inches, according to Steixner.
To keep the pubic area smooth and hairless, you'll need to shave regularly, even daily. Consider if this is worth the trouble; it may become tedious after four or five weeks. Cost. You'll need to invest in special shaving equipment and care.
Long pubic hair
Pubic hair holds on to residual urine, vaginal discharge, blood and semen. Bacteria line up all along the hair shaft just lunching it up and creating odor. (Very appetizing, I know.) Trimming your pubic hair reduces that surface area for bacteria, thus reducing odor.
Trimming with scissors Using scissors can be a safe way to give the pubic area a well-groomed look. Since the operation does not come into contact with the skin, trimming the pubic hair with scissors has a relatively low risk of injury.
It's all up to you. There's no right or wrong way to handle your pubic hair. Stats show that men are split right down the middle when it comes to pube grooming, so it's really all about personal preference. Some men go completely pube-less, while others just keep it trimmed.
You really don't need to remove your pubic hair for any health reasons, sexual or otherwise, other than perhaps decreasing odor from sweat. When it comes down to it, pubic hair grooming is a personal preference.
There's plenty you can try at home to shape or shave your pubic hair, but remember that none of them are permanent. Unless the hair loss is caused by an underlying medical condition, hair always grow back, even with some of the most aggressive medical treatments.
Your hair follicles continue to grow hair underneath your skin, and shaving can cause those follicles to become irritated. It's this irritation that makes you feel itchy after you shave.
It prevents against friction burns during sex.
This the reason pubic hair is coarser and thicker than the hair on the rest of our bodies. 2. Pubic hair is curly because curly hair does a better job of capturing the pheromones from one's sweat glands, ensuring that each personal has a unique genital odour.