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.
Removing pubic hair may therefore make a person more susceptible to common infections, such as UTIs, vaginitis, and yeast infections. Hair removal can also irritate your skin, leading to skin infections such as cellulitis and folliculitis. In other cases, grooming-related injuries, such as cuts, could become infected.
Pubic hair removal is common — approximately 80 percent of women ages 18 to 65 report they remove some or all of their pubic hair.
Most pubes grow between half an inch and 1.5 inches, according to Steixner.
Then there's the regrowth stage: Shaved hair grows back after a couple of days, and when it does it can be prickly or itchy. This can leave you feeling uncomfortable. There's also a chance some hairs will become ingrown.
Part of the perception that your pubic hair grows much faster than the hair on your head may be due to the growth cycle it follows. With pubic hair—and other body hair—the entire process takes about 30 to 44 days, Dr. Hazen says.
There's no medical or hygienic reason for removing some or all of your pubic hair. But the removal process can be painful and cause many side effects, including: Genital itching, sometimes severe. Genital burns from waxing.
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.
Your genital skin is quite delicate. During sexual intercourse or other activities, pubic hair acts like a protective buffer that reduces friction. Otherwise, the friction can cause skin irritation in this sensitive area. It also keeps the moisture around the genitals balanced and that works as a natural lubricant.
Protection from bacteria and other pathogens
It follows that pubic hair may protect against certain infections, including: cellulitis. sexually transmitted infections (STIs) urinary tract infections (UTIs)
The correct age to start hair removal for boys is 12 years and above and for girls 11 to 14 years (when puberty is achieved).
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.
Pubic hair density decreases with age for both men and women.
Pubic hair and hair on the body doesn't usually grow back after the menopause, this is due to levels of estrogen and progesterone remaining low as we continue to age.
Mary Jane Minkin, told us, “the most common cause of excessive pubic hair in young women is PCOS, or polycystic ovarian syndrome, which is associated with higher testosterone levels (yes, women make testosterone—and men do make estrogen, too).
Lice eggs (nits) are often easier to see than live lice. They look like tiny yellow or white dots attached to the pubic hair, close to the skin. Nits can look like dandruff.
TRICHOMYCOSIS. Trichomycosis is a bacterial infection of axillary hair (trichomycosis axillaris) and, uncommonly, pubic hair (trichomycosis pubis). There are usually pale yellow concretions attached to the hair shaft: these are large bacterial colonies. Sometimes the casts are red, and rarely they are black.
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.
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.
Make an appointment with a licensed dermatologist for laser hair removal. During your appointment, your doctor will numb your pubic area with numbing gel. Then, they will take a laser and hold it against your skin, using the laser to kill the hair within the follicle.
It reduces friction
Armpit hair prevents skin-to-skin contact when doing certain activities, such as running and walking. The same thing happens with pubic hair, as it reduces friction during sex and other activities.
Why Are My Toes Hairy? Hairy toes aren't uncommon. Hair on your toes is, in the majority of cases, an aesthetic issue rather than a medical one. However, in some cases, it could be a sign of a medical condition, such as an adrenal or ovarian disorder.
Leg hair and arm hair developed to help prevent chafing so we could move around without causing friction.
Development and growth
Although vellus hair is already present in the area in childhood, chest hair is the terminal hair that develops as an effect of rising levels of androgens (primarily testosterone and its derivatives) due to puberty. Different from the head hair, it is therefore a secondary sexual characteristic.
No — shaving hair doesn't change its thickness, color or rate of growth.