I came across the following research document from 2017. You can read the full report which is located here. Below are some highlights from this report.
The conclusion of this report: Most Brazilian women and men prefer the complete removal of female pubic hair, especially those who are younger andmore sexually active.Women who are satisfied with the appearance of their own genitalia have a stronger preference for complete removal of pubic hair.
What I found surprising about this report was the sample size. The report had 69,920 subjects (52,787 women and 17,133 men) who provided feedback.The mean age was 31.9 years for men, and 28.5 years for women.
It was almost equal between women (64.3%) and men (62.2%) who preferred complete removal of female pubic hair, and this preference was more pronounced in younger women and men.
Preferences for extent of female pubic hair removal in different age groups of women and men
The study even looked at the preference of women/men who considered themselves heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or other. Pretty even among all groups, doesn’t seem that sexual orientation has much to do with preference.
Preferences regarding the extent of female pubic hair removal in men and women with different sexual orientations
Lastly, the question of what method women use. I figured shaving would be first, but waxing is with laser hair removal coming in third place.
In case the links to the article stop working, here is a direct link to the pdf below.
Most Brazilian women and men prefer the complete removal of female
pubic hair, especially those who are younger andmore sexually active.Women who are
satisfied with the appearance of their own genitalia have a stronger preference for
complete removal of pubic hair.
Here is another report I found. This one is on women’s hair removal in the US. It would be great to get an updated report on men and their grooming behaviours to see if more men today or conducting hair removal as part of their routine.
If you want to download the full report, you can view it here. Below are some highlights.
Pubic hair grooming is an increasingly prevalent trend. Several studies have sought to characterize its prevalence, associated demographics, and motivations.To characterize current pubic hair grooming practices in the United States.In this cross-sectional study, a nationally representative survey was conducted in January 2013 of noninstitutionalized adults aged 18 to 65 years residing in the United States via the GfK Group (formerly Knowledge Networks) panel members. Data analysis was performed from November to December 2015.
3372 women were surveyed. 3316 women were included in the analysis. Of these, 2778 (83.8%) reported pubic hair grooming and 538 (16.2%) reported never grooming.
Some of the results can be seen below.
How often fo you groom and have you ever removed all your hair?What areas do you groom?
The following table was a bit of a surprise to me. I would have figured, based on the rise of popularity, that laser would have been more popular.
How do you go about grooming your pubic hair?Frequency of pubic hair grooming per year by age.
Key conclusions by the author were:
Female pubic hair grooming is a common practice seen by all health care professionals and providers of aesthetic treatments for women. Familiarity with the motivations and characteristics of women who groom can help inform health care professionals in terms of identifying women for counseling regarding grooming risks. Furthermore, our study demonstrates that, contrary to prior studies,2,3,5 grooming is less associated with specific sexual activity and relationship type and more associated with age, race, and educational level.
Thus, our study demonstrates a role for cultural sensitivity as it relates to pubic hair grooming because women have diverse motivations for grooming that are not universal. Future directions for research include understanding the cultural differences as they relate to pubic hair grooming and the role of the health care professional in influencing women’s grooming habits.
Probably one of the most comprehensive documents on body hair removal covering both genders. Published in January 2012, the full title is “Body Depilation among Women and Men: TheAssociation of Body Hair Reduction or Removalwith Body Satisfaction, Appearance Comparison,Body Image Disturbance, and Body DysmorphicDisorder Symptomatology”
As somebody who has started and almost completed my journey to be hairless from the neck down, I am fascinated by how many other people have a tendency towards this. According to this research, you can see below the prevalence of body depilation by body site and gender.
I can tell you that I started with my pubic region and buttocks. Then I moved only my armpits. From there it just kept going. Chest/Stomach and then legs. By 2016 I was removing my hair from my arms.
I have heard that when people start with 1 tattoo it can become an obsession to have more tattoos. In my case, hair removal has been the same thing, once I started, I just couldn’t stop.
Anyway, if you want to read the full research by Michael you can download here.
Came across this image. Anybody know the source of this image? Looks like it was built by Helen Tseng. I am interested in learning more about the research study and to give credit to the original author of it.
Although this is not a new study, we downloaded some very interesting research regarding women and their pubic hair conducted by the International Society for Sexual Medicine. This report is from 2010. You can download the complete .pdf version of the report located here.
Extract from the .pdf report, here is the abstract:
Introduction. Although women’s total removal of their pubic hair has been described as a “new norm,†little is
known about the pubic hair removal patterns of sexually active women in the United States.
Aims. The purpose of this study was to assess pubic hair removal behavior among women in the United States and to examine the extent to which pubic hair removal methods are related to demographic, relational, and sexual characteristics, including female sexual function.
Methods. A total of 2,451 women ages 18 to 68 years completed a cross-sectional Internet-based survey.
Main Outcome Measures. Demographic items (e.g., age, education, sexual relationship status, sexual orientation),
cunnilingus in the past 4 weeks, having looked closely at or examined their genitals in the past 4 weeks, extent and
method of pubic hair removal over the past 4 weeks, the Female Genital Self-Image Scale (FGSIS) and the Female
Sexual Function Index (FSFI).
Results. Women reported a diverse range of pubic hair-grooming practices. Women’s total removal of their pubic hair was associated with younger age, sexual orientation, sexual relationship status, having received cunnilingus in the past 4 weeks, and higher scores on the FGSIS and FSFI (with the exception of the orgasm subscale).
Conclusion. Findings suggest that pubic hair styles are diverse and that it is more common than not for women to have at least some pubic hair on their genitals. In addition, total pubic hair removal was associated with younger age, being partnered (rather than single or married), having looked closely at one’s own genitals in the previous month, cunnilingus in the past month, and more positive genital self-image and sexual function.
For those of you who want to cut to the chase and get the real story about women’s hair removal method, we have summarized the following from the report:
On average 37% of women don’t indulge in any form of pubic hair removal.
Women aged 18-24, 12% prefer the au natural look
Women aged 25-29, 16% prefer to simply let it go
Women aged 30-39, 18% prefer to spend their time doing something else other than hair removal
Women aged 40-49, 28% prefer to keep doing what their are not doing
Women aged 50+, 52% like kicking it old school
On average 34% of women indulge in some pubic hair removal.
Women aged 18-24, 29% prefer taking a little off the edges
Women aged 25-29, 39% prefer to tame the beast by clipping its claws
Women aged 30-39, 50% attend to the garden to clean the weeds
Women aged 40-49, 50% like it neat and tidy
Women aged 50+, 37% have discovered that cleaning it up can is alright
On average 30% of women indulge more in pubic hair removal
Women aged 18-24, 38% regularly remove most of their pubic hair
Women aged 25-29, 32% like a more polished look
Women aged 30-39, 23% will go the extra mile
Women aged 40-49, 16% will indulge their fantasy for themselves
Women aged 50+, 9% are progressive in their age group and think and feel young
On average 29% of women indulge in complete pubic hair removal
Women aged 18-24, 21% take it all off baby
Women aged 25-29, 13% are walking around feeling sexy as hell
Women aged 30-39, 9% have done the full monty and likely will never return to the before state
Women aged 40-49, 7% they do say that the new 20 is 40 and these women are feeling it
Women aged 50+, 2% not to be outdone by the younger ladies
Some other interesting data from this research study was the data related to Laser Hair Reduction. It doesn’t appear that with all the laser hair removal daily deal offers (read our post on 1.2M laser hair removal sessions sold by Groupon) that the % of women in using laser hair removal in their bikini area is that large.
Here are the quick stats
In the age group of 18-24, 99.1% say they have not used laser.
In the age group of 25-29, 97/9% say they have not used laser.
In the age group of 30-39, 99.3% say they have not used laser.
In the age group of 40-49, 99.5% say they have not used laser.
In the age group of 50+, 100% say they have not used laser.
By far the most common method is still shaving. Anyway, we suggest you download the full PDF if you really want to understand the study and data. BTW – it is only 9-pages, so a pretty quick read.
In a nutshell, the most common styles that women will do with their pubic hair.
