To Shave, Or Not To Shave. Is the question…

 

Should you shave or should you not?

Study Suggests You Should Leave Your Pubic Hair Alone

Researchers see higher rate of sexually transmitted infections among groomers

People who groom their pubic hair regularly are more likely to have a sexually transmitted infection, say researchers in a new study. To be clear, the researchers aren’t saying that the grooming itself helps lead to the STI, reports Live Science. While it’s possible that’s the case—perhaps because shaving causes small tears that lead to vulnerability—it’s also possible that people who groom down there are more sexually active to begin with and thus more likely to pick up an infection. In scientist-speak, this is all about correlation, not causation. Still, the study in Sexually Transmitted Infections found that regular groomers were about four times more likely to report having had an STI. For the study, researchers surveyed 7,580 people ages 18 to 65 and learned that 84% of women and 66% of men had shaved or otherwise trimmed their nether regions.

 

Of those, 17% fell into the “extreme” category of removing all hair once a month and 22% were in the “high frequency” category of trimming daily or weekly. The greater the frequency, the greater the link to STIs. The upside for groomers: They had fewer reports of lice. For the record, electric razors were the most common method for women and manual razors for men, notes the BBC. Also of note: Of the 7,580 adults, 110 said they were virgins. Given the lack of a definitive link, how might the findings be put to use? “If a clinician were to see evidence of grooming upon physical examination, perhaps that physician should inquire about safer sex practices or a sexual history,” says lead author Charles Osterberg of the University of Texas Dell Medical School, per Time. (Meanwhile, gonorrhea is on track to defeat all known drugs in another five years.)

You may want to keep some grass on the field.

If you like things down below as smooth as a baby’s bottom, you may want to rethink things. A new study done at the University of California—San Francisco reports that people who regularly groom their pubic hair are 75% more likely to develop a sexually transmitted infection than non-groomers. As reported earlier this year, STIs are on the rise.

The survey, reported in the journal “Sexually Transmitted Infections,” included U.S. residents 18-65, asking their grooming habits, sexual behaviors, and STI history.

One of the reasons for the corellation between STIs and shaving? The act of shaving may create “epidermal microtears” that might allow transmission of bacteria or viruses like HPV.
Yeesh.

“Our hypothesis is that grooming is positively related to STIs,” researchers wrote.

They’re not saying shaving directly causes infection, but instead leads to an increased risk of infection.

The study defined extreme grooming as removal of all pubic hair more than 11 times a year and high-frequency grooming as daily/weekly trimming; extreme groomers were found to be 28% more likely to report STIs than high frequency groomers.

“A better understanding of the relation between pubic hair grooming and STI risk,” the study says, “could lead to improved STI-reduction strategies.”

The study notes that an increase in grooming can simply indicate an increase in sexual partners — which increases the possibility of sexually transmitted infections — as it can be a preparation activity.

But it’s not all bad news for committed groomers. According to the study, removing pubic hair does eliminate certain other sexually transmitted problems, like pubic lice.

Other fun facts from the study: Men use electric razors more than women, a similar percentage of men and women use scissors, and laser hair removal or use of tweezers was rare among both.

The new trend for the melinimims is not to shave. Good choice if you ask me.

I fought the NO Shaving for a long time, until I did my own research. I found that your body odor seems to dissipate or lessen. Opening the follicles of your skin by dragging the sharp blade across your pores only leads to acne, black heads and ingrown hairs. To top it off it is possible to get infections if not properly treated. Let’s not forget about the STI’s you can get.

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