Buzzworthy: The naked truth on taking care of the hair down there

By: Michael Lopardi

Posted: 10/27/05

Wax it. Shave it. Trim it. Comb it. Dare to pluck it or just leave it. Lots of women do it, and these days, men do too.

Whether it's done with a pair of scissors in the bathroom or with the help of specialists at state-of-the-art salons, getting a haircut below the belt is becoming as routine as any other trim work.

"It's one thing to have good clothes, but if you don't take care of grooming, it doesn't matter what you're wearing," said Candice Rainey, an assistant editor at GQ Magazine. "The whole grooming situation with guys is booming."

Men and women are spending more time parting with their pubes through grooming than ever before, but the trend is newer for men because women have generally been expected to groom themselves, whereas it was long considered optional for men, Rainey said.

"Guys are starting to take care of themselves," Rainey said. "It's definitely a trend out there."

Today's grooming trend for men doesn't mean the male population is ready to shave all, or even trim a lot of their pubic hair, but have exited the '70s trend of hairy chests, gold chains and "happy trails" from the navel to the crotch, Rainey said.

Men don't seem to have any particular styles when it comes to self-grooming, but the basic male attitude toward almost any body hair is that men don't necessarily want the newest hair; they want it easy and to look good, Rainy said.

A girl thing

Despite this new trend of guy-grooming, most of Penny Sawyer's 150-plus students at Phillips Hairstyling Institute in Syracuse are learning how to primp, pluck and pamper primarily female clients.

Sawyer, who serves as the instructor coordinator at the cosmetology and skincare school, says men may be grooming their pubic hair, but they aren't coming to spas and salons to get the work done. And she doesn't foresee them as potential customers anytime in the near future, either.

"I don't think there's much of a calling for that (kind of all-male salons)," Sawyer said. "Guys are a lot more shy, and you have to find a stylist who is willing to do that."

Sawyer said more people are grooming themselves nowadays, but not everyone is taking technology in between their legs.

"I'm surprised about the number of people who don't groom," Sawyer said. "There are a lot more doing it now because it's become more well-known and people aren't afraid of trying new things."

Depending on how men decide to groom their pubic hair, they may be better off shaving their egos to go to a salon, because do-it-yourself jobs can be dangerous for both men and women. And when it comes to certain hair removal tactics, especially waxing, it's best to leave the job to the professionals, Sawyer said.

"You have to pull it at the right angle; you can have wax drip in a lot of places it's not supposed to be, and it's all a little tricky," Sawyer said.

Waxing is more advantageous than shaving because the hair doesn't grow back as fast, but Sawyer also said most people, men and women alike, don't realize that removing wax off the skin incorrectly can leave bruise marks and make life uncomfortable for several days - or even longer.

"It's much easier to go to the salon, and it hurts more if you do it yourself," Sawyer said.

Other hair removal products include lotions that remove hair when rubbed off the skin. The latest technology even allows for hairs to be removed with lasers, but that practice has been slow moving into the pubic region and Sawyer says most groomers are either waxing or shaving.

Try explaining this one

Some groomers hurt themselves so badly they find themselves sitting in the office of Dr. Ramsay Farah of Farah Dermatology and Cosmetics, LLC, in Syracuse. About two percent of his patients come in with problems stemming from hair removal, and most are a result of trying to remove hair at home, Farah said.

Human hair is more complicated than it looks since hair shape, density and growth are inconsistent depending on ethnicity and location of the hair on the body, Farah said.

Removing pubic hair doesn't pose any major health risk, as long as groomers shave it safe Farah said.

But when it comes to the two most popular means by which people groom their pubic hair at home, waxing tends to be more dangerous than shaving.

"Besides the obvious pain involved, some waxing agents can cause irritation, lead to potentially in-growing hairs and those can cause inflammation and infection," Farah said.

Most people think the only danger associated with shaving pubic hair is the obvious fact that they can cut themselves with the razor, but a lot more patients come into Farah's office itching, rather than bleeding, he said.

"Some people don't know that shaving against the grain can cause in-grown hairs and razor bumps," Farah said.

When it comes to hair removal, Farah said he sees a fairly equal number of patients, but men tend to come in with problems that result from trying to remove facial or back hair, while women tend to have problems because of pubic hair removal.

The best grooming may not involve razors or wax, but instead just a pair of scissors, some patience and concentration and a steady hand. Farah said trimming pubic hair is safer, leaves the area just as clean and is pain-free.

"The general rule is, the closer shave or wax is to the skin, the more risk you have to these problems," Farah said.

But for those who insist on waxing or shaving, Farah says it's important to use clean equipment and more importantly, common sense.

"Most people are pretty level headed about it," Farah said, but added that he does see patients who have problems because of bad grooming procedures.

And those who just can't stop itching or continue to have pain from waxing, shaving or any other form of pubic hair removal should see a doctor as soon as possible. All patients have different thresholds of pain, but there's a generic rule when it comes to non-life-threatening pain, Farah said.

"If it's a reoccurring pain that interferes with your activity of daily living, you should probably see someone," Farah said.

Farah said he has seen patients who have constant itching to a point where they can't concentrate on work at their jobs. Each case is circumstantial, but he'll usually prescribe medication to help alleviate the pain or itching.

Social shaving

The fact that beauty salons have become a more prominent fixture in a woman's life, from the days of heavy, helmet-like hairdryers in old sitcoms to spa and salon memberships and that more women go to salons than men could very well be attributed to invisible social standards that grow deeper than the root of any single hair. This fact can't be easily cured just by a trip to Dr. Farah's office.

When it comes to men and women grooming themselves, Joan Gabel says it's an unequal beauty pageant.

"Some people don't even notice that there's a double standard, and it's huge," said Gabel, a member of Students Advancing Sexual Safety and Empowerment and a senior international relations and Russian language major. "A woman is more likely to be ostracized if she is unkempt."

Gabel agreed with Rainey that grooming pubic hair is expected of women, whereas it's more of a choice for men.

"A woman's status as being sexy is more important than her being honest or down-to-Earth," Gabel said.

But before any woman decides to throw out her razors or cancel the spa and salon membership, Gabel said there's nothing wrong with women grooming themselves as long as they're making the choice to do so, and not because of pressures and sexual stereotypes from a male-dominated society.

"The most important thing is choice," Gabel said. "You can be a completely liberated feminist and still want to be beautiful, well-groomed and wear makeup."

But if all the waxing, shaving and trimming below the belt happens because of social and even cultural pressures, women are not alone.

Competition from the men

"Gay guys groom far more than even girls," said Ryan Hinckley, a sophomore anthropology major who is gay. "Gay guys spend more time on their hair and looking at themselves because they want to look as good as possible."

Hinckley says for men, gay or straight, grooming pubic hairs is something of a mix between the desire for cleanliness and preparation for sex. But for gay men, he said, grooming is especially important in being attractive to find a partner.

"I don't want a big 'ole bush in my face," Hinckley said. "Most people feel the same; they're trying to be respectful."

Hinckley said men don't talk about grooming themselves because women have generally been the gender expected to groom. When men start talking about grooming, they are likely to be cast as "fems" or made fun of.

"If a guy was to talk about shaving himself, he might be called gay," Hinckley said. "People would probably suspect things about him, and a lot of guys don't want that."

Sophomore business major Chris Ruckert, who is straight, agreed and said straight men will just about never talk about grooming themselves.

"It's just one of those things you keep to yourself," Ruckert said. "It's a topic that can be weird to talk about with other people."

Most men who do groom probably do so in preparation for sex, and most men prefer women to groom themselves rather than let pubic hair grow into a deep, natural forest, Ruckert said.

Says who?

If guys aren't talking about grooming, as Hinckley and Ruckert say, then how is it that anyone knows about this male grooming trend in the first place? The men may not be talking, but the women in their lives are. For straight guys, it's their girlfriends or wives and for gay guys, their best female friends.

"Girls talk about everything," said Nancy Angelletta, a junior political science major. "Guys just don't discuss stuff like that."

Senior psychology major Margaux Alpert said even though a majority of men don't talk about what they actually do behind the locked bathroom door, it's easily noticed by women who are close to their male partners or friends.

"Guys are closet groomers," Alpert said. "But for girls, those things don't bother us."

Rainey said people in relationships are often influenced to groom to appease their partner's preferences.

Angelletta and Alpert agreed that when it comes to who's shaving where, with what and when is all up to the individual, since the trend is to groom oneself in some way or another.

"It's totally still a choice," Alpert said. "There are a lot of guys who like hair, and a lot of girls who don't like any hair, even arm hair."

When two people get down and dirty, Alpert said no one wants to be surprised about what their partner is packing in their pants.

"When it's all going to be visible to another person, it's kind of like a first impression thing," she said.

The hair down there

With fashion magazines, makeover TV shows and any other medium modeled off style and trends, Rainey said she isn't surprised that even pubic hair has its own trend.

"In general, I think Americans are more obsessed with beauty and grooming than any other people," Rainey said.

It's an obsession so strong that some will do anything to remove unwanted hair and something that has given Sawyer some unique experiences with customers.

"This one girl didn't do any grooming at all - she was like a Chia pet," Sawyer

said. "It was like Chinese noodles when they hit hot oil - it just expanded. I didn't even know where to start. It took me a couple of minutes to decide, and we had to trim it down before starting."

Sawyer has stories about men too, including a bodybuilder who needed his entire body waxed for a competition. Each time she moved to a new area of his body, the man complained that the pain was worse than before and she thought he was going to cry.

But the most interesting stories come from groomers calling on the wrong people for help. Sawyer said mostly women try to wax themselves at home and things get out of hand.

"I've seen people that have glued themselves together," Sawyer said.

Sawyer said one woman "glued herself together" and asked her boyfriend for help. His response: "What do you want me to do?"

Even though pubic hair keeps growing back, much to the frustration of groomers, Sawyer said she probably won't be losing any hair from even the worst pubic hair removal experience.

"Nothing surprises me at this point," Sawyer said. "I've heard and seen just about everything."