Yes, having hair on your vulva is completely healthy and normal. Both guys and girls grow hair — pubic hair — around their genitals during puberty. Some people have a lot of pubic hair, and some have less. Some people choose to remove their pubic hair for cosmetic reasons.
Yes, it is normal to have a lot of hair around your vagina. Hair on the vulva and around the scrotum is normal. Everyone has pubic hair around their genitals, and it starts growing during puberty. Pubic hair helps prevent dirt and bacteria from entering the vagina.
There is no such thing as a 'normal' amount of pubic hair. This is a personal choice and one that you can make on your own. You shouldn't feel pressure one way or another.
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."
The most common cause of excess body hair in people assigned female at birth is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which is a hormonal disorder causing the body to produce too many androgens. The condition accounts for more than 70% of hirsutism cases. Doctors do not fully understand the causes of PCOS.
Pubic hair may extend out to their thighs, and some girls may have a line of hair up to their belly button. Most girls attain their peak height by age 16, but some may continue growing through age 20.
How long is a typical pubic hair? Most pubes grow between half an inch and 1.5 inches, according to Steixner.
“There is no medical reason that you need to be removing or trimming some or all of your pubic hair,” says Nina Carroll, MD, OB/GYN, of Your Doctors Online. According to Carroll, the risk of infection — be it bacterial, yeast, or sexually transmitted — is not higher or lower based on your pubic hair practices.
A combination of polls shows that 80 to 90 percent of women prefer some amount of grooming for starters. Only 10 to 20 percent prefer guys with a completely unkempt bush; this means that going wild below the waist is not the default look. It may require less work, but you're not playing the odds.
Shaving, whether it's your legs, armpits, or pubic area, is a personal choice. You certainly don't have to shave before sex if you don't want to. Shaving pubic hair (or not) is a cosmetic preference, and it does not mean you are "cleaner" if you shave. If you do prefer to shave, try not to do it right before sex.
Long pubic hair
Hair increases the surface area for bacteria and bodily fluids to linger and lead to odor. Think of it as a dance floor.
If pubic hair begins to grow further down and onto the fronts of the thighs and/or upward on the stomach, towards the navel, you should head to your pediatrician or your primary care doctor to get checked out.
It is more hygienic not to shave it (although depilation does make pubic lice homeless). In removing their pubic hair, most women will get cuts or ingrown hairs, and some will develop inflammation of the hair follicles or hyperpigmentation.
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.
While some women like to shave or wax it off, others like a full bush. And neither sect is wrong. Even though pubic hair serves a purpose (like preventing chafing and infections down there), all women need to be abide by one golden rule: your bush, your choice!
Pubic hair is nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about since it serves multiple purposes. Right from providing a cushion against friction that can cause skin abrasion and injury to protection from bacteria and unwanted pathogens.
Thirty-eight percent find pubic hair acceptable so long as it is “trimmed,” 15 percent have no preference, and only five percent prefer an au naturale mons pubis. Every year, one style site or another will prematurely cry, “The bush is back.” But the bush is not back.
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.
Pubic Hair Trends
According to the researchers, when asked if they removed their pubic hair, 80% of women and 39% of men removed their pubic hair near the time of the survey. Also, 3% of women and 21% of men had never removed their pubic hair.
Common causes of genital itching include contact dermatitis, jock itch, scabies, yeast infection, and folliculitis. Your healthcare provider can help you determine the cause and point you to the best treatment and prevention strategies.
Pubic hair removal is common — approximately 80 percent of women ages 18 to 65 report they remove some or all of their pubic hair.
While it may seem odd that there's a stray pube in almost every urinal you visit, the truth is that pubes don't shed any quicker than any other hair. Generally speaking, we lose anywhere from 50 to 100 hairs per day.