Ladies, listen up!
Put down the razor and drop the waxing strips — the reign of the Brazilian may finally be over.
We've talked before about how shaving your body hair isn't all it's cracked up to be, and now, there's even more proof.
A recent study out of the University of California, San Francisco, confirms that removing your pubic hair actually puts you at higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections, or STI's.
It's news that's both alarming and heartening because, can we be frank? We're sick and tired of the "bare down there" obsession of recent years.
In other words, if you've been trimming the bushes, it might be time to get a routine STI test and then let your shrubbery grow back.
So, why exactly does trimming the hair on your private parts lead to higher rates of infection?
Scroll through to learn more about this new study and the history of downstairs hair care.
Like anything else, there are trends in how we groom our pubic hair.
For example, the ancient Egyptians removed everything with a razor, Medieval women kept things lush, and the 20th century brought us the bedeviled trend called "vajazzling," in which pubic hair is removed and replaced with stick-on rhinestones.
In the words of Holly Golightly: "I must say — the mind reels."
The prevailing trend for the past few decades has been the Brazilian wax, where all of the hair is removed with waxing strips.
This trend was popularized by "gentleman's" magazines such as Playboy and Maxim, and became the accepted look for the pubic region.
It got a particular boost after shows like Sex and the City and starlets like Gwyneth Paltrow began raving about the trend.
Despite the tremendous boost in the trend, waxing and shaving have always come with serious drawbacks, particularly where the pubic region is concerned.
Ladies who remove hair in this particularly sensitive area saw a much higher incidence of irritations, including in-grown hairs and razor burn.
They also experience higher levels of staph and other infections because of the potential for breaking the skin and introducing germs to the body.
Perhaps it's not too surprising that removing your hair downstairs also creates more of an opportunity for STIs.
The study shows that people who remove all their pubic hair roughly once a month (termed "extreme groomers") have a higher rate of infection.
In fact, they're three to four times more likely to contract an STI like syphilis or gonorrhea.
Scientists still don't know exactly why the rates are higher — the study simply proves that folks who groom more thoroughly contract infections more often, though it doesn't answer why that happens.
The prevailing theory is that grooming by shaving or waxing opens up small wounds on the skin.
Just like the staph infection mentioned above, STIs have an easier time setting up shop in the body when the skin is already broken.
More to the point, body hair usually serves a purpose: eyelashes protect the eyes from detritus and dirt, while nose hair blocks out germs and dust.
It stands to reason that pubic hair serves a similar function for the private parts, right?
Whatever the reason for the correlation, we think that the most important point of the study is this: We're all better off if we just leave our darn pubes alone!
What do you think of this new information on downstairs hair care? Let us know in the comments!
And don't forget to SHARE for everyone who could benefit from a more laissez-faire approach to grooming!
