“I dated a girl who trimmed it close, but left hair by the lips. Which was way worse than if she just hadn’t shaved at all, cause it was short and prickly…like having sex with a pungent cactus.” -J, Male, 28

Pubic hair has been with mankind as long as mankind’s been around. Though its functions are debated, it’s believed that it traps in pheromones (read: sexy smells) meant to excite and arouse mates. But times have certainly changed now, when an unkempt bush could send a partner running for the hills!

Currently, pubic hair is on the decline, leading to various doomsaying and gnashing of teeth that it’s unhealthy or something only a sick person would find attractive. This is nothing new; trends in trimming the bushes have continually gone back and forth. For example, despite being known for their pharaoh’s prodigious goatees, the ancient Egyptians were a smooth shaven lot. In the fifteenth century, it became popular for women to shave their pubes to avoid pubic lice. In 19th century England, pubic hair was seen so positively that it was considered trendy to snip of a lock of your lovers’ pubes and pin it to your hat or dress! These patterns have gone back and forth, and will surely continue to. One day you’ll take home a hot date and find the 1970’s are suddenly back in style!

So with all that in mind, we’re going to take a brief look back at the history, and the somewhat unique war waged around pubic hair maintenance in the 20th century, both in pornography, and society at large.

Part I – Pubis PreHistoria – Pre-20th Century

“I don’t mind it clean shaven or unshaven; just please no five o’ clock shadow. I don’t like when I go down on a girl and it feels like kissing my dad on the cheek.” -El, Male, 24

As discussed in our opening, trimming pubic hair is hardly a new phenomenon. It seems much like the ever-warring Republicans and Democrats, trimming or not trimming pubes has always been a volleyball trend. We can see this today with numerous think pieces on “The Death of Pubes”, and what that means to us as a society. Just as every generation has claimed the next one is rotten and destroying society, there have ALWAYS been public freakouts whenever the tides shifted. This has been happening, literally, for millennia.

Several ancient civilizations (Ancient Rome, Greece, India, etc.) have recorded texts regarding their societies' propensity for trimming and shaving. Bear in mind, this was before Nair, waxing, and even razors. Some of the methods were downright nasty; sharpened flint rocks, fire, poison cream. Most painfully, the Greek method was to pluck each hair individually. Imagine the agony…In fact, there is a set of rules around cleanliness laid down in the Islamic faith, known as the sunan al-fitra, which includes shaving pubic hair as one of the necessities to hygiene, as important as brushing your teeth or cutting your nails.

Shaving was it its peak during the Renaissance; nude paintings at the time showed completely clean shaven models. This was not always an either/or proposition however; in times when bush was in, there were often those that still shaved for less aesthetic and more health related reasons, like pubic lice. In these old times of disease and pestilence, keeping the bugs at bay was more important than what the boys wanted. This is most hilariously demonstrated by my new favorite human artifact; the first known merkin (aka, pubic wig) is recorded in history in the year 1450!

The tides were turned in the 16th century by those legendary ruiners of fun; the royals. Around 1550, Catherine de Medici, Queen of France, ordered her court of ladies to abstain from shaving or trimming their pubes. This decree and trend amongst the ruling class brought back bush by force for several hundred years.

Part II – The Early 1900’s – The Industrial/Indecent Revolution

“I definitely keep it trimmed. Just a little square. I call it “The Hitler.” -R, Female, 32 (Yes, she’s slept with Jewish dudes before.)

Early 1900’s America was a bit of a dichotomy – the Victorian/Edwardian repression of sexuality, following the wave of modesty set by the Medici Queen, was still in full swing. Simultaneously, the Industrial Revolution was creating a robust middle class, instilling a sense of freedom and liberation amongst a large portion of the country. As that wealth grew larger, young Americans became more and more openly sexual. Bulky, frumpy clothing gave way to the flappers of the 20’s, who chose to show off their skin, rather than hide it in shame.

However, at about the same time, the invention of photography and film showed that fur was still in. Created roughly five minutes after film itself, pornographic films of the era featured dark, unkempt bushes for men and women alike. Despite a repeated instance of relaxed sexual mores leading to trimmed pubic hair, this particular time did not follow through. The sexual liberation would not last long either, as the Great Depression and World War II brought conservative morals back to prevalence for another generation.

Part III – Leave It To The French

“I prefer a fully shaved lady, because the first vagina I ever touched was super hairy, and that scarred me for life…” - G, Male, 28

In 1946, the French-designed bikini made its American debut. Ironically, a large contributor to this style was World War II; with many fabrics being rationed to help for the war effort, designers struggled to create clothing with as little fabric as possible. Though controversial, the bikini was a hit. It also led to the first major uptick of pubic grooming, so as to not have hairs creeping around the new swimsuits. The terms “bikini line” and “bikini wax” entered the public. The irony that the French, a people known for being culturally okay with unshaven female legs and armpits, bringing the first attack on pubic hair in America, has not gone unnoticed.

Unfortunately for bare-lovers everywhere, the sixties and seventies led to a new love for pubes. As the baby-boomers grew up and grew tired of the Vietnam war and Richard Nixon, there was a rush towards the more “natural” look and behavior. Peace and nature were the hip thing now, and there was nothing more natural than a plump patch of pubes.

At about this time, pornography, long hidden underground, became mainstream. With all time classics like Deep Throat and Behind the Green Door being released, in collaboration with greater public loosening of sexual prudishness and the increase of public theaters showing adult films, sex was becoming front and center in American life. Despite the earliest films following the current trend of untouched pubic hair, there was a slow thinning and trimming up ahead. As the films got better, one couldn’t help but notice less and less pubes, possibly as a method to display genitals on screen more clearly. But it was only when pornography made its leap out of the theaters and into our homes that pubic hair in society took a swift hit.

Part IV: Deforestation

“I have the tattoo, so I shave. Pubes are fine, but just like on top, it should be styled and maintained to look good.” - A, Female, 27

As pornography made the transition from theaters to VHS, and then DVD, and THEN the internet, it became a closer part of most Western society’s lives. Just as the 70’s had been about natural and hairy, advances in plastic surgery were making more and more aim for perfection. In the popular culture at the time, nose jobs and breast implants and Botox became more and more popular. With the entertainment industry leaning more and more towards a manufactured look, unkempt pubic hair was not going to survive progress.

Brazilian waxing fads became gossip in tabloid magazines, eventually leading into hair salons and living rooms across the country. Pam Anderson, in her famous sex tape, sports a completely shaved vagina in 1995. Porn soon completely followed suit, and even trimmed landing strips were soon waxed off as well. Due to porn’s new availability on every home computer, the culture at large was inspired, and soon, more and more people were going bald. Many in the media have pointed to the insanely popular millennial sitcom Sex and The City. Extremely popular with women of the time, the episode Sex and Another City discussed waxing and shaving pubic hair ad nauseam. It is widely believed this episode influenced untold thousands upon thousands to give it a try for themselves. This trend has continued to the present day.

Epilogue: The South Shall Rise Again!

“If I’m in a relationship with someone, I’m going to be up close and personal with that area – It’s way more enjoyable if I’m not weeding through a god damned jungle.” -J, Female, 29

The popular trend of shaving pubic hair has lasted nearly 20 years at this point. It extended so far that even men have developed their own term for the practice: manscaping. Advertisements for treatments that will prevent pubic hair growths for extended periods of time grow more popular. It would seem that pubic hair will be laying dormant for quite a long time.

However, the backlash has begun. Numerous publications have stated "Bush Is Back" in the last few years. They’re undoubtedly premature, but there has been an uptick. Some celebrities discuss giving up their pubic hair removal as a way to reclaim their life from the public’s demands for perfection. The subculture of hipsters, worshipers of all things antique, decided to lump pubes in with vinyl and stupid clothing, and bring it into the modern day. Many feminist groups have even spoke out against trimming and shaving as a political agenda; they claim the practice is the result of misogyny, shaming women for their natural bodies.

It must also be pointed out that these recent trends are not necessarily global. While Western civilization committed body hair holocaust, the far east has stuck with their traditional cultural view on the growth downstairs. In Japan, it is considered bad luck to eliminate pubic hair. Also, despite their reputation for insane pornography, casual sex is still very taboo in Japan. The prevailing explanation is that if very few people are likely to see you naked, there’s less incentive to obsess over how your fun parts look. South Korea in particular has a soft spot for the soft hairs; culturally, the Koreans consider a lush growth of groin foliage as a sign of sexual health, virility, and fertility. There’s even a current fad in the country for pubic hair transplant surgery to thicken out thin patches!

Clearly, our opinions on body grooming are easily swayed by our friends, our media, our celebrities, and society at large. But in this new global community, it seems any particular pattern can be endlessly proven and unproven. Is the bush coming back? Did it ever really leave in the first place? No one seems to really know for sure. History seems to dictate that it will rise and cover more area again, only to be cut down repeatedly, only to rise again. Truly, pubes are just like history itself; sure to be cut down and altered, only to come roaring back with vengeance, to be cut down again and begin the cycle again.