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Pubic hair

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Pubic hair on a mature male (left), and a mature female (right)

Pubic hair is the hair in the frontal genital area of adolescent and adult humans, located on and around the sex organs, the crotch, and sometimes at the top of the inside of the thighs, in the pubic region around the pubis bone.

Although fine vellus hair is present in the area in childhood, pubic hair is considered to be the heavier, longer and coarser hair that develops during puberty as an effect of rising levels of androgens. Pubic hair is therefore part of the androgenic hair (or body hair) and is a secondary sex characteristic.

Hair does not contain intrinsic value that automatically attract other sex, but it does depend on the cultural context of that sexual attraction. Some cultures are ambivalent in relation to particular body hair, with some being regarded as attractive while others being regarded as unaesthetic. Many cultures regard pubic hair to be erotic. In most cultures, both men and women are expected to cover their pubic hair at all times, but sometimes this may be because the groin area is associated with genitalia.

Development

The Tanner scale looks at the development of pubic hair. Before the onset of puberty, the genital area of both boys and girls has very fine vellus hair, referred to as Tanner stage 1 hair.[1] As puberty begins, the body produces rising levels of the sex hormones known as androgens, and in response the skin of the genital area begins to produce thicker and rougher, often curlier, hair with a faster growth rate.[2] The onset of pubic hair development is termed pubarche. The change for each hair follicle is relatively abrupt, but the extent of skin which grows androgenic hair gradually increases over several years.

In males, the first pubic hair appears as a few sparse hairs that are usually thin on the scrotum or at the upper base of the penis (stage 2). Within a year, hairs around the base of the penis are numerous (stage 3). Within 3 to 4 years, hair fills the pubic area (stage 4) and becomes much thicker and darker, and by 5 years extends to the near thighs and upwards on the abdomen toward the umbilicus (stage 5).[3]

Other areas of the skin are similarly, though slightly less, sensitive to androgens and androgenic hair typically appears somewhat later. In rough sequence of sensitivity to androgens and appearance of androgenic hair, are the armpits (axillae), perianal area, upper lip, preauricular areas (sideburns), periareolar areas (nipples), middle of the chest, neck under the chin, remainder of chest and beard area, limbs and shoulders, back, and buttocks.

Although generally considered part of the process of puberty, pubarche is distinct and independent of the process of maturation of the gonads that leads to sexual maturation and fertility. Pubic hair can develop from adrenal androgens alone, and can develop even when the ovaries or testes are defective and nonfunctional. See puberty for details.

There is little if any difference in the capacity of male and female bodies to grow hair in response to androgens. The obvious sex-dimorphic difference in hair distribution in men and women is primarily a result of differences in the levels of androgen reached as maturity occurs.

Pubic hair and axillary (armpit) hair can vary in color considerably from the hair of the scalp. In most people it is darker, although it can also be lighter. In most cases it is most similar in color to the eyebrows of the individual.[4]

Natural female pubic hair varies considerably around the world, ranging from short to long, from sparse to dense, and from straight and soft to wiry and curly. In color, pubic hair does not always match head hair. Many dark-haired women have lighter pubic hair often with a red tinge. Most women have wavy and curly pubic hair, even when their head hair is straight. In the Far East, however, straight black head hair is matched by pubic hair that has been described as 'black, short, straight and not thick but rather sparse...'[4][5] Hair texture varies from tightly curled to entirely straight. Such variations also appear in men.

Pubic hair patterns can vary by race and ethnicity.[5] Patterns of pubic hair, known as the escutcheon, vary between sexes. On most women, the pubic patch is triangular and lies over the mons pubis. On many men, the pubic patch tapers upwards to a line of hair pointing towards the navel (see abdominal hair), roughly a more upward-pointing triangle.[4] As with axillary (armpit) hair, pubic hair is associated with a concentration of sebaceous glands in the area.

In art

Heinrich Aldegrever's Eve, 1540. A rare early example of pubic hair in northern European art.
La Naissance de Venus by Eugène Emmanuel Amaury Duval (1808–1885). Medieval art omitted pubic and axillary hair.

In ancient Egyptian art, female pubic hair is indicated in the form of painted triangles.[6] In medieval and classical European art, pubic hair was very rarely depicted, and male pubic hair was often, but not always, omitted.[7] Sometimes it was portrayed in stylized form, as was the case with Greek graphic art.[8] The same was true in much Indian art, and in other Eastern portrayals of the nude. In 16th-century southern Europe, Michelangelo showed the male David with stylized pubic hair, but female bodies were depicted hairless below the head. Nevertheless, Michelangelo's male nudes on the Sistine Chapel ceiling display no pubic hair. In Renaissance northern Europe, pubic hair was more likely to be portrayed than in the south, more usually male, while occasionally on female figures.

By the 17th century, suggestions of female pubic hair appear in pornographic engravings, such as those by Agostino Carracci.[citation needed]

According to John Ruskin's biographer Mary Lutyens, the notable author, artist, and art critic was apparently accustomed only to the hairless nudes portrayed unrealistically in art, never having seen a naked woman before his wedding night. He was allegedly so shocked by his discovery of his wife Effie's pubic hair that he rejected her, and the marriage was later legally annulled. He is supposed to have thought his wife was freakish and deformed.[9] Later writers have often followed Lutyens and repeated this version of events. For example, Gene Weingarten in his book I'm with Stupid (2004) writes that "Ruskin had [the marriage] annulled because he was horrified to behold upon his bride a thatch of hair, rough and wild, similar to a man's. He thought her a monster."[10] However, there is no proof for this, and some disagree. Peter Fuller in his book Theoria: Art and the Absence of Grace writes, "It has been said that he was frightened on the wedding night by the sight of his wife's pubic hair; more probably, he was perturbed by her menstrual blood." Ruskin's biographers Tim Hilton and John Batchelor also believe that menstruation is the more likely explanation.[11]

Francisco Goya's The Nude Maja (1797) has been considered as probably the first European painting to show a female subject's pubic hair, though paintings had hinted at it.[citation needed] The painting was considered quite pornographic at the time.[12] Gustave Courbet's L'Origine du monde (The Origin of the World, 1866) was considered scandalous probably more because of the presentation of thick pubic hair than the exposed female genitals. Examples of male pubic hair in contemporary art are harder to find.[citation needed]

In the late 18th century female pubic hair is openly portrayed in Japanese shunga (erotica), especially in the ukiyo-e tradition.[13] Hokusai's picture The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife (1814), which depicts a woman having an erotic fantasy, is a well-known example. Fine art paintings and sculpture created before the 20th century in the Western tradition usually depicted women without pubic hair or a visible vulva.[citation needed] In Japanese drawings, such as hentai, pubic hair is often omitted, since for a long time the display of pubic hair was not legal. The interpretation of the law has since changed.[14]

Cultural views

A preference for hairless crotch in oneself or in another is known as acomoclitism. According to the Oxford Companion to the Body, in the 1450s women [where?] would shave their pubic hair for personal hygiene and to combat pubic lice and would then don a merkin or pubic wig.[15][16] In Middle Eastern societies, removal of female body hair has been considered proper hygiene, necessitated by local customs, for many centuries.[17] In Islamic societies removing pubic hair is a religiously endorsed practice known as an act of Sunan al-Fitra.[18][19] Evidence of pubic hair removal in ancient India dates back to 4000 to 3000 BC.[20] According to ethnologist F. Fawcett, writing in 1901, he had observed the removal of body hair, including pubic hair about the vulva, as a custom of women from the Hindu Nair caste.[21]

Among the upper class in 19th-century Victorian Britain, pubic hair from one's lover was frequently collected as a souvenir. The curls were, for instance, worn like cockades in men's hats as potency talismans, or exchanged among lovers as tokens of affection.[22] The museum of St. Andrews University in Scotland has in its collection a snuffbox full of pubic hair of one of King George IV's mistresses, possibly Elizabeth Conyngham, which the notoriously licentious monarch donated to the Fife sex club, The Beggar's Benison.[22]

In Western societies, exposure of a woman's body hair below her neck has traditionally and continues to be widely disapproved of culturally. Many people consider exposure of pubic hair to be embarrassing.[23] It may be regarded as immodest and sometimes as obscene. With the reduction in the size of swimsuits, especially since the coming into fashion and growth in popularity of the bikini since the 1940s, the practice of bikini waxing has also come into vogue.[23] However, some people also remove pubic hair that is not exposed, for aesthetic, sexual, personal hygiene, cultural, religious, fashion, or other reasons.

In more recent times, models and actors who appeared nude on stage, film, or photography used to shield their frontal genital area by the angle of their body or leg in relation to the camera, or in some other way; but now it is more common for female adult entertainers who appear nude, such as strippers and pornographic actresses, to remove their pubic hair. The presentation is regarded by some as being erotic and aesthetic, while others consider the style as unnatural. Some people remove pubic hairs for erotic and sexual reasons or because they or their sex partner enjoy the feel of a hairless crotch.[24]

In some Asian countries, for example in Japan, the intimate hair removal is not very widespread fashion: it is quite common that women leave their pubic hair untrimmed.

Styling

See also: Bikini waxing

Trimming or completely removing pubic hair has become a custom in some cultures. When the hair is waxed, this practice is widely referred to as bikini waxing. The method of removing hair is called depilation (when removing only the hair above the skin) or epilation (when removing the entire hair). Beauty salons often offer various waxing services. It is sometimes referred to as "pubic topiary".[25][26][27]

It is unusual for pubic hair to be dyed or painted, except incidentally to bodypainting. Concerns have been raised about the safety of using regular hair dye for this purpose, but dyes have been formulated for use on pubic hair. This is sometimes done to enable someone to match their pubic hair to the (dyed) hair on their head, or in whimsical colours.[28]

Styles

Some people modify their pubic hair as an expression of their style or lifestyle.

  • American wax—hair limited to the bikini area. Also trimmed shorter.
    American wax—hair limited to the bikini area. Also trimmed shorter.
  • French wax—waxing with a "landing strip". Labia are cleared.
    French wax—waxing with a "landing strip". Labia are cleared.
  • Full Brazilian or the Sphinx—a full waxing. No hair at all.
    Full Brazilian or the Sphinx—a full waxing. No hair at all.

Some styles include:[29]

Natural, Au naturel, Bush[30]
No trimming and therefore no maintenance.
Trimmed or cut
Hair length is shortened but not removed or shaped, inner thighs may be shaved.
Triangle
Pubic hair shaved from the genital area of a mature male
Hair removed (generally waxed) from the sides to form a triangle so that pubic hair cannot be seen while wearing swimwear. This can range from the very edge of the "bikini line" to up to an inch reduction on either side. Hair length can be from an inch and a half to half an inch.
Landing Strip, Hitler Moustache, Clitler
Hair sharply removed from the sides to form a long centered vertical rectangle, hair length about quarter of an inch.
Brazilian waxing, G-wax
Pubic hair completely removed except for a very thin remnant, centered, narrow stripe above the vulva approximately an inch in height, and the hair length in the sub-centimeter range.
Full-Brazilian, Hollywood, Bare, Bald Beaver, Bald eagle, German Wax
Pubic hair completely removed.
V-shaped[31]
Adaptation of the triangle shape with an inner triangle removed, rarely with a top bar remaining ▽.
Heart, also diamonds, spades, clubs
The heart shape is an adaptation of the triangle shape with the top shaped into two half circles. The diamond shape has the upper part of the triangle shape cut into an up-pointing triangle instead.
Arrow
Mix of the landing strip (upper) and triangle (lower) shapes, possibly also in other directions.
Pyramid
An upside-down triangle, the name referring to the cross cut or silhouette of a pyramid.
Freestyle (flash, star and other symbols, letters)
These are usually variations of the Brazilian/G-wax, where a design is formed of the pubic hair above completely bare vulva. Stencils for several shapes are available commercially.[32] A controversial Gucci commercial included female pubic hair shaved into a 'G'.[33]
Dyed hair
Coloring pubic hair to match hair on the head or to give it a unique look (for example, red—in the shape of a heart).
Hair extensions, pubic wigs

See also

References

  1. ^ Green, Morris (1998). Pediatric diagnosis: interpretation of symptoms and signs in children and adolescents. Saunders. p. 200.
  2. ^ Rogol, Alan (2002). "Androgens and puberty". Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology. 198 (1), 25–29.
  3. ^ Neill, Sallie; Lewis, Fiona (2009). Ridley's the Vulva. John Wiley and Sons. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-4051-6813-7.
  4. ^ a b c Sherrow, Victoria (2006). Encyclopedia of hair: a cultural history. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 315.
  5. ^ a b Morris, Desmond (2007). "The Pubic Hair". The Naked Woman. pp. 192–202. ISBN 0-09-945358-4. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Stuckey, Johanna (2007). The "Holy One". Cross Quarterly for the Goddess Woman. 6 (4).
  7. ^ Barcan, Ruth (2004). Nudity: a cultural anatomy. Berg. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-85973-872-6.
  8. ^ Hollander, Anne (1993). Seeing through clothes. University of California Press. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-520-08231-1.
  9. ^ Saltz, Jerry. Pudenda Agenda. artnet.com.
  10. ^ Weingarten, I'm with Stupid, pp. 150–1.
  11. ^ Hilton, T. (2002). John Ruskin: A Life, 1, pp. 117–20; Batchelor, J, John Ruskin: No Wealth but Life. p. 135.
  12. ^ Bruce, Teresa (1996). "Pornophobia, pornophilia, and the need for a middle path". American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law. 5.
  13. ^ Screech, Timon (1999). Sex and the floating world: erotic images in Japan, 1700–1820. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-86189-030-6.
  14. ^ Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1177/0964663909103623, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1177/0964663909103623 instead.
  15. ^ Oxford Companion to the Body, Oxford University Press, 2002.
  16. ^ Francis, Gareth (June 26, 2003). "A short and curly history of the merkin". The Guardian.
  17. ^ Kutty, Ahmad (13/Sep/2005) Islamic Ruling on Waxing Unwanted Hair Retrieved March 29, 2006
  18. ^ Understanding Islam
  19. ^ "Islamic Ruling on Waxing Unwanted Hair". Archived from the original on March 2, 2010. Retrieved March 29, 2006.
  20. ^ April Masini, Think & Date Like a Man, 2005, page 49, ISBN 0-595-37466-2, Date Out of Your League, 2004, ISBN 0-9746763-0-6
  21. ^ F. Fawcett (2004) [1901]. Nâyars of Malabar. Asian Educational Services. p. 195. ISBN 978-81-206-0171-0. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  22. ^ a b Perrottet, Tony (December 14, 2009). "Secrets of the Great British Sex Clubs". Slate Magazine. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
  23. ^ a b Heinz Tschachler, Maureen Devine, Michael Draxlbauer; The EmBodyment of American Culture; pp. 61–62; LIT Verlag, Berlin-Hamburg-Münster; 2003; ISBN 3-8258-6762-5.
  24. ^ The Hair Down There. University of California, Santa Barbara's SexInfo. Retrieved May 4, 2007.
  25. ^ The Fuzz That Was. Willamette Week.
  26. ^ Belle de Jour's naughty notebook. The Telegraph.
  27. ^ Pubic-Hair Topiary. The Stranger.
  28. ^ "Pubic Hair Dye: Betty Beauty". Retrieved July 25, 2008.
  29. ^ Pubic Hair Cuts. ShaveHaven.
  30. ^ Germinsky, Lisa (December 11, 2008). Bush is back. Salon.com.
  31. ^ "MetArt Fine Photography". Retrieved September 12, 2008. (NSFW)
  32. ^ e.g. from "Newf". Archived from the original on February 28, 2009.
  33. ^ "tom's pubic ad avoids ban". Vogue. February 27, 2003. Retrieved October 27, 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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