Pubes.
We’ve all got ’em.
And if you don’t, you’re too young to be reading this. Please, log off and go back to being twelve.
I mean that. It’s all downhill from here Billy
Pubic hair is a natural part of being human. But like accidentally queefing in a yoga class or enjoying Numb – Linkin Park in earnest, a lot of us feel shame when it comes to our pubefros.
There are a few reasons why.
Our pubic hair starts to sprout (often ferociously) during puberty. This is a hard enough time as it is. Our bodies are growing upwards and outwards at a cracking pace. Our skin becomes oily, our sweat smelly and our moods apathetic. A fair few of us therefore associate pubes with awkwardness.
Others think pubic hair is unhygienic. This is plainly incorrect. You’ve got hair on your bits for a reason. Ripping up your carpet can actually increase your risk of contracting nasty infections, as it can create cuts and microscopic tears bugs burrow their way into.
And of course, some people feel strongly about obliterating their pubes is ’cause of cultural beauty standards. The vast majority of your bog-standard porn features hairless muffs. What’s in fashion (like high-cut bikinis) also encourage hairlessness. Heck, Posh Beckham even once said a Brazilian wax should be “compulsory” from age 15.
Recent studies of hair removal in young Australian women show that almost 50% of female uni students remove most or all of their hair. Young men do it too, with two-thirds of both gay and hetero Aussie blokes removing pubic hair, mainly to improve perceived attractiveness.
Regardless of the politics behind going bald, it’s insanely popular, and laser hair removal is the latest technology many women (and men, but mainly women) swear by.
Basically, hair removal laser and IPL targets the pigment in the hair shaft. Like a lightning rod this guides the energy down into the hair follicle unit, where the heat from the laser or IPL pulse destroys the hair follicle bud and thereby reduces hair growth until the hair follicle bud reforms.
It’s a bloody booming business. Laser Clinics Australia performs almost 3 million treatments per year across their 80 clinics – and that’s just one company in ‘Straya. The service is often spruiked as permanent, with many businesses promising that your hair won’t grow back, or if it does, it will be markedly sparser.
Dr. Adam Sheridan, a Dermatologist and Mohs Micrographic Surgeon, has also seen an upwards swing in the amount of people coming to his practice who have had laser hair removal, too.
“Anecdotal evidence abounds regarding increased uptake,” he says.
“And as this occurs it becomes the new norm. Most Dermatologists have experience with patients concerned with what is actually entirely normal hair growth – ie women of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Indian descent who are now feeling they must accord with the ‘Australian’ norm of no hair on face; breasts, axillae, legs arms and bikini areas. There are increasing numbers of people of all genders, ages and races are engaging in laser hair removal.”
But it raises a hairy question.
What happens when trends change? What’s the go if (or rather, when) the gonad goatie makes a full-blown come back? Will we all start wearing merkins?
“Many will continue to grow completely normal hair when they cease regular treatments – others may have patchy growth. Who knows.” says Dr Sheridan. “It’s fun to speculate, but best not to judge.”
Laser Clinics Australia recommends between 8-10 treatments to see permanent hair reduction, and add that most people need approximately 3 maintenance treatments per year.
Dr Sheridan agrees that laser hair removal reduces hair, but isn’t sold on it being totally permanent.
“There is a fair bit of semantics at play with this,” says Dr Sheridan. “Laser hair removal reduces hair growth over an extended period, but it is incorrect to say that any laser causes proven and consistent permanent hair reduction or removal.”
While that might disappoint the baldies among us who want to stay that hairless forever, it’s sort of promising for if fashion changes. Even then, if you’re someone who takes to laser well and it does never come back – you can always vajazzle.
Photo: Sex and the City.
