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SEX FILES: Women ditching shame and embracing their body hair

But while we're seeing a shift towards more natural pubic hair for women, the opposite is occurring for men

Published Sep 26, 2026  •  Last updated 1 day ago  •  4 minute read

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Personal care brand Slick’s opened the World’s First Pube Salon on Sept. 3 in Venice, California.

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Nestled among organic matcha cafes, trendy boutiques, and stores peddling pricey athleisure, the pube salon was a temporary pop-up where customers could walk in off the street for a free consultation, followed by a conditioning treatment or a trim from a professional stylist.

The goal was simple. Celebrate an area of the body that many of us have been taught to be ashamed of: the hair down there.

After years of Brazilian waxing, laser hair removal, and body hair clearcutting being en vogue, grown-out pubes are having a moment again. On Instagram, body positive and sex-positive creators have been embracing their body hair under the hashtag #FreeTheBush, spawning countless think pieces.

“We have been experiencing a liberation of body hair and pubes for some time now; people have been questioning and pushing back against unrealistic beauty standards, and that’s translated into how people feel about hair in their nether regions,” Slick’s Chief Intimacy Officer Amanda Fronckowiak says.

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I’m one of legions of people in my age bracket who grew up with deep-seated shame about their body hair, and once I had the means, invested in removing the majority of it permanently. Of course, things weren’t always this way.

“Pubic hair on both women and men was actually the norm until around the turn of the 21st century,” shares Suzannah Weiss, resident sexologist for Erojoy and author of Subjectified: Becoming a Sexual Subject.

Weiss explains that a study of Playboy centrefolds found that bushes were displayed on most models up through the 1990s. She says many theories explain why this shifted.

“One is that it was a sort of anti-feminist backlash: With women gaining more rights, there was a subtle effort to infantilize them and make them fixated on their looks,” says Weiss.

This coincided with razor brands’ push to sell razors to women that problematized women’s bodies, so there is demand to fix them.

“Lastly, online porn became popular around the late-90s, and shaved vulvas became a convention on tube sites, perhaps as a form of objectification or because it was considered arousing to be able to see the entire vulva,” she explains.

However, that has recently shifted.

“Books like Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth and my own Subjectified have called attention to patriarchy’s influence on female beauty standards and the harm done when women are expected to constantly perform for the male gaze,” says Weiss.

As a result, it’s given people permission to embrace their bodies as they are without any changes – or to turn to alternative forms of pubic grooming, like trimming, using softening oils, or going all bare in the summer but growing them out in the winter.

Also, having pubic hair might actually be good for you.

As Weiss points out, “There’s also been some research published over the past decade or so showing that those with pubic hair are less likely to contract STIs and other infections.”

However, while we’re seeing a shift towards more natural pubic hair for women, the opposite is occurring for men.

“It’s become more expected for men to style their pubic hair over the past decade or so as an equalizer and a way to make oral sex easier,” says Weiss.

That said, it’s all about finding what works for you. One of my favourite scenes in The L Word features a frank discussion about how it doesn’t really matter how you groom your pubic hair as long as you have “bush confidence” (translation: feel good in your own body).

If you’re looking to tap into your inner bush confidence, Weiss suggests experimenting with different styles and seeing which one makes you feel the most confident.

“I also recommend sharing your insecurities with partners as they can reassure you they accept your body as it is – and if they do not, that is a red flag,” says Weiss.

Pubic hair isn’t the inherent mood killer that we’ve been taught it is. After all, as Weiss points out, for hundreds of thousands of years, people lusted after each other, had sex and reproduced without changing a thing about their pubic hair.

Whether you trim, wax, go natural, or do something in between, it’s about embracing what works best for you.

As Weiss reminds us, beauty standards are real and prevalent, but they are also a social construct that shifts every few years or so.

“Confidence is not – it is sexy across place and time,” she says.

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