Is It Safe to Cut Your Pubes With Scissors?

Cutting pubic hair with scissors is one of the safer grooming methods available, largely because scissors trim hair above the skin surface rather than scraping against it. That said, “safe” does not mean “risk-free.” The pubic area has loose, uneven skin with folds and creases that make nicks easy, and even a small cut in this warm, moist region can become irritated or infected. The risks are real but manageable with a bit of care, and they pale compared to the injury rates associated with razors.

Why Scissors Rank Lower on the Risk Scale

When researchers have looked at grooming-related injuries serious enough to send people to the emergency department, razors dominate the picture. A study analyzing U.S. emergency department visits for pubic grooming injuries between 2002 and 2010 found that razors were implicated in about 83% of cases, with lacerations being the most common injury type.¹ Scissors accounted for a much smaller share. That makes intuitive sense: a razor blade sits flush against the skin and can slice it with the slightest wrong angle, while scissors keep a small gap between the cutting edges and the skin surface. You are trimming rather than shearing at skin level, so the margin for error is wider.

A large nationally representative survey found that roughly one in four people who groom their pubic hair have experienced at least one grooming-related injury, with lacerations making up about 61% of those injuries.² But that figure lumps all tools together. The data consistently point to razors and wax as the main culprits. Scissors can still cut you, particularly in the folds of the scrotum or labia, but the injuries tend to be minor surface nicks rather than deep lacerations.

Where People Actually Get Hurt

The anatomy of the pubic region is what makes any grooming method at least somewhat risky. The skin is thinner and more elastic than on your arms or legs, and it sits over irregular contours. In men, the scrotum is the single most common injury site, reported by about 67% of men who experienced a grooming injury in that large survey, followed by the penis and the pubic mound.² For women, the pubic mound was the most common site, followed by the inner thigh and the vaginal area. These spots share a common problem: the skin is loose, it moves when you pull at it, and there are creases where a blade or scissor tip can catch.

With scissors specifically, the main danger zones are any area where folds of skin can bunch up between the blades. The scrotum is the classic example. Scrotal skin is thin, wrinkled, and stretchy, so it’s easy to accidentally pinch a fold of skin while trying to trim hair. The labia present a similar challenge. The safest approach with scissors is to work slowly, pull the hair gently away from the body before cutting, and never rush through a fold or crease.

How to Trim Safely

The technique matters more than the tool. A few practical steps make scissor trimming considerably safer:

Use the right scissors: Small, sharp grooming scissors with rounded or blunt tips are ideal. Blunt tips reduce the chance of poking the skin if your hand slips. Dull scissors are actually worse than sharp ones because you end up pulling and tugging at the hair instead of cutting cleanly, which increases the chance of catching skin.
Work in good light: A well-lit bathroom makes a real difference. You need to see what you’re cutting, especially in the folds and creases where injuries happen.
Trim dry hair: Wet pubic hair clumps together and lies flat against the skin, making it harder to separate from the underlying surface. Dry hair stands away from the body more, giving you a clearer cutting line.
Pull hair away from the body: Gently pinch a small section of hair between your fingers and lift it away from the skin before cutting. This creates a buffer between the scissor blades and your skin.
Go slow around folds: The scrotum, labia, and perineum all have loose skin that can slip between scissor blades. Take your time, use small snips, and keep the blades visible at all times.
Clean the scissors before and after: Wipe them down with rubbing alcohol or wash with soap and hot water. This is not just about hygiene for next time; if you do nick yourself, a clean blade means less risk of introducing bacteria into the wound.

One thing scissors cannot do is give you a completely smooth, hair-free result. If that’s the look you want, scissors are a first step for trimming longer hair down before using another method. Many dermatologists suggest trimming first with scissors or a clipper and then shaving with a clean razor if you want smoothness, rather than trying to shave long hair directly, which dramatically increases the chance of razor drag, ingrown hairs, and cuts.

Scissors Versus Other Methods

Every grooming tool carries its own risk profile. Razors offer the closest shave but bring the highest injury rate, as the emergency department data show. They’re also the most common cause of razor burn, ingrown hairs, and folliculitis, the red bumps that appear when freshly cut hair curls back into the skin. Waxing removes hair from the root but involves hot material applied to sensitive skin, and burns are the second most common grooming injury after lacerations.² Chemical depilatories dissolve the hair shaft and can cause chemical burns or allergic contact dermatitis in an area with particularly sensitive skin.

Electric trimmers sit somewhere between scissors and razors. They use guarded blades that keep a short buffer between the cutting edge and the skin, much like scissors conceptually, but they work faster and can handle larger areas. The trade-off is that trimmers can still catch skin in folds if you press too hard, and they require battery or charging, making them slightly less accessible than a simple pair of scissors. For someone who just wants to keep things tidy without a lot of equipment or expense, scissors remain a perfectly reasonable choice.

Infection Risk and Skin Irritation

The concern about infection from pubic grooming comes from two directions: bacteria entering through cuts, and the broader question of whether hair removal changes your vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections. On the first point, any break in the skin, no matter how small, can let bacteria in. The pubic region is warm and moist, which bacteria enjoy. A small nick from scissors can develop into folliculitis or a localized skin infection if it’s not kept clean. Washing the area gently with soap and water after trimming and avoiding tight underwear for a few hours helps.

The STI question is more complicated and honestly less settled than popular media sometimes suggests. One nationally representative study found that people who groomed their pubic hair reported higher rates of STI history, with a stronger association for “extreme” grooming (full removal) and for cutaneous STIs like herpes and HPV.³ But a study focused on female university students found no significant difference in gonorrhea or chlamydia rates between extreme groomers and non-extreme groomers.⁴ The discrepancy may partly reflect that the first study relied on self-reported STI history (which can mix up cause and correlation) while the second used laboratory testing for specific infections.

The important nuance for someone using scissors is that most of the infection concern is tied to methods that remove hair completely and create micro-abrasions across the skin’s surface, like shaving and waxing. Trimming with scissors leaves the hair follicle intact and doesn’t scrape the skin, so it’s unlikely to create the tiny entry points that might matter. If you’re trimming rather than removing hair to the root, this particular worry is largely off the table.

What Pubic Hair Actually Does

Before deciding how aggressively to trim, it helps to know what the hair is doing there. Pubic hair reduces friction during physical activity and sexual contact. It also acts as a barrier against direct skin-to-skin contact with pathogens and provides a degree of temperature regulation for the genitals. Some researchers have noted that pubic hair may help wick moisture away from the skin surface, potentially reducing the warm, damp conditions that promote bacterial and fungal growth.

Research looking at the genital microbiome found that changing pubic hair status, whether by removing all of it or growing it out, influenced the composition of the vaginal microbiome, though baseline pubic hair status alone didn’t determine the microbiome’s composition.⁵ In other words, the act of drastically changing your grooming routine may temporarily shift the microbial balance in the area. This is another point in favor of trimming over full removal: you’re maintaining the hair rather than eliminating it, so you’re less likely to create a dramatic shift in the local environment.

When You Should Be Extra Careful

Certain situations make pubic grooming riskier, and scissors are no exception. If you have any existing skin conditions in the area such as eczema, psoriasis, or an active rash, trimming can aggravate the irritation. Broken or inflamed skin is more vulnerable to infection, and the mechanical action of cutting near it can spread the affected area.

People taking blood-thinning medications should be especially cautious. What would normally be a tiny, self-sealing nick can bleed more than expected and take longer to stop. The same goes for anyone with a clotting disorder. In these cases, electric trimmers with a guard may be safer than scissors because the guard provides a more consistent physical barrier between the blade and skin.

Pregnancy changes the equation too. The increased blood flow to the pelvic area during pregnancy means the skin there is more vascular and sensitive, and the growing belly eventually makes it very difficult to see what you’re doing. A partner’s help or a mirror becomes more than just convenient. Researchers studying urinary tract infections in women specifically excluded pregnant participants from their analyses because pregnancy independently affects genitourinary health, which underscores that it’s a distinct context requiring extra thought.⁵

If you notice a mole, skin tag, or any raised lesion in the area, trim around it carefully. Cutting into a mole won’t cause cancer, despite the persistent myth, but it will bleed heavily and hurt. Any new or changing lesion in the genital area is worth mentioning to a doctor regardless of your grooming habits.

What to Do If You Cut Yourself

Minor nicks from scissors usually stop bleeding on their own within a few minutes. Press a clean cloth or tissue against the cut with gentle pressure. Avoid applying hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol directly to the wound since these can damage healthy tissue and slow healing. Plain soap and water is enough for cleaning. An over-the-counter antibiotic ointment can help if the cut is more than a surface scratch.

Watch for signs of infection over the following days: increasing redness, swelling, warmth around the cut, pus, or pain that gets worse rather than better. A small infected nick usually responds to warm compresses and keeping the area clean, but if you develop a fever or the redness spreads, that’s a reason to see a healthcare provider. The vast majority of grooming injuries, around 97%, are minor enough to be treated and discharged without follow-up care.¹ A scissor nick almost certainly falls into that category.

The Pressure to Remove Everything

It’s worth stepping back and asking why someone might be grooming in the first place, because the perceived “need” to remove all pubic hair can push people toward more aggressive methods than they’re comfortable with. A large survey of both men and women found that the most commonly cited reasons for pubic hair removal were hygiene, a combination of aesthetics and sexual relations, and partner preferences. Most women in the study performed depilation at home, with roughly 40% using a razor blade.⁶ The hygiene argument is largely a cultural belief rather than a medical one. Pubic hair is not inherently unhygienic, and removing it does not make the area cleaner in any clinically meaningful way. Regular washing does that.

If your goal is neatness and comfort rather than total removal, scissors or a trimmer will get you there with a fraction of the risk. There’s no medical reason to go further unless you personally want to. Knowing that the “cleanliness” framing is more about social norms than about health can take some of the pressure off and help you choose a grooming level that matches your actual comfort rather than an imagined standard.

Ingrown Hairs and Why Trimming Avoids Them

Ingrown hairs are one of the most common and annoying consequences of pubic grooming, and they’re almost entirely a shaving and waxing problem. They happen when a freshly cut or newly emerging hair curls back and grows into the skin instead of out of it. Shaving creates a sharp-angled hair tip at the skin surface, which is more likely to re-enter the skin as it grows. Waxing removes the hair entirely, and when it regrows, it sometimes takes a wrong turn under the skin.

Scissors largely sidestep this problem because they cut hair well above the skin. The remaining hair still has a natural tapered tip, and it’s long enough that it can’t easily curve back into the follicle. If you’ve been plagued by ingrown hairs from shaving your pubic area, switching to scissors is one of the simplest fixes. You won’t get the same smooth result, but you’ll almost certainly stop getting painful red bumps. For people with naturally curly or coarse hair, who are especially prone to ingrown hairs, trimming with scissors can be the most comfortable long-term grooming strategy.

1
PubMed Central. Pubic hair grooming injuries presenting to U.S. emergency departments
2
PubMed Central. Prevalence of Pubic Hair Grooming-Related Injuries and Identification of High-Risk Individuals in the United States
3
Sexually Transmitted Infections. Correlation between pubic hair grooming and STIs: results from a nationally representative probability sample
4
PubMed Central. Association between pubic hair grooming and prevalent sexually transmitted infection among female university students
5
Scientific Reports. Extreme pubic hair removal as a potential risk factor for recurrent urinary tract infections in women
6
PubMed Central. The Preference of Women and Men Regarding Female Genital Depilation