Shaving pubic hair has no established medical benefits. The reasons people do it are almost entirely cosmetic and personal, rooted in how it makes them feel rather than any measurable health advantage. That said, those personal reasons are real and worth understanding, and there are a few practical effects of hair removal that some people genuinely find helpful.
Why Most People Actually Shave
A nationally representative survey of 3,372 women published in JAMA Dermatology found that the top motivations for pubic grooming are about appearance and self-perception. On a 5-point agreement scale, women who groomed rated “I look sexier when I groom” at 4.75 out of 5, and “my genitals look better when I groom” at 4.69. About 31.5% of women in the study said they groom specifically because they believe it makes their genitals more attractive.
Feeling more confident during sex was another common reason. Women who groomed rated the statement “sex is better when I groom” at 3.97 out of 5. Notably, though, when researchers actually measured sexual satisfaction between groomers and non-groomers in a separate systematic review, they found no statistical difference. The perception of better sex didn’t match up with a measurable change in satisfaction. That doesn’t invalidate the feeling, but it’s worth knowing.
The survey also revealed something interesting: many women groom before visiting a healthcare provider, not just before social or sexual encounters. This suggests that for many people, grooming is tied to a broader sense of self-consciousness about genital appearance, even in clinical settings where the provider has no opinion about your hair.
Reduced Odor and Sweat Buildup
This is one area where shaving has a genuine, if modest, practical effect. Your groin contains a high concentration of apocrine sweat glands, which release thick, oily sweat into hair follicles beneath the skin. That sweat travels up the follicle along the hair shaft to reach the surface. Once there, bacteria on your skin break it down, producing the strong smell associated with body odor.
Pubic hair creates more surface area for that sweat and bacteria to cling to. Removing the hair reduces the amount of moisture that sits against the skin and can make it easier to stay fresh between showers, especially during hot weather or intense physical activity. This doesn’t eliminate odor on its own (regular washing does the heavy lifting), but many people find that hair removal makes a noticeable difference in how quickly odor develops throughout the day.
Comfort During Specific Activities
Some athletes, particularly swimmers and cyclists, remove pubic hair to reduce friction and chafing where skin meets tight-fitting clothing or equipment. If you’ve ever dealt with irritation from a swimsuit or cycling shorts pulling on hair, removing it can solve that problem. The same logic applies to people who simply find that pubic hair causes discomfort when wearing certain underwear or during certain movements.
This is highly individual. Plenty of people experience zero discomfort with a full amount of pubic hair, and for some, the stubble that grows back after shaving causes more irritation than the hair itself ever did.
What Shaving Doesn’t Do
A few commonly repeated claims about the benefits of shaving don’t hold up under scrutiny.
It doesn’t prevent pubic lice. While pubic lice populations have declined alongside the rise of grooming trends, the CDC is clear that shaving and other hair removal methods will not get rid of pubic lice if you have them. Hair removal might make it harder for lice to establish themselves, but it’s not a reliable prevention method and certainly not a treatment.
It doesn’t improve hygiene in a meaningful way. Pubic hair exists as a protective barrier. It helps reduce friction, wicks moisture away from skin-on-skin contact, and provides a buffer against bacteria entering the skin. Shaving removes that barrier and creates micro-abrasions, tiny nicks in the skin, that can actually increase your risk of skin infections.
It’s not recommended before surgery. You might assume that shaving before a pelvic or abdominal procedure is helpful, but the World Health Organization strongly discourages it. Their guidelines state that hair should either not be removed before surgery or, if absolutely necessary, only removed with a clipper, never a razor. The reason: shaving causes small skin abrasions that significantly increase the risk of surgical site infections compared to clipping or leaving hair alone.
The Trade-offs Worth Knowing
The most common side effect of pubic hair grooming is genital itching, reported by about 27% of people in a systematic review. Razor burn, ingrown hairs, and folliculitis (infected hair follicles that look like small red bumps) are also frequent. These aren’t just minor annoyances for some people. Ingrown hairs can become painful, and repeated shaving can lead to skin darkening or scarring over time.
The stubble phase, typically one to three days after shaving, is when most discomfort peaks. The short, blunt hair tips poke into surrounding skin and clothing, causing the itching and irritation that nearly a third of groomers report. Exfoliating gently and moisturizing with a fragrance-free product can help, but there’s no way to fully eliminate the regrowth discomfort cycle if you shave regularly.
If you do choose to shave, using a clean, sharp razor, shaving in the direction of hair growth, and applying a gentle moisturizer afterward reduces (but doesn’t prevent) the risk of irritation. Many dermatologists suggest trimming with an electric clipper as a middle ground: you get the tidiness and reduced odor trapping without the skin damage that comes from a close razor shave.