a widespread but risky habit – time.news

by time news
from Elena Meli

Many women choose full crotch hair removal thinking it is more hygienic (as well as sexier), but the opposite is true

In the beginning it was Sex and the City. It was in fact the cult show of the late 90s that also cleared customs in Italy the “Brazilian” waxing, or the total or almost total depilation of the intimate parts of women: described as an indispensable practice of emancipated New Yorkers, it has gradually spread everywhere . Even more than was possible to imagine, as a study published in JAMA Dermatology: 62 percent of the more than three thousand women interviewed by Tami S. Rowen, a gynecologist at the University of San Francisco, admitted to having tried full hair removal at least once.

Young and concerned about hygiene

More frequent among young and educated women, as well as among single and more sexually active women, contrary to what one might think, total hair removal is not chosen to improve sex or engage in particular practices, as previous research has suggested: who has a partner who shaves or appreciates hairless private parts uses waxing more often, but according to data collected by Rowen the main reason is to want to feel “clean”. “Many think that it is more hygienic to remove all hair and they do it not only in view of specific occasions such as a beach holiday, but also before going to the gynecologist – explains Rowen -. Any situation that leads the woman to expose the genital area, therefore, favors the use of the razor: even if they are in an aseptic situation, so to speak, women are very aware of the appearance of their genital area and associate the absence of hair to cleanliness and order ».

The risks of total hair removal

Too bad the opposite is true: pubic hair is a sort of “protective cushion” for the sensitive skin of the area, it maintains adequate humidity conditions, preventing the proliferation of yeasts and fungi and is an element of defense against external germs because “Trap” preventing them from entering the vagina, so much so that it is no coincidence that prepubertal girls are more at risk of irritation. Additionally, research published on Urology has shown that in the space of just under ten years, from 2002 to 2010, the number of “accidents” related to intimate hair removal has greatly increased and today about 3 percent of emergency room visits for genitourinary trauma derive from the desire to remove all hair from the area: badly used razors are the main culprits and although there is still no certainty that micro-abrasions related to hair removal can facilitate sexually transmitted infections, as some doctors fear, it is a fact that practice can cause folliculitis, small abscesses, lacerations and even allergic reactions to irritants contained in hair removal products, from waxes to depilatory creams or for razors. Better to avoid it, therefore, by shaving just enough to put on the costume without embarrassment but evading a fashion that, according to Rowen, “derives from an unreal image of the female body: an ideal Barbie doll type that the media propose too often” .

July 26, 2021 (change July 26, 2021 | 17:49)

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