Last updated on August 12, 2020
Question:
Should I keep my pubes grown out, trimmed, or shaved off? Also how long does it take normally for pubes to grow for guys? Should I have my bum shaved?
Answer:
The problem with shaving is that you will always make tiny nicks in your skin. On your face, this is not a huge problem but in your private areas there is more moisture which allows bacteria and fungi to grow more easily. The nicks give these things a place to lodge and grow in.
“The skin on the scrotum is very unique in that it has nooks and crannies. Those areas have been proven to trap huge amounts of bacteria. When you shave that pubic area, even a minor cut or laceration can cause bacteria to get inside there, and can very easily cause cellulitis, abscesses, and in very rare conditions, something called Fournier gangrene.”
[Eric Spitznagel and Louis Baragona, “The Pubic Hair Guide for Men,” Men’s Health, 17 July 2018.]
Since your private areas are not for display anyway, I recommend that you just leave the hair to grow as God designed you. If the hair bothers you, shaving won’t help because the hairs will grow back and it will start out very itchy. Instead, trim the hair that bothers you, but if you simply let things go their natural route, it will not bother you for long.
Shaving your bum is difficult to do by yourself and it is not something I would recommend having someone else do for you. Thus, you will more likely nick yourself and that area is more exposed to bacteria because the practice is to wipe yourself after having a bowel movement. It is sometimes annoying to clean yourself because the hairs catch some of the feces, but even that is preferable to having an infection set in where you sit.
Human hair typically grows about 1/2 inch (1 cm) per month. The body controls the length of each type of hair by having each hair follicle go through a period of rest where the old hair falls off and then start the growing cycle again. The shorter the time between the rest periods, the shorter the hairs stay. The hair on top of your head doesn’t cycle very often, so that hair grows quite long. The hair on your arms and legs cycle frequently so those hairs stay short. Your pubic hairs and chest hairs cycle somewhere in between so they stay a medium length. The typical length for pubic hair is between 1/2 and 2 inches long but pubic hair is also naturally curly so it doesn’t stand out very far.