Unfortunately, natural bush is becoming more of an endangered species these days. Not that long ago, no self respecting dude would even think of trimming, let alone shaving. (Well ... maybe except for the competitive swimmers.) Any guy with 'fashioned' pubes would have been laughed out of the open gang showers, that were the norm everywhere.
I'm blaming the current trend on Social Media sexting. Supposedly it makes your dick look bigger on mobile screens.
It started way before social media.
It was the early 90's when I first started noticing porn models, actors, and friends sporting what I like to call "The Pre-Op Look". I remember hearing some talk about how women were partly to blame. A lot of women don't share the level of appreciation for the male form that gay men do, and all that hair was "gross" and "sloppy". I guess they didn't like picking loose pubes off their tongues. What could be less ladylike?
I'll agree that the "it makes my dick look bigger" reason is a big one, but even that existed long before social media. What a ridiculous fallacy. I mean it works okay if you're just admiring photographs, but for tactile purposes, the illusion disappears instantly. Kudos to guys who are small and still sport a full bush. That's confidence! Confidence is sexy!
Another misnomer is that it's more sanitary. FALSE! Body hair is there for a reason. In the armpits and crotch, it helps aerate areas which are usually closed off. Without the hair, the skin adheres to itself and becomes a breeding ground for bacteria. Remember: perspiration is odorless; the foul smell of body odor is literally from bacteria shit. Men have a lot of junk going on down there, all covered with skin. To have that tightly packed in a pair of skinny jeans and tight Calvins is basically an invitation to a surplus of hungry bacteria.
The following is copied from an article I saved a while back:
The war on pubic hair must end
EMILY GIBSON, MD | CONDITIONS | APRIL 29, 2011
I must have missed the declaration of war on pubic hair.
It must have happened sometime in the last decade because the amount of time, energy, money and emotion both genders spend on abolishing every hair from their genitals is astronomical. The genital hair removal industry, including medical professionals who advertise their specialty services to those seeking the “clean and bare” look, is exponentially growing.
But why pick on the lowly pubic hair? A few sociological theories suggest it has to do with cultural trends spawned by bikinis and thongs, certain hairless actors and actresses, a desire to return to childhood, a misguided attempt at hygiene or being more attractive to a partner. Surely human beings are not so naïve as to be susceptible to fashion trends and biases.
It is a sadly misconceived war. Long ago surgeons figured out that shaving a body part prior to surgery actually increased rather than decreased surgical site infections. No matter what expensive and complex weapons are used—razor blades, electric shavers, tweezers, waxing, depilatories, electrolysis—hair, like crab grass, always grows back and eventually wins. In the mean time, the skin suffers the effects of the scorched battlefield.
Pubic hair removal naturally irritates and inflames the hair follicles left behind, leaving microscopic open wounds. Rather than suffering a comparison to a bristle brush, frequent hair removal is necessary to stay smooth, causing regular irritation of the shaved or waxed area. When that irritation is combined with the warm moist environment of the genitals, it becomes a happy culture media for some of the nastiest of bacterial pathogens, namely group A streptococcus, staphylococcus aureus and its recently mutated cousin methicillin resistant staph aureus (MRSA). There is an increase in staph boils and abscesses, necessitating incisions to drain the infection, resulting in scarring that can be significant. It is not at all unusual to find pustules and other hair follicle inflammation papules on shaved genitals.
Additionally, I’ve seen cellulitis (soft tissue bacterial infection without abscess) of the scrotum, labia and penis from spread of bacteria from shaving or from sexual contact with strep or staph bacteria from a partner’s skin.
Some clinicians are finding that freshly shaved pubic areas and genitals are also more vulnerable to herpes infections due to the microscopic wounds being exposed to virus carried by mouth or genitals. It follows that there may be vulnerability to spread of other STIs as well.
Pubic hair does have a purpose, providing cushion against friction that can cause skin abrasion and injury, protection from bacteria and other unwanted pathogens, and is the visible result of long awaited adolescent hormones, certainly nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about.
It is time to declare a truce in the war on pubic hair, and allow it to stay right where it belongs. We owe it to our patients to encourage them to let it be.
At least for me, I see many guys who trim and wax and shave as drones who follow trends for fear of their own individuality. I've been with guys who get off on my hairy crotch but shave or trim themselves. WTF. And then there are the hairies and bears who keep their body hair intact but once you get below the waist it's all smooth, red (as in irritation) skin. Too weird for me.
If you prefer to have no dick or ball hair because you like the feel of it or have a fetish or something, fine. But for God's sake, don't do it just because the internet told you to!
Unfortunately, the further we move from the fluffy 70's, the more people will come to view intact body hair as old fashioned. I suspect one of the reasons it's a turn on for me is that, having come of age sexually in the late seventies, it's what I'm used to. I remember being thirteen and sneaking into the woods with my friend Jim to compare our pubic hair growth. Sexy memories!
Boys reaching puberty today have been conditioned to view pubic hair as foreign and uncool. They're at an age when herd mentality is important to them. I'll bet there are a lot of twenty-somethings walking around today who've never had more than a little peach fuzz down there. As soon as it starts growing in, they shave it, because these days,
that's the thing to do.
The only upside is that finding guys who are into pubes and leave theirs alone is extra hot. It's like finding treasure! Before tumblr went apeshit and got all puritanical, I had a lot of bookmarked tumblrs celebrating natural bush. And there's always something to be found on porno sites if you take the time to look. Bush lovers are not as much of a rarity as you'd think; I've had my nose tickled during most of my sexual encounters over the past couple of decades. It's a shame I took it for granted in the early to mid eighties when it was still so common.