Pubic hair is no longer something that is hidden beneath the sheets and never discussed.
The trend for pruning, waxing, shaping, grooming and even colouring pubic hair is now as common place as another other beauty or personal grooming habit.
The latest pubic trend coming from the US to the UK is the ‘full-bush’ Brazilian, which is described as ‘hippie at the front and Hollywood below’.
The traditional Brazilian which is still one of the most popular trends leaves a tiny strip of hair at the top of the public triangle, but the new ‘full-bush’ version leaves the top area of your pubic hair fully grown but removes hair from the lower regions.
According to leading London waxing salons, British women like having the mix of natural pubic hair but like keeping the area bare below for hygiene purposes.
But it’s not just women who wax. Recently saw the launch of a ‘bro-zilian’ waxing salon launched by pop up waxing company Pot Noodle, which is the first male-only waxing salon.
A recent study by Braun revealed that men are regularly starting to wax, shape and pluck their public hair too.
With these pubic trends comes a series of skin risk factors that means regular and careful intimate skincare is also becoming increasingly important.
Venereologist Dr Eva Melegh discusses five skin problems that can arise from common pubic waxing and grooming trends and gives a guide on how to avoid them.
Rashes
Waxing of the intimate areas can cause post waxing or post shaving rashes.
This is common with shaving or waxing any part of the body but the pubic region is especially sensitive as the skin there is thinner so post waxing rashes or over sensitivity are very common
Good
Pubic Guide
Wear cotton underwear and not a g string for two days after your wax or shave.
Use a fragrance-free de-sensitising cream on the post-waxed area immediately after waxing or shaving and for two days more.
Kalme Undercoat (kalme.co.uk) is a de-sensitising base cream that contains no chemicals or perfumes and reduces skin sensitivity to prevent rashes and also moisturise the area.
Infected pores
Waxing pulls the hair clean out of the skin pore, temporarily leaving a minute ‘open hole’. Waxing often nips the top of the skin pore holding the hair so causing a minute abrasion to the skin.
The area often gets very little air and tends to be warm and enclosed in underwear meaning that bacteria and yeast breed quickly in the mini open wound leading to the dreaded infected pores that can leave the area looking pimpled.
Good Pubic Guide
Gently exfoliate the area daily for up to four days after waxing or shaving to avoid bacteria build up in the healing skin pore. Try and wear looser clothes for one day after waxing to allow the area to air and sleep without underwear for 1-2 days after waxing or shaving.
Research shows that vitamin D from the sun helps guard against vaginal yeast infections so if you can get your intimate area out in the sunshine for 15-20 minutes that can also help.
Increasing the ‘good skin flora’ on your intimate areas of skin two days prior to and up to three days after waxing or shaving helps keep bad skin bacteria from entering the waxing o abrasions and causing infection.
Clarol Silver Serum (clarol.co.uk) is a perfume and chemical free light skin serum that promotes good skin flora and prevents bad skin bacteria from growing and stays active on the skin for up to eight hours and can be used on recently waxed pubic skin.
Dry skin
Regular waxing and shaving makes pubic skin drier as pubic hair traps in moisture and oils and keeps the skin more moisturised. Also with waxing the top layer of skin is removed during the waxing process meaning extra moisture is lost as the skin barrier is weakened.
Good Pubic Guide
With regular intimate waxing or shaving it is as important to keep the area moisturised and supple.
Due to the fact that the skin in the pubic area is thinner, moisture loss is faster from shaving or waxing.
Use twice daily an fragrance-free and chemical-free intimate moisturiser on the waxed or shaved areas.
In2mate Moisturiser (in2mate.co.uk) contains a patented prebiotic Biolin ®, proven to feed good flora in the vagina. Biolin ® also repairs and strengthens vaginal skin damaged by chaffing and abrasions from waxing and shaving. It also contains a patented antioxidant PROTEOLEA® which has been proven to help rejuvenate intimate areas of skin by slowing down oxidative damage, which helps improve moisturisation.
Herpes
With intimate waxing or shaving that involves removing most of or all of the pubic hair, often the labia lips can become traumatised which can trigger a herpes outbreak if you are in the 50% of the population that carries the herpes virus.
Good Pubic Guide
Many of us use a balm most days to keep lips soft, supple and protected, well vaginal ‘lips’ need much the same treatment.
Using a daily natural perfume free balm on your labia lips can protect them from trauma from waxing and shaving.
Lip Q Liquorice Balm (lipq.co.uk) is a 100% natural and perfume free balm that you can use on both your lips and on your labia lips which contains a concentrated extract of liquorice root and has been proven by the Herpes Virus Association to reduce the frequency and intensity of herpes out breaks.
The key cold sore fighting ingredient in liquorice is glycyrrhizic acid (GA). GA specifically targets the genes that are required to maintain the virus in its latent state by interfering with the production of special proteins that feed the infected cells.