Ladies, do you dare to keep all your hair down there? We report on the new politics of pubic life
By Rosamund Urwin
The pubic is political. If you thought your short and curlies were purely a personal concern, think again. For they are really a front in the fight between feminism and the beauty industry. And the scales now seem to be tipping in favour of the pro-pube movement, who argue that being as bald downstairs as a baby is infantilising, potentially unhygienic and just too much damn work.
In the past 15 years, the bikini wax has gone from being the preserve of porn stars to a trend even Rachel Johnson, ex-editor of The Lady, has tried. Vajayjays were vajazzled, twats twattooed and countless bushes deforested and turned to tundra. Girls as young as 12 have asked beauticians if they can be waxed-to-the-max. And, as if the vaginal sprucing hadn’t gone far enough, Mayfair salon Beauty & Melody has started offering a chocolate and hazelnut wax for that highly sought-after Ferrero Rocher-flavoured fanny.
But the latest trend is to leave it alone. A whole chapter of Cameron Diaz’s new book about the body is dedicated to praising pubes. At the weekend, she told You magazine that she believes there is a biological reason for being “fully dressed”, adding: “I am really concerned that young girls are making choices to get rid of something that is there for a purpose. It’s like saying, ‘I don’t need my nose’.”
