While pubic hair removal and/or grooming is a fairly common practice, leaving your hair actually might help reduce your risk of contracting certain STIs.

Some recent studies have shown that people who don’t groom or remove their pubic hair have lower rates of certain STIs like chlamydia and HIV. While it hasn’t been proven that hair removal increases your risk of contracting an STI, it is generally recommended to avoid hair removal right before sex.

Pubic hair might help create a barrier between skin and fluids that could help keep infections away from skin. Additionally, something like shaving or waxing is likely to cause minor cuts which can bring blood close to the surface. Open cuts increase the likelihood of HIV being passed between partners, and so this may be why we see higher rates of HIV in those who remove their pubic hair regularly.

Leaving your pubic hair is certainly not a reliable form of STI prevention on its own, and choices around body hair are always yours to make and feel confident in, but the risks associated are worth considering if you are removing your hair shortly before sex.

You can learn more about where HEAL NS got this information from at: UCSF
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