There is no other subject quite as controversial in the personal care space as female body hair. The unshaven legs of second-wave feminists in the 1960s, the untamed brows of Frida Kahlo in the 1940s, the colorfully dyed armpit hairs of queer radicals in the 2010s—those opposing the freshly shaven or waxed standards of society have protested in a multitude of ways throughout the decades.
In March 2024, CR Fashion Book ran an editorial featuring a variety of pubic hairstyles on full frontal display, accompanied by an essay titled “Venus: A History Of Pubic Hair” by Fiorella Valdesolo. The journalist highlights moments in pop culture history like Sex and The City, dedicating an episode to the Brazilian wax, but also classical anecdotes like men carrying around a lock of their lover’s pubic hair in 18th century Britain. Hair removal wasn’t just an aesthetic choice but a sign of refinement and class. The Maison Margiela Artisanal Spring/Summer 2024, featuring merkins on models, reversed that line of thinking, serving couture with a side of bush. Dazed Digital recently proclaimed, “Full bush fashion is here!” with “pro-pube positivity” on display opposing the current conservatism of US politics.
Despite the resurgence of “full bush fashion,” the hair removal market was valued at $15.3 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $24.6 billion in 2034. The women’s segment accounted for 77% of the market. A survey of 522 women ages 18 to 85 across the US found that 25.4% trimmed, 23.8% partially removed, and 23.3% completely removed their pubic hair; 10.5% left it completely alone.
Beauty reporter and critic Jessica DeFino conducted a poll across 14,000 readers of her 120K+ subscriber Substack, The Review of Beauty, for a piece on the current state of pubic hair politics for her Ask Ugly column for The Guardian. DeFino found that 82% of straight women polled removed some of their pubic hair, 40% maintained a bikini-shaped bush, and 15% were completely bare. While 65% of them worried about the judgment of new male partners over their pubic hair style, 50% of men polled stated having no preference over their partner’s pubic hair choices. Across all sexual orientations and genders, 80% removed their body hair to some degree. Shaving was the most popular method (53%), followed by trimming (51%) and waxing (18%).
However, there are external ideologies that factor into our personal choices. DeFino doesn’t think there is a way to separate personal desires from what society has been conditioned to see as attractive. “It’s happened since the Roman Empire when pubic hair removal was first normalized for a certain [upper] class,” DeFino explained. “Even though hair is a universal human trait, it's been coded as masculine. That definitely plays a huge part in why it's stigmatized.”
DeFino theorized that the rise in Korea’s 4B movement—a radical feminist movement anchored in the idea of not dating, sleeping with, or marrying men, as well as not having children—in late 2024 could tie into embracing the bush as a means of rejecting the male gaze.
In many ways, the structure of prescribed gender norms and heteronormativity is starting to lose its hold, especially among Gen Z and Gen A, as well as those in queer and nonbinary circles. In other realms, the fear of stubble is as strong as ever. Shaving, hair laser removal, and intimate care brands speak to this duality. Brands like Billie, Flamingo, and Fur have featured shaven and nonshaven bodies in their advertisements.
Campaigning for Pro-Choice
In 2018, Billie launched Project Body Hair, aimed at providing a new perspective on body hair grooming and “authentically showcasing women's real bodies and presenting shaving as a choice, rather than an obligation,” Catherine Wolpe, Co-General Manager at Billie, told BeautyMatter. The campaign reached over 24 million views across 23 countries. The brand followed with a Rules of Body Hair campaign in 2022, exploring how our (potentially negative) relationship with our fuzzy parts develops from a young age. Billie stated its campaigns see social engagement rates that are over double the industry average.
“There’s still a long way to go when it comes to societal views around body hair and the ways women are often portrayed in marketing, but we like to think Project Body Hair was a step in the right direction,” Wolpe added. She noted an increasing destigmatization of female body hair and increased coverage in mainstream media. “It’s refreshing to see the dialogue shift towards normalization and acceptance—whether people choose to remove their body hair or not.”
In discussing female body hair, pubic hair deserves its own pot on the proverbial waxing table. This specific patch of body hair is, probably due to location, an even more hotly debated topic.
Flamingo, the sister brand of Harry’s Inc., hasn’t been afraid to get political with its The Bush 2020 campaign, featuring slogans like “We Are Grow Choice.” In addition to its hair removal products, the brand offers a Mons Mist to hydrate and condition pubic skin.
“We saw an opportunity to challenge that binary [completely smooth or fully natural hair] and create a middle ground where people can explore their grooming routines in a way that feels right for them,” Vikki Williams Cornwall, Vice President of Flamingo Brand at Harry's Inc., told BeautyMatter. “Our mission is to champion women, their bodies, and their choices.” The brand offers a wax kit and razor set specifically for pubic hair alongside its existing shaving product catalog. To launch its Pubic Routine assortment, the brand partnered with comedian Hannah Berner, who asked passersby on the street about their public grooming woes. The campaign generated over 12 million impressions on social media.
Body hair preferences are deeply personal and can evolve over time, and Williams Cornwell said Flamingo supports every version of that journey. “By centering our messaging around choice rather than expectation, we’re aligning with what consumers actually want: freedom, without judgment.” She reported an “overwhelmingly positive” response from consumers. “We’re proud to be part of a broader movement in beauty and personal care that embraces individuality and self-expression.”
Fur launched in 2015 with Fur Oil, a product tailored towards conditioning pubic hair and skin. “We were puzzled by the idea that the only way to ‘care’ for pubic hair was to remove it. This didn’t align with our grooming preferences or those of the people around us. We began questioning why there was only one standard of beauty for pubic hair,” co-founders Lillian Tung and Laura Schubert told BeautyMatter.
The brand’s campaigns focus on creating a comfortable space to talk about body hair choices. “It's clear there is a pent-up desire for more freedom,” said Tung and Schubert. “When we first launched, conversations around pubic hair were practically nonexistent. Things have evolved since then, but there is still plenty of taboo to tackle.”
Kiehl’s introduced a Pubic Display Type campaign in January 2025, with slogans like “Our photos of models with pubic hair were censored, so we removed the models” written in pubic hair. This followed controversy around its campaign images for its entry into the intimate care category with products like Ingrown Hair & Tone Correcting Drops, featuring campaign images of models with pubic hair emerging from the side of their underwear.
There are also plenty of consumers still deciding to have their body hair removed altogether. Thérapie Clinic reported an 80% increase in bookings of laser hair removal within the last four years. In March 2025, the company debuted a Your Bush, Your Rules campaign, specifically tailored towards Gen Z. “We’re not here to dictate beauty standards; we’re here to offer options,” Katie McGlade, President International at Thérapie Clinic, told BeautyMatter. “Our campaign supports everyone’s personal preference. No pressure, no judgment.”
DeFino traced the rise in shaving brands showing body hair to the inclusivity boom of the industry around 2015-2017. “You started to see a lot of unisex or gender fluid brands coming and really highlighting that in their marketing. They're marketing the tools of hair removal while capitalizing on the cachet of, ‘you don't have to do it though.’”
DeFino also highlighted the correlation between more skin-bearing fashion and a desire for hair removal. “But then again, now we have people in miniskirts and leg hair or tank tops and armpit hair. I don’t know if we'll still see that cyclical nature or if the two will live more side by side.”
The Politics of Pubic Hair
As for the impact of bold brand campaigns on the broader public, DeFino noted that while [visible pubic hair] is so prevalent in marketing images, it hasn't really made the jump to real life. “The average person doesn't necessarily feel that freedom.” She saw age and body comfortability as defining factors for those embracing the bush, as well as sexual orientation, with many responses noting a ceasing of pubic hair grooming habits post-queer awakening.
“Everything else in beauty culture is moving towards doll-like perfection: Barbie-themed cosmetic procedures, glass skin, the Pat McGrath porcelain doll face mask that just came out. Even the robot cyborgian Instagram face beauty ideal is moving towards an inanimate thing, which is why I think it's interesting that people are like, ‘the bush is back.’ This could be a small subversion of that,” DeFino stated.
Grooming one’s pubic hair, whether full or partial removal or just trimming, still requires the purchase of products, so whichever way the pubic hairstyles go, there will be a brand catering to them. DeFino noted that grooming will soon find another adjacent body area to target: the anus. “I wonder if we are eventually going to be refocusing this anxiety on having a perfect asshole instead?” With wet wipe sprays, butt scrubs, and Asset’s Hole Serum, the anus might be the newest intimate body area getting the industry’s attention.
For now, female body hair will remain a diversified market with polarizing viewpoints. Hopefully, destigmatizing conversations and increasing diversified representation can gradually help make personal decisions on this front a little easier.
