Celebrate the bush! Because let’s face it, it’s amazing

I love my bush. Are you shocked?

That should not be a controversial statement, but it is. Hair removal in all areas other than your head has been very in vogue for the past few decades, and any woman who doesn’t adhere to this standard of hair removal is either dismissed as a radical feminist or unhygienic and lazy. But a recent article by Tatler celebrated the glorious return of the bush – and I couldn’t be more excited.

Since pubic hair appeared on my body around ten years ago I have always felt most comfortable leaving it be most of the time. A combination of curiosity and a vague notion that you were supposed to shave down there did lead me to shave it all off on a few occasions. But my caving to societal pressure did not take into account that in the hereafter of both times I went bare it made me feel so fucking weird. 

Basically it was all a big nope. I felt traumatised by what I had just done to myself. Obviously the hair grew back, but after that I have a personal aversion to hair removal, as far as pubic hair is concerned anyway. It’s just not really logical. Admittedly I tend to remove the hair growing in my armpits and bikini line though, so I try not to overanalyze it.

Photo by Marcel Oosterwijk via Flickr

The point though is though, that I keep the hair because I want to rather than because I am making a political statement. There are definitely quite a lot of hairy women that identify as feminists, but I would say that is because feminism is one of the few arenas where choosing to keep your body hair is respected and embraced.

Feminism appeals to people who do not like being told what to do based on a double standard and the hair thing is certainly part of that. I am one of those people for whom this is true, but also I like my hairy vagina. It’s like having a small furry animal you can pet, which is quite nice. Also in practical terms it acts as protection when you walk into things vagina first – because clumsiness should be recognised for the debilitating condition that it is.

Having said that though, I know plenty of feminists who don’t rock the bush. Each to their own. A recent survey by babe found that 44 per cent of women still shave entirely, which hey, is their own choice.

To quote my one of my favourite feminist icons Caitlin Moran “you can tell whether societal pressure is being exerted on women by calmly enquiring”.

As far as I am concerned, she’s right. Do what you want with your hair but consider this, do men go to a salon and get a their genitals waxed (or DIY as the case may be)? I know that I have never seen a penis with a landing strip, even saying it sounds ludicrous.

There’s certainly been a move towards ‘manscaping’ becoming more fashionable, but in all seriousness most women who sleep with men will not be expecting a certain level of ‘maintenance’ when it comes to pubic hair. Double standards rile me up at the best of times, so is it really surprising that I never saw the point in adhering to such a pointless standard?

So as the bush comes back into fashion again, let your pubes be free. There are so many fun things you can do with it: dye it, braid it, give it a little topknot, or leave it be. It doesn’t really matter because it’s your bush and you shouldn’t give a fuck what anyone thinks about it. Enjoy the luxury of not having to worry about stubble or rashes in intimate places. Revel in the gloriousness of it.