‘Pubic groomers at higher risk of STIs’

PARIS: People who shave, wax or trim their pubic hair are at a higher risk of sexually-transmitted infections (STIs), but less likely to get lice, a study suggested yesterday.

A survey of more than 7,500 Americans aged 18 to 65 found that pubic groomers had an 80 per cent higher STI risk than people who leave their nether regions hairy.

For certain infections, including herpes and chlamydia, the risk was highest among those who groomed most frequently and “intensely”, the researchers found.

The study merely observed a correlation between grooming and STIs, and cannot conclude that one causes the other.

But the authors speculated that shaving or waxing might cause “microtears” in the skin, creating easy access for viruses.

Sharing tools such as razors might also be a risk, they said, citing a case of HIV transmission between brothers using the same blade.

“As a third possible explanation for our findings, individuals who groom may be more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviours than those who do not groom,” said the study published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Pubic hair grooming, it explained, “is correlated with an increased number of lifetime sexual partners and is viewed as a preparatory act to sexual engagement”.

For the research, 7,580 people completed a questionnaire on their intimate hair-control, sex lives and STI history. Seventy-four per cent of respondents were pubic hair groomers — 66 per cent men and 84 per cent women.

A greater proportion of groomers, 14 per cent, reported having had an STI, than non-groomers at eight per cent, the study found. For extreme groomers, who removed all pubic hair more than 11 times a year, the percentage was 18 per cent.

STIs included herpes, syphilis, human papillomavirus, chlamydia, HIV, gonorrhoea and a skin virus called molluscum contagiosum.

On the other end of the spectrum, the team found, low-intensity groomers had a higher risk of lice infestation.

This suggested “grooming might make it harder for lice to breed successfully,” the team said in a statement. AFP