Hippies and yuppies, gay people, straight people, metrosexuals, people with dicks, clits, or both, transmen, biomen—lots of folks remove hair “down there.” And then there are the people that like to leave their pubic area hairy, and that’s just fine too. But given the diversity of people who opt for hair removal, the notion that she’s just doing it to please her man may be outdated.

Whether you remove your body hair and how you do it depends on personal aesthetic, perceived aesthetic of your sexual preference, and how you feel about your own body. There are men who shave to please their girlfriends, women who shave to please their girlfriends, transgendered persons who shave to please their boyfriends, straight women who shave because they feel sexier when they look in the mirror even though her boyfriend likes hair in his teeth. One thing is for sure: the Brazilian is becoming increasingly popular. And the Sunga wax (the Brazilian for men) is not far behind.

When it comes to how one opts for hair removal, there are a variety of techniques out there. Shaving can leave you with stubble in a day or two, increase your chances of razor burn and ingrown hairs, and has to be taken care of much more frequently. For this reason, permanent or semi-permanent hair removal techniques like waxing, laser hair removal, and electrolysis have all grown in popularity. While these are all more expensive and can be painful in the beginning, they can pay off in the long run. Waxing might be a happy medium.

What distinguishes a Brazilian bikini wax—a term coined by J. Sisters International in Manhattan, a salon founded by seven Brazilian sisters—is not that a woman is completely without hair in her pubic region; rather, it’s that she is waxed all the way to the back around the anus. Whether she chooses to leave a so-called “landing strip,” (a thin line of hair above the vulva), is entirely her prerogative. It’s still a Brazilian and it requires a bit more intimacy between the client and the professional than many women have been used to. Nevertheless, increasing numbers of women and men are putting their modesty (and the pain) behind them.

As waistlines on jeans are slipping downwards and bikinis and underwear are increasingly being mistaken for dental floss, one advantage to the Brazilian and the Sunga, depending on your aesthetic taste, is that stray hairs don’t poke out from behind tiny bits of fabric. And waxing tends to help against the red rash commonly caused by shaving.

Another advantage to pubic hair removal is that no hair gets in the way during oral sex, which can be nice for your partner, again, depending, on your taste. Without a doubt, some people love giving oral sex to a fully hairy men or women; there are many websites devoted to this preference. But there are also many women and men who enjoy having the smooth, hairless surfaces to bite and play with—and not just those giving cunnilingus.

While it’s back and shoulder hair removal is relatively common for men, it has been traditionally less acceptable for men to shave their pubic regions, especially heterosexual men. Fortunately, today’s modern heterosexual man is sensitive and in touch with his woman’s needs. And clean shaven testicles can mean a more pleasurable fellatio-giving (and getting) experience. It can also, rumors have it, make a man’s penis look larger.

J. Sisters International, which may be the barometer for how quickly the mainstream is catching on, didn’t open their J Sisters for Men in their New York Salon until 2003. According to the J. Sister’s website, “The J. Sisters have always frowned upon mixing clientele in the waxing department,” but prior to opening their new services for men, “Men requesting waxing services were turned away in droves.”

While male grooming, or “manscaping,” has taken a little longer to catch on in general, gay men have certainly been the pioneers in this arena. With the exception of men who fetishize body hair, especially bears or cubs, hair removal is fairly trendy among gay men. Randee Elaine Salon opened in Greenwich Village in 1989 for women, but men started requesting similar services not long after. They were one of the first salons to offer the male version of the Brazilian in NYC. In fact, many gay owned and operated salons, specializing in waxing, electrolysis, and laser hair removal, have sprouted up all over the country in the past 20 years.

Gay owned and operated businesses specializing in hair removal are also safe spaces for transgendered persons who have particular needs and concerns when it comes to hair removal. Hair is such a strong and yet subconscious gender cue that too much hair or too little hair can adversely affect a person trying to live full time as a man or woman in the areas of employment, personal and intimate relationships, and stress management.

For many transgendered persons, hair growth and the process of removal is a right of passage. It’s important to have healthy hair in all the “right places” and no hair in the “wrong” places. For an M2F transgendered person, getting a Brazilian bikini wax at a salon that is sensitive to her needs and treats her with respect could be a crucial part of embodying her gender expression.

Of course, not everyone wants to remove body hair. Many other men and women love their partners hairy. Pam Winter, the Founder of Hair to Stay—the world's only magazine for lovers of natural, hairy women—believes that hairy women are a must. In her online site, she takes an historical perspective on the issue saying before 1920 shaving was not a normal occurrence for women—“glamorous or otherwise.” She faults “advertising executives on Madison Avenue,” who in their attempt to “double the razor-using market,” humiliated women through “advertising campaigns to shear off the very symbols of their womanhood, and in some way preserving the beauty which is supposedly only for the young.” Winter goes on to say “these moguls of Madison Avenue convinced the American public that in order to truly be beautiful, a woman must remove the ‘unsightly’ hair from her legs and armpits.”

While there may be a higher percentage of lesbian and feminist-identified women who decide not to shave for political reasons, there are certainly others who do not believe that shaving marks them as automatons of the patriarchy. Among some lesbians, how and where one shaves has its own set of markers and fetishes.

About.com’s Kathy Belge took an informal poll regarding lesbians and pubic hair, writing that most lesbians she polled prefer unshaved pubic hair, but some also like it trimmed and groomed. Nevertheless, there is no unwritten rule and certainly no way to generalize.

In the yOni Blog and Discussion Forums on all topics related to “Body Talk,” “Chuck” from the USA writes, “I am extremely interested in topics surrounding socialization. I find it interesting how we live our lives according to rules made by human beings from another time. Virtually every norm that we live by should be challenged or at least re-examined. I personally find the natural look very erotic. I should mention, however, the possibility that my fascination with natural women may be due to the taboo nature. Many people find "breaking the rules" to be highly stimulating. I wonder if this growing interest would exist if hair was the norm...”

Perhaps we should consider that instead of hair removal being the bastion of patriarchy that it once was, the Brazilian and Sunga wax can bring us all together: a gay man next to straight woman next to a lesbian M2F in one cutting-edge salon. We may all be getting a Brazilian bikini wax for different reasons, but does it really matter when you’re all lined up, prepped with wax and scream in pain as the hair is literally ripped from your skin?