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My question is about pubic hair. Some people have said its purpose is to protect your bits, or to keep your bits warm, or to make you smell more attractive to the opposite sex. I want to know why to humans have it, do other animals have it, and what is its main function? John, Hong Kong |
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We asked Christophe Soligo from University College London to help with this question...
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October 2007 |
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| I would guess that they are a left over from when we were covered in hair, but what purpose does it now serve? I think this may have been answered by Rosy in another topic, when she states: So i say, that pubic hair acts as a sort of wick to release pheromones. If this is correct, does Rosy get a prize? If she does then i think she should really donate it to me as there may be a conflict of interest! ... - paul.fr - 24th Oct 07
I am an expert on pubic hair. When I began conducting research into Inclined Bed Therapy we noticed, actually a nurse taking part in the primary study noticed that her pubic hair was no longer the preverbial short and curlies but continued to grow and became less course than before. Great I said sheepishly, thinking now this I gotta check out for myself as I was also sleeping on an inclined bed and so was my very understanding lab rat and darling wife Jude. Sure enough my own pubes had to be cut off as they no longer fall out as they had done previously. We also noticed not much hair in the bathwater either. Fascinating, bacause my research was all about maintaining the circualtion while we sleep by tilting the head of the bed by six inches or fifteen cm's providing a level but tilted mattress avoiding flat bed rest since 1994. There have been many more observations using the same principle which have been discussed at length on the Naked Scientists forum. I have mentioned this several times before http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=10224.0 Andrew K Fletcher ... - Andrew K Fletcher - 24th Oct 07
I've noticed during summer when i wear shorts the hairs on my legs get thicker and longer in certain places. This is due to their being less friction from jeans, trousers etc rubbing on my legs eroding and breaking the hairs off. So maybe pubic hair is so thick as they are in a place with low friction ,plus the need for the body to keep certain parts warm.... - ukmicky - 24th Oct 07
ok whats the big idea? nobody contributes until i ,in passing, mention a prize!..it' mine i tell y'...all mine...rubs hands with big smile on face... - paul.fr - 25th Oct 07
I'm always amazed at the preoccupation with removing pubic and underarm hair. Is it because many people have a yearning to being pre-pubic again? The smell /deoderant thing has got out of hand too. Where does the social pressure originate from? It just ain't natural.... - lyner - 10th Jan 08
I think it could just be a remnant of evolution. With evolution and modern living/dressing I don't think it is necessary any more and think that overtime it, hair, will eventually disappear. Sorry to say but I also think that includes head hair. Any pheromones will still get released regardless of having hair and we now wear clothes that absorb sweat and act as a "wick" instead. @ sophiecentaur I think its all media and money related. The deodorant and "smell" industry is worth a fortune and people are made self concious where there is no need to be. Take the introduction of "feminine deodorants", designed to make women self concious of something they had no need to worry about in the past. BTW I remember a "top of the pops" where a female artist Nena did a song called "99 red ballons." The song became a hit but it was also famous for the woman appearing on the ToTP stage with hair under her armpits!!!! There was quite an uproar but it didn't last long, because of media pressure she was made to shave her pits clean. Bee ... - that mad man - 10th Jan 08
I can't imagine female fashion going for the bald look for some while - like School uniform, hair is a great cosmetic for distracting attention from other, less attractive features. The only women who look good with no hair are lucky enough to have very good, regular and symmetrical features - the very occasional Pop Singer succeeds with this look. Some blokes get away with looking a bit 'ard' with very short hair / shaved heads because Women are less superficial in their appreciation of men so it doesn't affect our 'chances'.... - lyner - 14th Jan 08
does this mean that when we shave our armpit and/or pubic hair, our personal scent changes? ... - JnA - 14th Jan 08
That's true. My dad had these work jeans he had at he's old work and a big area on the front of his leg is missing hair and hasn't grown back in the 5 years since he quit.... - Simulated - 20th Jan 08
That's true. My dad had these work jeans he had at he's old work and a big area on the front of his leg is missing hair and hasn't grown back in the 5 years since he quit. yes, lots of SCI's get this on parts of their legs that always rubs against the footplate uprights. ... - JnA - 21st Jan 08
The purpose of pubic hair, is like a floral show, for primates, in 5 colours. The shaving apparently is a Hebrew custom, but of course due to fashion or is that peer pressure? One has to cut down the infectious hair from the nether region, think of the bacteria in that forest, and apparently does cut down yeast type infections etc. Shaving the hair would limit the distribution of the pheromones. ... - AlphBravo - 12th Feb 08
So to summarize, the purpose of pubic hair is to "hold scent".... - paros - 16th Feb 08
Whole Thread | Post Reply | |
I think a good indication of why we have pubic hair comes from the distribution of sweat glands that humans have. We essentially have two types of sweat glands; ones which are called eccrine glands, which are distributed across the whole of the body and they’re the sweat glands which we use for keeping cool. On top of these we also have a second type of sweat glands which are called apocrine glands. The distribution of apocrine glands essentially coincides with the distribution of pubic and also axillary hair in the armpit, and the secretion from apocrine glands also contains small parts of cellular material. The cellular material gets broken down by bacteria and that’s what creates to a large extent our personal body odour. So the secretion from sweat glands together with the location and the hair creates a nice damp substrate for growth for bacteria.
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