Groom Your Pubic Hair and Risk an STD

If you like to take care of your hair down there, be prepared for a rude awakening – and possibly an uncomfortable burning sensation.

New research, published Monday in Sexually Transmitted Infections, found that pubic hair grooming is associated with a greater risk of getting a sexually transmitted infection. The risk was strongest for "extreme" groomers, or those who remove all of their pubic hair more than 11 times annually.

People who did any type of pubic hair grooming had an 80 percent higher likelihood of having a STI compared to their au naturel counterparts, with age and lifetime sexual partners accounted for. And those who fell into the "low intensity/frequency" grooming group were twice as likely to have pubic lice.

But why the correlation to STDs? Researchers say the connection might be related more to the sexual activity levels of groomers versus non-groomers than to the grooming itself. However, they also note that small skin tears that arise from grooming could be to blame. More study is needed to make any further conclusions, they say.

For the study, researchers polled a random sample of more than 14,000 U.S. adults ages 18 to 65, about 7,580 of whom finished the survey. Of those respondents, nearly three-quarters admitted to grooming their pubic hair. More women did so than men (84 percent and 66 percent respectively).

"High frequency" groomers (22 percent of those in the grooming group) trimmed their pubic hair either every day or once a week. "Extreme" groomers (17 percent of the grooming group), also had the most sexual partners.

Of those surveyed, 13 percent indicated they had at least one of the following STDs: herpes; human papilloma virus; syphilis; molluscum; gonorrhea; chlamydia; HIV; or pubic lice.

Due to the observational nature of the study, researchers couldn't prove that pubic hair grooming caused an increased susceptibility to STDs. In addition, researchers were unable to measure the time between grooming and acquiring a sexually transmitted infection.

At the very least, physicians could take signs of grooming as a cue to talk about a patient's sex life. "If a clinician were to see evidence of grooming upon physical examination, perhaps that physician should inquire about safer sex practices or a sexual history," lead author Dr. Charles Osterberg told TIME.