Be Careful When You Groom Your Pubic Hair

Pubic hair grooming is more hazardous than you might think: Apparently around a quarter of people who take part in the practice reported associated injuries with it.

This is according to results from a national survey published Wednesday in JAMA Dermatology, which gathered responses from 7,570 men and women. The survey found that it's a fairly normal practice, with more than 70 percent of survey respondents saying they've groomed before. People said they most often groomed themselves via a nonelectric razor, with other methods including an electric razor, scissors and more.

Nearly 1,500 people (1,430 to be exact) claimed to experience grooming-related injuries, with a higher proportion of women than men. More women were found to be groomers than men in general. Men's injuries most often were in the scrotum, and for women the pubis.

The most common injuries were cuts – 818 injuries – with burns and rashes the next most common. Just 79 of these injuries in 5,674 groomers necessitated medical attention. How often people groomed and how intensely they did it (i.e. getting rid of all pubic hair on more than one occasion) had an impact on the increased risk of injury. Men with more hair also had a higher risk of injury.

"Although most injuries reported were minor, this high rate of injury emphasizes the need for safer grooming practices," the study authors write. No specific grooming products were linked to an increased injury for men, and waxing was found to be "protective against high-frequency injuries in women." Among the study's limitations is that people might not have accurately responded to the online survey.

Earlier this year, one controversial study found a link between pubic hair grooming and a higher risk of getting a sexually transmitted infection. Researchers didn't find a cause-and-effect relationship, however.

MarketWatch pointed to a 2016 study that reported emergency department visits associated with pubic hair grooming injuries ticked up about ninefold from 1991 to 2013.

All this to say: Be careful down there.

"Severe injuries and infections have been reported from pubic hair waxing, and we believe more research is necessary before claiming that waxing is the safest mode of [hair removal]," the authors add.