pubic hair trimming
People who trim often raise their chances of conceiving STDs by 80% and women are at found to be at greater risk, says study. [Representational image]Reuters

We always thought that trimming pubic hair aided in maintaining personal hygiene, but a recent study has proved our belief wrong. Trimming pubic hair makes people 80 percent more prone to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), researchers say.

This research was conducted on 14,409 adults from the US belonging to the age group of 18 to 65 years who were given a questionnaire regarding their pubic hair grooming practices, injuries they got because of grooming, history of STD and their sexual behaviours.

Approximately 74 percent of the partakers revealed that they had trimmed the pubic hair in the past. This 74 percent comprised of 84 percent of women and 66 percent men.

"Pubic hair removal has become a common practice among men and women worldwide," said Dr Benjamin Breyer, the lead author of this study from the University of California, San Francisco, as quoted by ANI.

"The media has driven the adoption of new grooming patterns and modern society's definition of attractiveness, cleanliness and feelings of femininity or masculinity," Breyer added.

Pubic hair grooming was linked with sexual activeness of a person. It was found those who trimmed their pubic hair more often were sexually more active and had more sex partners than those who groomed lesser.

The survey revealed that 943 of the total respondents agreed to be infected with one of the STDs that were present on the questionnaire's list. The list comprised of the following STDs: human papilloma virus (HPV), HIV, herpes, molluscum, Chlamydia, gonorrhoea or pubic lice.

The researchers found that people who groomed very often were at 80 percent more susceptible to STDs and women were found to be at greater risk than men. Pubic hair trimmers were found to be more prone to infections like herpes which trigger from skin-on-skin contact.