Women are held to far higher, or at least far more hairless, grooming standards than men, and younger Americans are particularly keen on trimming or removing public hair

Anxious razor manufacturers are responding to the growing popularity of facial hair among men by seeking to stoke demand for a new product: razors specifically designed to remove male body hair. Earlier this year Gilette released the 'BODY' razor, a razor apparently "designed for the male terrain". Women have long faced pressure to maintain certain standards of grooming when it comes to body hair and over the past few decades the trend for removing female pubic hair has become commonplace.

The latest research from YouGov shows that public attitudes towards the body hair of men and women differ significantly. Asked about leg hair, the vast majority of Americans (73%) say that men shouldn't do any trimming or hair removal. When it comes to women, however, 72% of Americans think that women should remove all leg hair. Attitudes are more balanced when it comes to pubic hair. For each gender, people tend to say that public hair should be trimmed to some degree (41% for men, 47% for women). 38% say that men shouldn't do any pubic trimming, something 20% of people agree with when it comes to women. 21% think that women should remove all their pubic hair, while 8% say the same about male pubic hair.

null

Overall younger Americans tend to prefer trimming or even complete removal of body hair, but this is trend is particularly pronounced when it comes to pubic hair. 37% of under-30s think that women should completely remove their pubic hair, while 19% say that men should completely remove their pubic hair. The older people are the less likely they are to support complete hair removal, with only 10% of over-65s supporting complete removal of female pubic hair and 2% for male pubic hair.

null

Older Americans are also far more likely to support a completely natural look down there. Among over-65s, 67% say that men shouldn't even trim, while 37% say the same for women. Only 18% of under-30s think that men can skip trimming, and only 12% think women can go fully natural.

Full poll results can be found here.

Image: PA