It’s difficult to know. Pubic hair removal has not been widely documented. Historically, the practice may have been common. Art and artifacts from ancient Egypt and classical Greece have depicted women without pubic hair. Art from the Italian Renaissance has also featured women without genital hair. However, we do not know why women removed their hair or how many women from a particular culture did so.

Based on media messages and doctors’ anecdotes, it appears that pubic hair removal has become a trend over the past ten years, especially among younger women in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.

A 2010 study of women in the United States found that it was more common for women to have some pubic hair rather than none at all.