Wax On, Wax Off: Study Reveals Our Intimate Grooming Habits

Recently researchers from Indiana University conducted a study that found nearly 60 percent of American women ages 18 to 24 are sometimes or always sans pubic hair. Half of American ladies between 25 and 29 report sporting the same style.

While the popularity of the Brazilian wax for women is an undeniable trend, this news got us wondering: What's going on with guys and their hair down there?

"Waxing is quite popular," explains Edna Ma, creator of the men's pre-waxing product NumbNuts. "I live in Los Angeles and I work in an operating room, so I get to see how people are grooming themselves, since, before surgery, they have to take off everything, including their underwear. I'm not leering or lurking," Ma assured us, "it's just more of an incidental observation." She says a wide range of men, from college-age to their early forties, are taking most, if not all of it off.

Ma, an anesthesiologist by trade, decided to invent her numbing cream after experiencing pain at her own first waxing treatment. And if she was hurting, she figured there was a customer base that must have been eduring the same problem.

"I think this is just the evolution of grooming," she said. "It's manifest destiny." And it may just have to do with our culture's obsession with size, too. As Ma so kindly reminded us, "Your tree looks taller when your hedges are trimmed."

While Ma claimed that while there's a perceived element of hygiene and cleanliness involved with the procedure, having hair actually protects your skin. But bare skin, says Ma, is the secret to good sex.

"I think there's a sexual component to it," she said, "because you're just bearing everything out there. It's just your flesh. And when you have contact with someone else, your skin is actually touching [with] no hair in the way."

Ma told us that gay men are definitely the focal point for her product, citing the go-go boys she sees in her West Hollywood neighborhood as inspiration, but that the overall audience could be quite large. "You'd be surprised who comes in all straight laced, and you'd never know about their secret downstairs," she said. "He may look like a banker during the day, but..."