By Mia Costales

Say goodbye to hot wax, lasers and razors. Forget spending hours in the shower trying to get that perfect landing strip — you can finally stop shaving your bikini line raw everytime you want to wear a bathing suit. Instead, allow me to present: full bush in a bikini, the newest TikTok trend amongst Gen-Z creators. 

The trending phrase started after TikTok creator, Sujindah, uploaded a video of them chanting “full bush in a bikini” with increasing excitement. They went on to explain that they were radicalized by an Etsy review of a woman sporting a ‘full bush’ in a bikini. The video currently has over 15 million views and has sparked a new pubic hair trend in Gen-Z favoring a more au-naturel look. 

This trend has presumably picked up some traction in response to Trump’s return to office, in an attempt to advocate for bodily autonomy and subvert traditional beauty standards. Brooke Stafford, a junior geology student at Cal Poly Humboldt, weighed in on this trend.

“The times I did shave, it was never for me. It was always as a service to whoever I was with. I don’t think I fully understood that I wasn’t doing it for me, and when I did, I stopped shaving,” Stafford said. “I think shaving culture is quite harmful. Hair is there for a reason and removing it can potentially cause negative health effects.” 

Stafford also attributed her decision to keep her hair to her belief that you shouldn’t conform to your partner’s preferences.   

“I also think it’s slightly strange that some people have a preference for hairless partners. Humans naturally have hair and to have an issue with that is, in my opinion, questionable,” Stafford said. “Not shaving has been awesome, it has helped me accept who I am, not who others want me to be.” 

A prominent reason in feminist circles for keeping body hair is the refusal to participate in harmful patriarchal practices, such as the infantilization of women. Many feminist scholars have theorized that pornography plays a large part in pubic hair trends and helps determine what an attractive, sexually desirable woman looks like at a specific moment in time. Unfortunately, there is a disturbing correlation between sexually desirable traits in a woman and that of prepubescent children, namely submission, higher-pitched voices, and hairlessness. 

“If the choice to remove body hair is to serve the needs and expectations of anyone else except for the individual’s choice, then it can contribute to ideas like infantilization,” Paul Michael Leonardo Atienza, assistant professor in the department of critical race, gender & sexuality studies said. “Infantilization relates to seeing a person like a child, unable to make their own responsible choices about their bodies. To be sex-positive, we must value all the different forms of bodies in the world, and reflect on how our wants and desires are informed through systems that police and surveil each other.” 

However, we are starting to see this beauty standard get turned on its head as the decision to keep body hair is getting more and more popular. In a recent poll by Substack author, Jessica Defino, 50 percent of men out of over 14,000 people reported to have no preference for their partner’s pubic hair. Over 71 percent of men reported that they had never been turned off by their partner’s pubic hair. While these percentages may be an assurance to let it grow, most have stopped shaving for themselves.  

“I used to hate my body hair because I was taught from a young age that it was bad to have body hair, especially while I was swimming competitively,” Valeria Reggi, a senior environmental science major said. “The pandemic hit and cut the last few months of my season short and I decided I was gonna see how long my shit could grow.. It’s also helped me out a lot in exploring my gender fluidity. I learned that I actually didn’t hate my body hair, it was just everyone else that did.”