A Field Guide to the Territory

The debate about pubic hair has been running for decades and shows no sign of exhausting itself. Fully shaved, naturally full, trimmed to various geometries, waxed into shapes that require a steady hand and probably a spotter—every preference has its advocates, its detractors, its moment in the cultural cycle. The smooth-everything look dominated for years; now the pendulum is swinging back toward something more grown-in, and I’m not complaining.

Artist Lessa Millet turned the whole conversation into a taxonomy. Her illustration Vaj Hairstylez catalogs every variation with affection and dry humor—each style named and typed like a field guide to terrain I find myself thinking about more than is strictly necessary. The observation holds: what someone does down there tells you something about them. Not everything. But something.

My personal favorites in her lineup are "The Bed-Head," "The Punk," and "The Fascist." Hard pass on "The Toothpick," "The Razor Burn," and "The Cactus." Everything between "The Professional" and "The Vintage" is a matter of taste and circumstance. Millet has an Instagram worth following, for anyone who wants more of that particular brand of frank, funny illustration work.