Probability risks of infecting non herpes partner after shaving/ trimming down there?

[Mani9783]

After growing out my pubic hair and not shaving for at least 4 or 5 months I am speculating I really messed up by doing this. Iv'e heard people say to not shave if you have herpes down there since you can transmit it easily. I am a 32 yr old male who is on suppresive therapy and my gf waxes down there. I should also mention that I was diagnosed with genital type 1 , and I am 5 months into this infection. Should I wait for everything to grow back again before I have sex with her ? Should I wait it out? I trimmed down there but I don't have much pubic hair and I was careful when I did it. No cuts or anything.

 

Any comments or personal experience would really help at this point. Thank you

[Sil88]

I'd speculate that a nick from shaving helped the virus pass to me, since that's the area where my OBs show up and things were wet around there at the time. I know it passes through skin contact, but if saliva can help pass oral hsv1, then surely there's an equivalent down there. Logically you're probably right.. keeping the hair would reduce skin contact and friction, but I can't imagine shaving will make a huge amount of difference. If you just trimmed and kept some coverage, it would make almost no difference. I might be more concerned with her waxing, uprooting hairs could leave tiny points of entry - but what I'm saying isn't supported by any kind of research, just a hunch developed from a year of overthinking..

[Mani9783]

Thanks so much for replying. I didn't shave completely to the point where I have open pores . I just trimmed but there is not enough pubic hair to reduce friction at this point. Can anyone else help me out here?

[justagirl72]

Just popping in to say I was JUST having these exact thoughts.

 

I was paranoid to take a razor down there for months after finding out, as well. Just got up the courage. Swear tarzan could have lived in that jungle. (TMI LOL SORRY) I would have never thought twice about having sex after shaving...#thingsyouconsiderafterfindingoutyouhaveH

 

 

[2Legit2Quit]

Dancer and fitgirl would have more insight on this likely. I've heard that open skin is a super highway to it, but you do have gshv1, which is a lot harder to pass from genital to genital. I wouldn't put too much thought into it...

[WCSDancer2010]

Unfortunately there isn't any research on this so we can only go on a combination of what we know, and a dash of common sense.

 

As mentioned, I'd be careful about your GF's waxing... perhaps not have sex for a day or so till the skin settles down (there's plenty of other ways to get intimate during those times). Any cuts/openings in her skin are actually more of a worry to me than any you might get from shaving.

 

There's definitely a school of thought that H has increased in part since the trend towards shaving and it certainly sounds plausible as 2 people with a thick outgrowth of hair would reduce skin to skin contact that might lead to irritation and such. But again, we don't have any studies to prove it.

 

I personally just don't have sex if I have an irritation ... I know plenty of other ways for both of us to have our fun. If I am sure it's a shaving irritation, I just wait a day or so for it to settle. If I think it may be H, I wait a bit longer. I shave most of my lady bits actually because my hair is so THIN, it just looks ridiculous ... but I don't shave the inner parts where things are more sensitive ... so you may want to shave the general areas and short trim anything that consistently gets rashy after shaving ... and that may work as a compromise for you :)