5 days ago
What is 'bushmaxxing?' The viral new term for your hair down there explained
2025 is the year of the bush!
Ok, so we all have pubic hair, but what to do about it has been a hotly debated subject for decades. From the big bush of the '70s and '80s to the landing strips of the '90s to the rise in popularity of the Brazilian wax, pubic hair styles are ever-evolving.
But now there is a new term in town: bushmaxxing. A viral trend in pubic hair styling that has taken TikTok and Gen Z by storm.
So, read on to find out what bushmaxxing is, and why you might want to jump on this bandwagon. Pubic hair may be a taboo topic, but we're diving right in!
@BABYGWY 🙏🙏🙏
Bushmaxxing is exactly what it sounds like. It's a term that originated on TikTok and is used to describe women choosing to grow out their pubic hair. So instead of waxing, shaving, or trimming, women who are bushmaxxing are going full '70s Sigourney Weaver in Alien-level bush. They want it to be so luxurious and long that CGI would have to be used to edit it out.
That's right, the bush is making a comeback! Women have taken to BushTok — the pubic hair-centric side of TikTok — in droves to talk about letting their hair grow out.
Look, it's you're body, you're choice, but if you've been waxing yourself dolphin smooth since you hit puberty, it may be time to try something different!
#gwylations
Although it's unclear exactly why the tides seem to be turning in favor of the bush, it could be a response to the styles of the 2000s and 2010s. Starting in the early 2000s low-rise jeans were so low that shaving or a Brazilian was a must, waxing was talked about on TV (we're looking at you Carrie Bradshaw), and hairless women in internet porn became commonplace.
But queer women aren't the only ones talking about bushmaxxing, the straight ladies are growing their hair out too.
Lesbians being on board with bushmaxxing makes perfect sense. Sapphic have always eschewed cultural norms, and don't cater to the males gaze. But bushmaxxing is catching on across the sexuality spectrum with straight women growing their pubic hair out as well.
Yup
Along with bushmaxxing, the phrase 'full bush in a bikini' has also gone viral on TikTok. It started with a video by artist Sujindah that has more than 14 million views where she repeated the phrase over and over again after seeing someone modeling a bikini on Etsy with a full bush and she couldn't stop thinking about it.
Since then, the video has inspired countless others, including women proudly wearing bikinis while sporting obvious bush.
Whether you're a fan of taking it all off or letting your jungle grow, it's usually seen as taboo for any of it to be peeking out of the sides of your swimsuit, which is why 'full bush in a bikini' isn't just a style choice, but feels like a radical rallying cry.
Women, queer women included, constantly deal with having their bodies policed and judged. From your breast size to your weight to the way you dress (don't wear anything too revealing! No, now you're too covered up) to what hair you should remove from your body. Talking about bushmaxxing is fun and the term is a little silly, but letting your pubic hair grow out when society tells you that it's gross, is a radical act of defiance as much as it is personal expression.
So, we say go for it! Let your bush flag fly.
Why not? What have you got to lose? You can always shave it off again later. And we're not saying you should ever groom yourself based on other people's opinions, but queer women on TikTok seem to be into it. And if the lesbian side of Reddit is anything to go by, sapphics are pretty open to any pubic hairstyle you can think of, including going au naturel.
At the end of the day, whether you prefer to be cueball bald, like having a cheeky little landing strip, or want to look like a '70s porn star, it's your body so you get to curate your pubic hair any way you please. French braids are also always an option.
And if you're someone who can't grow a full luxurious bush, you never know, the merkin could finally make a comeback because the bush is back baby!
