Here's what men and women really think about pubic hair and how to style it

Ashley Graham shared a hilarious screenshot last week of her family talking about her pubic hair stylings from one of her most recent bikini photoshoots. While it was funny to see the model's parents and siblings speak so candidly about their own grooming preferences, it's usually something that's reserved for more private conversations with a select few.

While everyone should do whatever they want with their hair down there – whether that's staying natural, extravagantly grooming it into a pattern, or going completely bare – we can't help but be curious about what other people choose to do. And thanks to a recent survey, we've now got insight into what both men and women really think about pubic hair and how you should style it.

According to a survey of more than 4,000 people who were asked about their preferences – both for themselves and on their partners – both genders are thinking about it quite a lot. The survey was conducted by Cosmopolitan, who collected data from 4,146 people between the ages of 18 and 35. The intel was pooled through their social media accounts, Esquire's Twitter and AskMen's Facebook. Anything goes.

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It found that 92 percent of respondents did some kind of maintenance down there, with the majority of men (69 per cent) saying they trim their hair, and most women (57 per cent) going fully bare.

Most significantly, the magazine found that men are increasingly concerned with their own manscaping, but also have an expectation of women to groom and style their pubic hair in a certain way – with some even saying it's a deal-breaker. It was found that men want women to remove more of their pubic hair than they do themselves, sometimes disregarding whether that's something their partner would want too.

While most women (70 per cent) wanted their partners to do a minimal amount of grooming by trimming every now and again, 46 per cent of men expected women to go completely bare and maintain a regular schedule of waxing or shaving to stay completely hair-free.

The survey also revealed that women groom more frequently and that they spend more money on pubic haircare than males. 62 per cent of females said they groom at least weekly, while only 44 percent of males said the same. Men said they spent nothing on maintaining their pubic hair each month, while 55 per cent of women said they spend between $1–20 monthly.

What's perhaps most eyebrow-raising of all is that 30 per cent of men said that the way their partner groomed their pubic hair could be the make or break of the relationship. Only 19 per cent of women agreed. 40 per cent of men had asked their partners to change their pubic hair, while 23 per cent of women had asked the same of their partners.

"I think men expect a lot more from women, in terms of grooming," Tabitha, one of the survey participants, told the magazine. Jason, another respondent, said he's asked several of his partners to shave.

"If you can feel it under her underwear or it’s sticking out of a small pair of underwear, that’s just not attractive to me," he said. "If a girl had a full bush and didn’t want to shave, that wouldn’t be a deal breaker, but I also probably wouldn’t go down on her very often."

Well, whatever your preference – that's up to you. While you might consider what your partner prefers, it should never be a deal-breaker. Everyone's skin, hair and preferences are different, and they change as you get older too. Just always make sure what you do is your decision.