Liz Nicholls gets to the, erm, bottom of the bikini-line business looking at trends and methods of staying smooth this summer

As bikini season looms, thoughts turn to what my friends and I politely term The Bush Administration.

Yes, it might not be glamorous or Pulitzer-prize-winning, but defuzzing, like fat, is a feminist issue. Not to mention a very prickly one.

So, imagine my delight when I heard on the celebrity grapevine that, thanks to the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and her pals, the porn-fuelled craze for extreme pubic topiary might be waning.

Newly single Gwynnie, you see, caused quite a stir when she announced on two separate Ellen Generes shows last year that she likes to “rock a 1970s vibe”. She was referring, of course, not to her taste in music, but her nether regions. And her unexpected admission has sparked a renewed Push for Bush among her immaculately groomed Hollywood pals, including Cameron Diaz and others who are no doubt tired of being misquoted about their pelvic regions.

However, back in the real world, most women are still going to great lengths to make sure they’re not caught by the fuzz.

“Style icons like Gwyneth are very lucky, she’s very fair and she’s also really not all that hairy!” says Julie Mutton, owner of Oxford based Bare UK which specialises in intense pulse light (IPL) permanent hair reduction.

“For the majority of women, unwanted hair can be really upsetting and limiting. Some women have excess hair that makes them feel thoroughly miserable. Because of hormonal issues such as polycystic ovaries, genes or just luck, some women have very hairy faces or arms, stomachs or bikini lines.

“The demand to get rid of hair for good is higher than ever. Many of my clients are busy mums who want to get their swimming kit on and get to the pool without worrying about it.”

Julie should know as she had what she calls her own ‘“Remington moment” when she had IPL treatment on her bikini line five years ago when she lived in London. After moving to Wootton, near Abingdon, she found there were very few nearby places to have IPL treatment and so underwent full training and BABTAC accreditation to start her own business Bare UK.

She operates from the TAO salon in central Oxford, which offers waxing, electrolysis and beauty treatments, alongside Julie’s IPL clinic. “Everyone’s different, but I really started to dread the cycle of bikini waxes and the five-week wait between waxes,” says mum-of-two Julie.

“It takes a while (up to a year, and courses usually start in September in preparation for the following summer as treatment doesn’t work on tanned skin) but the results give you such ease and confidence, people forget what it was like to shave or wax after a while.”

A course of IPL takes at least six sessions (the sixth is free when a course of five are booked) and promises permanent results, with minimal pain (which clients rate as akin to an elastic band flick). Bikini sessions cost £80-£130 and offer a 15 per cent hair reduction each time, so Julie builds up a relationship with clients over the months and many say at the end that treatment has changed their life.

Requests for IPL range from the classic bikini shape to Brazilian (a strip of hair remaining) and Hollywood (all the hair removed) but Julie urges caution when it comes to this option.

“As Cameron Diaz pointed out, hair is there for a reason, so do you want to get rid of it permanently? All of it? Really? An IPL Hollywood is a big commitment, like a tattoo, so you should think about how you’re going to feel about it years down the line!”

Many of Julie’s clients are embarrassed by their body hair but she stresses that she is never shocked by the big reveal. She has even coined a term for the line of hair running down the torso widening out to the pelvic area – the Eiffel Tower – as it is such a common problem among women.

Su Bluett runs TAO salon on St Aldate’s, which offers waxing and electrolysis among its beauty treatments and started in the hair removal trade in 1981. She has seen an array of trends come and go when it comes to bikini wax styles.

“First it was high-leg shape with the 1980s, and now Brazilians and Hollywoods – which weren’t even heard of when I started out – are perfectly acceptable,” she says.

“I can remember a wave of feminists such as Germaine Greer staying defiantly hairy, and there have been ripples of that since, but on the whole women see hair down there as something to get rid of, and I don’t blame them!”

Su’s salon has a clientele of roughly 25 per cent men (for whom hairy backs are usually the issue) but intimate waxing for men is not offered – nor is there a huge demand for it here in Oxford.

However, about a decade ago, so many women were coming into TAO asking for a Hollywood that she decided it was worth finding a specialist course for her girls to go on.

And it was during this time that Su, who turns 57 next month, had her first and last Hollywood. “It got to the point where they needed a model and, surprisingly enough no one stepped forward to go up to Birmingham on a wet Monday afternoon to have all their pubic hair ripped out... so I did it!” she laughs.

“It was fine, and properly done is neither embarrassing or overly painful.

“It’s not a style I’ve kept up, but each to their own – one woman’s unwanted body hair is another’s necessity!”

TAO Beauty Salon, 99 St Aldate's, Oxford, OX1 1BT. Call 01865 249347 or visit taobeautyoxford.co.uk
Bare UK operates from the TAO salon. Call 01865 930 339 or visit bareuk.co.uk