This past spring, I wrote an article for the platform entitled, “10 Things You've Probably Wondered About Pubic Hair But Didn't Know Who To Ask.” A part of the reason why is because I had seen so many articles along the lines of Vogue’s “The Bush Is Back in 2025” — ones that pretty much exclaimed from every rooftop that pubic hair was back in a pretty major way.
What I mean by that is, although Brazilian waxes and landing strips aren’t going anywhere any time soon, the biggest trend going right now is having a bush — and being super proud of it.
And so, since we’re now in the fall season, if you’ve been on the fence about letting your “soul glow down below” — I just wanted to share a few quick reminders for why this is the absolute best time to let your pubic hair shine through (umm, so to speak).
1. Pubic Hair Protects Your Genitalia
GiphyNo matter how you feel about hair (anywhere on your body), it serves as a form of protection — this includes your pubic hair. Your vulva and vagina are strong and yet fragile at the same time when it comes to dealing with bacteria, fungi, germs and whatever your panties may have in/on them. And yes, your pubic hair helps to keep all of these things from irritating your genitalia (as much as they probably would if your pubic hair wasn’t present).
2. Pubic Hair Helps to Prevent UTI and Yeast Infections
GiphyHow wild is it that some studies say that pubic hair can actually help to keep you from getting a urinary tract infection (UTI) and/or a yeast infection? The method to the madness here is, since pubic hair has antimicrobial properties, that can actually keep bacteria and fungi from growing and (further) irritating your skin. And since things like holiday stress, consuming more sugar and possibly getting less sleep (which raises your cortisol levels) oftentimes play a direct role in the fall and winter seasons — this is definitely another reason to consider keeping your pubic hair around right now.
3. Pubic Hair Helps to Regulate Body Temperature
GiphyHere’s something that you may have never heard before — were you aware that pubic hair helps your vulva and vagina to maintain its most optimal body temperature? From what I’ve read and researched, the fibers of your pubic hair are good at holding a layer of air around, so that your vulva and vagina can feel warm in cooler temperatures and cooler in warmer temperatures. Dope.
4. Pubic Hair Is Pheromone Central
GiphyA couple of months ago, I wrote another article for the platform entitled, “Pheromones: The Truth, The Myths And Why You Should Care About Both” — and although pheromones are still a hot topic for many (as far as if they are “real” in humans are not), when it comes to them as it relates to pubic hair, there is a specific thing to keep in mind. If there is one part of your body that it would make sense that pheromones would hang out, it’s in your pubic hair — and since many believe that pheromones help to heighten attraction and arousal…well…yeah. ‘Tis the season. #wink
5. Pubic Hair Makes Sex More Comfortable
GiphyMore cushion for the pushin’. Although that saying is typically reserved for having a pubic mound or FUPA (check out “What Does It Mean To Have A 'Fatty'? Can You Do Anything To Change It?”), it can actually be in reference to pubic hair too. I say that because health professionals have been saying since, forever, that pubic hair helps to reduce friction when it comes to sex (and exercise) — and since friction can lead to the discomfort of vaginal burning, it’s a good idea to try to do whatever you can to keep that from transpiring as much as possible.
6. Pubic Hair Intensifies Orgasms
GiphyHow in the world does this make any sense? Stick with me and I’ll break it down. Something that every strand of hair is attached to is a hair follicle and hair follicles have nerve endings that can be somewhat sensitive to stimuli and touch. One sensation that pulling on hair can cause is sexual arousal — and this is why hair pulling (on your head) can be such a turn on (check out “Contrary To Popular Assumption, Black Women LOVE Getting Their Hair Pulled During Sex”). Well, when you’re having sex and you and your partner’s pubic hairs are rubbing up against each other, that can also sexually arouse you — and quite possibly lead to intensified orgasms. Yep…all from having some pubic hair.
5 Fall Care Tips for Your Pubic Hair
GiphyOkay, so now that I’ve given you six good reasons to at least consider growing (some of) your pubic hair out — let’s talk about some fall (and winter) care maintenance for a hot sec.
1. Exfoliate to prevent ingrown hairs. Even if you decide to go with a full-on bush, that doesn’t mean that the “outskirts” (the part that is outside of your bikini line) has to go without a trim, shave or wax. And if that is what you decide to do, it’s important to exfoliate your skin right before and then a couple of days after removing any hair. Not only will it help to keep ingrown hairs and razor burn from happening, it can prevent skin discoloration and dry, rough skin from becoming an issue too. As far as what to use, a homemade sugar exfoliant or a brand that contains salicylic acid or glycolic acid — both are gentle enough for your pubic region while still being able to get the job done.
2. Apply a black tea rinse. An herbal tea rinse, in general, is great for your hair (anywhere) because it helps to keep your hair hydrated and healthy. That said, if you’ve got some gray hairs popping up down below and you want to slow down the process of more coming in as gently and naturally as possible, consider applying a black tea rinse to your pubic hair. It can help to darken the grays, naturally, without irritating your genitalia in the process.
3. Condition with vitamin E. The best kind of pubic hair is when the strands are as soft and smooth as possible — and something that can make that happen is Vitamin E. Not only is this an oil that can help to deeply condition your pubic hair, it also can add sheen, increase blood circulation to your pubic region and it can help to keep your pubic hair really healthy too.
4. Eat omega-3 fatty acid-enriched foods. If you want to nourish your pubic hair from the inside out, eat foods that are rich in omega-3s. They are fatty acids that will moisturize your pubic hair’s follicles and help to reduce inflammation from the “upkeep” that you may be doing. Foods that top this list include salmon, walnuts and grass-fed meat.
5. Wear seamless underwear. If there’s any time of the year when wearing drawers makes the most sense, it’s now. That said, please make sure that your panties are made from cotton or bamboo (so that your vagina can breathe) and try and go with the kind that are seamless. Not only are they super comfortable and you can wear your sexiest and slinkiest dresses without worrying about panty lines, seamless panties also reduce the chances of irritation and chafing — which is always a win when you’re trying to protect Ms. Thang down there.
____
As it gets cooler outside, it’s (pun intended) natural to look for ways to remain warm. Now that you are made aware (or reminded of) all of the ways that pubic hair can hook you up and help you out — why not give your vulva and vagina a lil’ “coat” this season?
Hmph. Seems like a stellar idea, if you ask me.
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So, we handpicked one hundred It Girls who embody that palpable It Factor moving through us as young Black women, the kind of motion lighting up the world both IRL and across the internet.
It Girl 100 became xoNecole’s most successful program, with the hashtag organically reaching more than forty million impressions on Instagram in just twenty-four hours. Yes, it caught on like wildfire because we celebrated some of the most brilliant and influential GenZennial women of color setting trends and shaping culture. But more than that, it resonated because the women we celebrated felt seen.
Many were already known in their industries for keeping this generation fly and lit, but rarely received recognition or flowers. It Girl 100 became a safe space to be uplifted, and for us as Black women to bask in what felt like an era of our brilliance, beauty, and boundless influence on full display.
And then, almost overnight, it was as if the rug was pulled from under us as Black women, as the It Girls of the world.
Our much-needed, much-deserved season of ease and soft living quickly metamorphosed into a time of self-preservation and survival. Our motion and economic progression seemed strategically slowed, our light under siege.
The air feels heavier now. The headlines colder. Our Black girl magic is being picked apart and politicized for simply existing.
With that climate shift, as we prepare to launch our second annual It Girl 100 honoree list, our team has had to dig deep on the purpose and intention behind this year’s list. Knowing the spirit of It Girl 100 is about motion, sauce, strides, and progression, how do we celebrate amid uncertainty and collective grief when the juice feels like it is being squeezed out of us?
As we wrestled with that question, we were reminded that this tension isn’t new. Black women have always had to find joy in the midst of struggle, to create light even in the darkest corners. We have carried the weight of scrutiny for generations, expected to be strong, to serve, to smile through the sting. But this moment feels different. It feels deeply personal.
We are living at the intersection of liberation and backlash. We are learning to take off our capes, to say no when we are tired, to embrace softness without apology.
And somehow, the world has found new ways to punish us for it.
In lifestyle, women like Kayla Nicole and Ayesha Curry have been ridiculed for daring to choose themselves. Tracee Ellis Ross was labeled bitter for speaking her truth about love. Meghan Markle, still, cannot breathe without critique.
In politics, Kamala Harris, Letitia James, and Jasmine Crockett are dragged through the mud for standing tall in rooms not built for them.
In sports, Angel Reese, Coco Gauff, and Taylor Townsend have been reminded that even excellence will not shield you from racism or judgment.
In business, visionaries like Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye and Melissa Butler are fighting to keep their dreams alive in an economy that too often forgets us first.
Even our icons, Beyoncé, Serena, and SZA, have faced criticism simply for evolving beyond the boxes society tried to keep them in.
From everyday women to cultural phenoms, the pattern is the same. Our light is being tested.
And yet, somehow, through it all, we are still showing up as that girl, and that deserves to be celebrated.
Because while the world debates our worth, we keep raising our value. And that proof is all around us.
This year alone, Naomi Osaka returned from motherhood and mental health challenges to reach the semifinals of the US Open. A’ja Wilson claimed another MVP, reminding us that beauty and dominance can coexist. Brandy and Monica are snatching our edges on tour. Kahlana Barfield Brown sold out her new line in the face of a retailer that had been canceled. And Melissa Butler’s company, The Lip Bar, is projecting a forty percent surge in sales.
We are no longer defining strength by how much pain we can endure. We are defining it by the unbreakable light we continue to radiate.
We are the women walking our daily steps and also continuing to run solid businesses. We are growing in love, taking solo trips, laughing until it hurts, raising babies and ideas, drinking our green juice, and praying our peace back into existence.
We are rediscovering the joy of rest and realizing that softness is not weakness, it is strategy.
And through it all, we continue to lift one another. Emma Grede is creating seats at the table. Valeisha Butterfield has started a fund for jobless Black women. Arian Simone is leading in media with fearless conviction. We are pouring into each other in ways the world rarely sees but always feels.
So yes, we are in the midst of societal warfare. Yes, we are being tested. Yes, we are facing economic strain, political targeting, and public scrutiny. But even war cannot dim a light that is divinely ours.
And we are still shining.
And we are still softening.
And we are still creating.
And we are still It.
That is the quiet magic of Black womanhood, our ability to hold both truth and triumph in the same breath, to say yes, and to life’s contradictions.
It is no coincidence that this year, as SheaMoisture embraces the message “Yes, And,” they stand beside us as partners in celebrating this class of It Girls. Because that phrase, those two simple words, capture the very essence of this moment.
Yes, we are tired. And we are still rising.
Yes, we are questioned. And we are the answer.
Yes, we are bruised. And we are still beautiful.
This year’s It Girl 100 is more than a list. It is a love letter to every Black woman who dares to live out loud in a world that would rather she whisper. This year’s class is living proof of “Yes, And,” women who are finding ways to thrive and to heal, to build and to rest, to lead and to love, all at once.
It is proof that our joy is not naive, our success not accidental. It is the reminder that our light has never needed permission.
So without further ado, we celebrate the It Girl 100 Class of 2025–2026.
We celebrate the millions of us who keep doing it with grace, grit, and glory.
Because despite it all, we still shine.
Because we are still her.
Because we are still IT, girl.
Meet all 100 women shaping culture in the It Girl 100 Class of 2025. View the complete list of honorees here.
Featured image by xoStaff
Despite launching media careers from different pathways, the two New York-based women have forged a friendship where they can discuss their ambitions and challenges.
Both women are part of xoNecole’s It Girl 100 Class of 2025, recognized in the Viral Voices category for the impact they’ve made through storytelling, creativity, and authenticity. Together, they represent what it means to build an "It Girl" brand with integrity and depth. In the spirit of SheaMoisture’s "Yes, And" ethos, Les and Kayla embody the freedom to be multi-layered as women evolving boldly into every version of themselves.
This conversation has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity
On Forging Their Own Paths
Les Alfred: Being a Jane of all trades is incredibly challenging. And one of the challenges I've faced is that the scope of what podcasters now need to do has increased so much. When I first interviewed you in 2019, I was still very new at it, but I remember being on a Skype call with you from my bedroom in Seattle. That was how I ran the show. And that was good enough. That is absolutely not good enough these days. The scope and the quality keeps increasing, but the resources that you have don't necessarily increase in order to remain competitive.
I get asked so many questions from people who want to get into podcasts and they want to get started. Most of the time, I'm just like, 'I don't have tips for you.' Because, one, I don't know what it's like to start in this current environment. Two, I know what it takes to contend and be consistent in this environment. The barrier of entry is a lot higher in terms of having something of quality than it was before.
On Balancing Ambition and Rest
Kayla Greaves: I've had to make a very clear effort to slow down and just not take on as much. Yes, you're running a business, but you're also living your life. I had one of those days yesterday. I just laid down and listened to white noise for hours because I just needed my brain to just be clear. I called a friend. I cried.
I'm starting over again today. The sun is out. It's a new day. And that's just sometimes what you have to do. You can't show up for your audience or for other people, if you can't show for yourself. I think that creativity comes from a place of living your life and having genuine experiences, and then sharing those experiences through your art.
"I had to give myself permission to let myself grow publicly in ways that I'd already done personally."
Courtesy
On Evolving Through Growth and Rebranding
Les: I didn't create Balanced Black Girl until 2018, but I started blogging and creating content and doing things under the Balanced brand in 2014. I was 24 years old at the time. Now, I'm 36. The things that were important to me, the perspective that I had and the stories I wanted to tell were entirely different. I think I had to give myself permission to let myself grow publicly in ways that I'd already done personally. The show isn't really about wellness anymore. And that shift started happening a couple of years ago.
When we started expanding into more lifestyle topics, more self-help topics [and] talking about entrepreneurship, the audience responded really well. That was when the show really started to grow and take off. And that was what got so much more engagement than the episodes back in 2020 when I was doing hour-long deep dives on gut health.
Rebranding the show was something I've been thinking about for a long time. When I was finally like, 'Oh, I need to do this,' honestly, was the 2024 presidential election. I was like, these people are about to be in here acting crazy. I do not feel safe with my business name being what it is. I don't want to be targeted for any BS. We saw what they did to the Fearless Fund.
"You have to balance your integrity with your income."
Courtesy
On Integrity Over Income
Kayla: I have many other interests aside from beauty. I'm growing and I'm changing as a person. I'm not the same person I was when I started at InStyle in 2019 before the pandemic rocked everybody's world. I don't think reviewing every single lipstick that comes out is exciting or interesting, because everybody does it now, and everybody feels like they're qualified to speak on things that they're not qualified to speak on. I'm currently in that pain point of growth.
I don't think I have always been in environments where I've been encouraged to branch out on my own ideas. I finished Ina Garten’s memoir maybe a month ago. She kept repeating this quote in her book. She said, ‘What goes in early, goes in deep.’ Now that I'm on my own and I don't have the resources of a traditional media company, which is what I have become accustomed to, sometimes it's difficult for me to be like, 'Okay, just go ahead with the thing.'
I think, Les, just the other day, you reposted somebody saying that they let go of a five-figure deal and then got double the next day because it just didn't feel aligned for them. Those are the things that happen. I have to find a balance of, 'Okay, how do I keep myself afloat?' And that may mean I may not be balling out of control just yet, but I'm okay for now. I can buy myself nice things every once in a while, but you have to balance your integrity with your income.
Les: There are just certain lines that I'm not willing to cross. Especially when I created more wellness content, one of those lines was I will not promote any sort of weight loss product. All of these GLP-1s all want to advertise on my podcast. I actually have nothing against those types of products, but I don't ever want someone to look at what I'm putting into the world and think that I'm saying that they need to feel a certain way about their bodies.
Even if the money is great, that's not for me to say, and that's not the type of message that I want to put out here. Or, I had another kind of brand deal come through that would have required me to divulge things about my personal life that I just don't really want my audience knowing about me, and bringing them along on journeys that I just find personal and I want to keep offline. I don’t want to be known for dragging my mess all over the internet for a buck.
I don't want to be known for being an influencer. I would love to be 1,000% in on my podcast, scale it, have it grow to be a media empire where I'm producing and putting out other bodies of work. For now, until that other side of the business really picks up and gets to the point where I want it to be, I kind of need to play the influencer game a little bit to live in this expensive city. But I'm gonna do it on my terms. It's a constant compromise that I'm coming to with myself.
"You can never make a big vision come to fruition if you're sitting and you're waiting for somebody else to tell you exactly what to do."
Courtesy
On Mutual Admiration and Friendship
Les: Something that I really admire about you in having known you for the past couple of years is you don't wait for a roadmap. You jump in, you roll up your sleeves, and you do it. You can never make a big vision come to fruition if you're sitting and you're waiting for somebody else to tell you exactly what to do.
Kayla: Well, first of all, I want to say thank you for saying that, because that means so much to me, and it's very affirming. That's exactly how I feel about you. I remember, even at your first live show, you're like, ‘Oh my god, I'm so stressed. I don't know what I'm doing.’ And, the shit sold out. And, you know, and now, like, you see the growth of the podcast. And you have nearly 61,000 subscribers on YouTube. I just checked recently.
I talk a lot about people that really just need to not say anything on the internet, because it's so frustrating as somebody who grew up as a traditional journalist. You want people to fact check and ask thoughtful questions and have good conversations. I've never said that about you. I've always loved your podcast. And I've sent a lot of your episodes to friends when they're going through specific things that you're talking about.
This season has been a little bit slower to me, so you've been a constant source of inspiration, and it's just been such a pleasure to see your podcast grow despite the challenges you've had. I know it's not easy, but you continue to grow and continue to push through, and I really admire that as somebody who sat and cried yesterday and listened to white noise.
And this is why I tell you all the time, you really do inspire me. I love you a lot.
Les: Oh my gosh, I love you a lot. I'm so glad that the podcast brought us together.
Tap into the full It Girl 100 Class of 2025 and meet all the women changing game this year and beyond. See the full list here.
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