With regard to shaving:
(Sorry for the length of this post - I started to formulate a reply a while back while reading this thread and it took on an essay-like life of it's own...)
Dude has a preference for trimming his pubes. I am, apparently, a women who prefers men's genitals to be "au naturale." Not that it's a big deal for me but if I was the Empress of Hair Removal then Dude would leave his pubes intact and wax his back.
Trimming the pubes, to me, is the worst of both worlds. The natural hair has a taper to the end that makes it less "pokey" and trimming cuts the hair through the thick part of the shaft and gets rid of the natural softening taper. Thus, I find trimmed pubes to be pokey and irritating to my sensitive areas. A smooth shave just looks creepy and unnatural to me. (Seen it, not experienced it...so for those of you who like the feel, I'll buy that it may be so and grant that the feel may overcome the look.). Having said that, it's not a big deal to me if Dude chooses to trim for personal comfort reasons (heat, clean-up, etc) - just a personal preference, not a requirement, I can accommodate. (MrS teases Dude when he trims that he is just trying to make his penis look larger – and, since Dude doesn't need any help in that arena, it must just be vanity.)
MrS is an all or none kind of guy. Head is either shaved or long. Beard is full or none. He has never shaved or trimmed his boy bit fur but if he did (at the request of an as-yet-unmet person other that me) I imagine it would be the same way (just asked him – says it seems like an unnecessary effort at this point).
One of our roommates used to shave his chest (at the request of his boyfriend). I didn't like to hug him without a shirt on because the stubble “scritched” my cheek...
For me (I know this was about boy bits – but equal time for the ladies...eh?) - I once shaved completely “down there” because MrS asked me to. Was irritated afterwards (so no tactile advantage for me, regardless of his experience) and the growing back part was itchy and awful. I'm not very hairy to start with so the front part (on the mons pubis) is not very bushy but this is where the majority of the discomfort was. So now...I shave the labia only, from the perineum to the clitoral hood. (Bic safety razor while sitting in the shower so I can see what I am doing – I'm fairly flexible.) MrS prefers this when giving me Oral Favours and, if I go a while without shaving, I don't get any itching or other discomfort in this area (which is even less hairy than my other not very hairy parts).
So, shave the (14 or so) hairs under my arms, pluck the few stray nipple hairs I occasionally sprout, shave the labia with every shower – total time spent = 2 minutes. My legs on the other hand...damn, I HATE shaving my legs. Shave them in the summer (poorly) – ankles to knees, front only. Winter I let them go or use duct tape as a leg wax to remove the thickest of it. Had them “sugared” twice - 1st time was awesome – so smooth! 2nd time wasn't any better than my duct tape solution... If there were a truly permanent hair removal method for legs I would pay excellent money to take advantage of it!