I stay smooth all year round. Get used to maintaining and just do it, I prefer it. My partner was surprised I think when we first met but likes it, she is smooth always too.
I often thought about this situation should something happen to my wife and me. For me, being that nudism/social nudism is a large part of my life, how would a new partner view that. Obviously, there would be lots of honest conversations about myself and my life prior to dating this new person. It would come out very soon in the dating process. I wouldn't want to prolong the inevitable if this person saw me as perverted or weird.
With that, I often wonder if the subject of "grooming" would come up. What if it doesn't and we get intimate, and she sees that I'm smooth. I'd only hope that she is also! LOL Either way, having lived with someone and being with someone for 55 years, it is a small concern starting up something new with a new partner, given our lifestyle.
When I was working and at the fire station, initially, no one on my crew knew me. One of the first things I did was sit them down and told them a little about myself. After going through my experience and places and things I'd done, I told them about me being a nudist. With all the usual explanations and assurances that I'd do my best not to expose or push it on them, there would be times we would be in the locker room, head and showers together. They noticed I was shaved/smooth and didn't say much until they began to ask questions about the lifestyle. They wanted to know if ALL nudists shaved off their pubic hair. After several weeks at this new station, I began to notice other firefighters had shaved off their pubic hair or had been smooth for quite some time. It was a trend that I'd been doing way before it became a trend. The fact that I was smooth, and they noticed, actually turned out to be a good thing. It opened the conversations about nudism but to my knowledge, none of them adopted the lifestyle.