I tend to defol because less leafs, less chances. A bit unorthodox so I dont give advice anymore unless its something like this. I let it grow here and there as removing too much will make leafy smaller buds.
So I just trick it, let it grow and defol here and there so it wont just grow more leafs all the sudden. Im a weird grower I just realized that the other day lol.
If rh is passing 40 to me its too packed and defolling may not bring it down much. I had to redeseign my whole grow from bottom up.