As a man, personal grooming and taking care of our presentation is key. And managing your body hair is also part of your personal presentation – which is where we come to manscaping.
While some men might think that manscaping, or managing your body hair, is a practice that men should not follow, there are many reasons why you might want to shave your body hair.
But with the rise of body culture, manscaping, from trimming back hair or chest hair, to taking care of our pubic hair, is increasingly popular.
We’re going to look at the practice of hair removal for men, also known as manscaping. This includes the benefits of manscaping, how to manage your male hair removal and even a few tools to help make it much easier for you.
What is Manscaping?
Manscaping is a term used to describe the act of male body hair removal or grooming. While it is often used to refer to shaving your balls and pubic area, it can technically apply to any form of hair removal on a mans body.
The rise of manscaping has come as a result of the boom in gym culture, with men wanting to look smooth and hairless in the gym. But also the rise of online porn has highlighted the popularity for shaved pubic hair on men.
Is Manscaping Normal For Guys?
Despite the popular image of a natural and hairy man, the growth in popularity of manscaping has been pretty astronomical. Reports suggest that anything between 50-80% of men trim their body hair, or manage their body hair in some capacity.
This wide disparity in statistics is often due to the location of the study, or the types of hair that are being removed.
But putting it simply, yes, manscaping has become a standard and normal practice for many men. And in fact, many women also report that they prefer a man to have groomed himself ‘down there’ or at least managed their body hair.
Of course, embracing your body hair is a personal choice. And while there is nothing wrong with staying au naturel, many people, regardless of gender, prefer their partners to have a clean shaved body, or at least well groomed and maintained, for reasons such as hygiene and sexual preference.
Are There Health Benefits to Manscaping?
The actual health benefits of manscaping are pretty vague. There are suggestions that some excess body hair (in armpits or pubes) can trap bacteria, and if you do not clean said areas properly, it can lead to an increase in body odour and even potential infections.
This includes problems such as foliculitis or trichomycosis, both of which are infections of the hair follicles.
So it is always important to keep such sensitive areas clean, regardless of whether you remove body hair or not.
But beyond the health benefits, there are a number of other reasons to choose a manscaping routine as part of your personal grooming.
Benefits of Manscaping
As a man, there are several reasons why you might want to begin shaving or removing hair.
1. You will look better
Whether it’s your pecs, abs or your manhood, a well-groomed body looks cleaner, younger and much better defined, and you will not only look better but feel more confident!
And yes women do like a man who grooms himself down there.
2. Less smelly
Hair in closed off regions in your body such as the nethers traps a lot of sweat and creates a bacteria-fostering environment even with a small amount of physical exertion or in warmer weather.
Since such areas barely get any sunlight or air, they become infested with bacteria, which in turn causes odor and more dangerously, can easily lead to infections. Trimming or shaving helps you avoid moist conditions where you’re susceptible to such problems and keeps you cleaner.
And by extension this means less potential for body odour. (study)
3. It can improve your sex life
While a small part of the population does like the natural look, studies claim that an increasing percentage of women prefer their male partners to be well shaved and kept in the nether regions. Manscaping helps in projecting you as a disciplined man in the eyes of your partner, making you more attractive in more ways than one.
In addition to this, if your partner also shave completely or removed pubic hair, the sensation of skin to skin during sex can be much more intimate. Giving oral sex is also much more pleasant for most people when there is less hair. So could you potentially enjoy more oral sex from your partner as a result of being hair free?
For many men, this alone is a great reason to shave their pubic hair.
How can you Manscape?
When it comes to managing your body hair, whether that is trimming chest hair, shaving your leg hair or removing hair from your pubic area, there are a number of ways to do manscaping.
Let’s look at some of the best ways to do body grooming and some of the best tools for the job.
1. Skin Prep
Most men who want to manscape already know how to shave their face and know how important it is to prep the skin beforehand for a comfortable shave. You do not want the razor burn on your sensitive areas after all.
To prepare your skin, you need to make sure that the surface is absolutely clean of any dirt or oil as it can obstruct the blade from running smoothly over the required skin surface.
Have a warm shower and use a body wash that does not dry your skin. You can always exfoliate your skin before a body shave. Not only does it remove the dead layers of skin but it also smoothens the surface so the razor blades do not catch on anything other than unwanted hair.
2. Shaving the Back
Back hair is one of the least liked and least comfortable places on the body to shave simply because it is too hard to do it on your own. It is due to these obvious issues that most men tend to get professional help in this regard. Shaving the hair on your back will not make you look good undressed but also feel good as it is far more liberating and hygienic.
Epilation is a great option when considering back hair removal.
Just like waxing, epilation removes the hair from its root and therefore takes longer to grow back. If you do not like the process of epilating, shaving using a good quality shaving foam is always present to you as an option.
3. Shaving the Chest
Unlike back hair, you do not need to shave your chest completely unless you really want to. A bit of trimmed hair on your chest can seem manly and looks natural as well.
However if you are a hairy guy, managing your chest hair is a good way to look more stylish.
Prep your chest just like you did your back and go for an electric body trimmer to trim the hairs before going for a shave if you do not like the way it looks.
4. Below the Belt
Shaving the pubic area is one of the trickiest regions of the lot. How short you go is up to you but whether you shave it down completely or just trim it, tidying up that area should be made a part of your regular grooming routine.
Many men simply use a standard shaving cream and razor, but you can also use skin removal cream or even try waxing for that smoother skin.
When shaving yourself, the most important tip is to pull the skin taut to avoid nicks and press lightly, just in case it causes irritation. Make sure to follow the direction of the hair growth, which will help to avoid ingrown hairs when it grows back.
Use a small mirror or hand mirror to get a good angle, and use light strokes. If you want to get totally smooth balls or pubic region, you could also use hair removal cream to get rid of any excess hair.
5. Shaving Armpit Hair
When it comes to armpit hair, this is one of the simplest manscaping areas. Simply use a hair trimmer to remove excess hair. Make sure to use some shaving gel to prepare the area, and then shave with a standard razor blade.
6. Removing Arm or Leg Hair
When it comes to shaving arms and legs, this is obviously a bigger area to cover and can be quite tricky at first. Especially if you’re already a hairy guy.
Waxing or hair removal cream can be a good way to remove the hair when you first start, you can then simply shave with a razor for future maintenance.
You can also make it easier for yourself and go to a professional to get leg hair removed.
7. Post-shave care
After completing the shaving part, make sure to rinse the shaved areas with cold water and clean up the leftover pieces of hair and shaving cream residue and then pat your skin dry with a towel. After that, apply a moisturizer or a balm to rehydrate your skin so that it does not feel dry and irritated.
What Tools Do I Need for Manscaping?
When it comes to manscaping, you can simply use any electric trimmer or standard razor. However, you might find that you blunt your razors faster than usual when manscaping, simply because there is more hair to remove than when you’re just managing facial hair.
When it comes to your body hair grooming routine, there are some excellent tools you can use to get a close shave.
Manscaped: The Lawn Mower
If you want the best tool for the job, the Manscape Lawn Mower is pretty much the go to for male personal grooming.
It’s designed for both body hair and to manage your pubic regions too, and if you want one tool to do the job, this is the one.
Braun Body Groomer 3
Another excellent tool designed for male hair removal is the Body Groomer 3 from Braun. This one is also designed to do everything from underarm to balls, and yes you can use it in the shower too.
The benefit of the Braun Body Groomer 3 is that is it much cheaper than the Manscaped tool.
Reviews also suggest it is an excellent option for sensitive hair removal. Check it out on Amazon.
In Summary
Manscaping should be part of you overall personal grooming and maintenance routine. Take care of your beard and your skin as well as your body hair and you’ll look and feel a million dollars.
So now you’re looking good, it’s time to put those social skills to good use. Check out our guides to complimenting women and how to make interesting conversation.
