Manscaping: Beginners Guide to Body Grooming

Manscaping, it’s a word we have tried our best to avoid and a word that comes on the back of the ‘murse' (or Man purse), ‘mandals' (or Man sandals), and manny (or Man nanny). It is a word that is guaranteed to induce an eye roll or a #cringe here at Shavers.

manscaping (noun).  modelled after landscaping, manscaping is the shaving of unwanted body hair from a man.

But it’s time for us to step into the breach. Yes, we are officially giving Manscaping a Mandate. If you’re one of the few people that haven’t tried out body grooming then where have you been? This guide will help get you started.

Manscaping isn’t about removing every hair from your body, it’s about getting your body hair under control in a way that cleans up your look, improves your hygiene and boosts your self-confidence in public, as well as in a more intimate setting. With the right equipment, it actually opens up a whole world of possibilities - it’s about taking a little extra time to incorporate the rest of your body into your grooming routine in a way that will make you look better and make you feel more confident and productive.

What seemed to be a concern of the vain, metrosexual male is now mainstream. There’s nothing wrong with caring about your appearance any more. Being a 'manscaper' means that you take care of your personal hygiene. It means you care enough about yourself to stay 'manscaped' - groomed, sharp and looking particularly good in your birthday suit. Your significant other will most definitely appreciate the time you take in your manscaping efforts.

Because let’s face it, body hair isn’t that great. It doesn’t look good, it smells, it chafes and it hides the hard work you put in at the gym. Shaving your chest, stomach, armpits, back, etc. - it all falls under the manscaping definition. It’s essentially everything you can shave below the neck. Here is some essential guidance to help you get started:

Firstly, take your time and don’t rush. It’s important to stay composed. Your first effort at manscaping should go no further than having a trim. Taking it all off is not the name of the game here unless you’re a porn star, or you want to look like a newborn baby. Just less than an inch is ideal. With a pair of trimmers, you can have enough impact without risking any irritation, ingrown hairs or razor burn.

Next, get tooled up. There isn’t much you need to get going with manscaping. Stay away from the razors for the time being, remember our goal is to trim and not shave. Your core tool, and this is one we highly recommend, is the Philips BodyGroom Series 7000 Body Trimmer; although any of the BodyGroom series will do - you could start with the series 5000 or 3000.

This is our 'turn to first’ shaver and this single piece of equipment will take care of the bulk of your deforestation. It’s a dual sided electric shaver made especially for the body. On one end is a foil shaver and the other end is guarded, which can be set to different lengths.

Then, get warmed up. If you’re doing this once a month or so then it’s worth taking a bath or jumping in a hot shower first. At the very least you should rub your body with a warm cloth.

When you're ready, start at the top and work down. Having a methodology reduces the chances that you'll forget something - trimming body hair is about achieving and keeping an aesthetic balance between all of the body hair regions.

The Arms and Legs

All we need is a good trim here so that your arm and leg hair is neat. In doing so you’ll reduce chafe and be more aerodynamic. Remember, we’re not going for the Chris Froome look, just neat and trimmed.

Chest

Unless you’re particularly hairy, you won’t need to trim your chest hair much. Keep the hair length it in proportion with the legs and arms otherwise, it’ll look strange. Many men prefer to start trimming in the middle of the chest and work outwards from there.

Armpits

Let’s face it, the sight of armpit hair protruding out of the arms of a t-shirt is not a strong look. Armpit hair smells and holds a lot of sweat, so by trimming here you’ll use less deodorant and you'll go easier on your shirts. Again, we aren’t advocating going completely hairless. Here you don't actually shave the hair — you just trim it down so that it's shorter and doesn't protrude from your underarms. The short and trim look is both masculine and well groomed.

The Back

For many people, the first rule of back hair is that it shouldn’t be there. Trimming your back can be a pain though, so perhaps the best method is to get your partner or friend to help you trim the hairs with your body shaver.

Groin

Now things get a bit serious. First, lay the groundwork with a hot shower and if it’s been a while, you might want to start with some grooming scissors. Do not use the beard trimmer here, getting loose skin caught in the grooves could be catastrophic. This body area is a proven to trap for bacteria so even a minor cut can cause infection. You want to make sure you are holding the skin taught wherever you are working. A trimmed undercarriage, at 1 to 2mm will keep you feeling cool, clean and fresh enough without risking ingrown hairs or any of the irritation of razor burn, itching or stubble. It will also mean that you can keep the front relatively natural.

The Buttocks

Whilst this might sound like something that doesn’t need saying, never take a razor blade to your buttocks. The risk of itchiness and ingrown hairs here is great so be sure to use your trimmers and keep your strokes smooth and confident. This method is quick and easy, much cheaper and less embarrassing than a trip to the salon. Just make sure you have the safety guard on and everything will be fine.

So this was our introduction to keeping your body hair in check, in the coming weeks we are going to be offering more detailed tips and advice on manscaping and grooming in general. Sign up for our newsletter to be kept up to date.

In the meantime you can enter our Spring time sweepstake competition to win a Philips BodyGroom Series 7000 Body Trimmer. Head over to Facebook and, if you're so inclined, don't forget to follow us and share.