I think we’re ready for another “All-in-One Guide” type article and this time we’ll be tackling our body hair – scary, right? My hope with this article is to discuss what, why and how we should groom when it comes to body hair to maximize our attractiveness and sex appeal.

We won’t, however, address hairstyles and facial hair in this guide as these topics deserve an article or two on their own.

As with previous “theory based” articles like “What Women Find Sexy” I’ll try to stay away from my own personal biases and try to be as factual as possible. I will, however, at times include my personal experiences so you can see it’s not all black and white.

Should You Even Care About Manscaping?

We’ll split the practical part of this article into three categories:

Mandatory – some aspects of manscaping are universal across cultures and if you don’t have them handled most women will find you less attractive or, in some cases, even borderline repulsive.

– some aspects of manscaping are universal across cultures and if you don’t have them handled most women will find you less attractive or, in some cases, even borderline repulsive. Highly recommended – things that are not mandatory and in some cases not even particular popular but has the potential to greatly improve one’s appearance if handled.

– things that are not mandatory and in some cases not even particular popular but has the potential to greatly improve one’s appearance if handled. Optional – the grey area. Some aspects of dealing with male body hair doesn’t have a general consensus and there’s about a 50/50 split in terms of what women prefer on their men. That’s perfectly fine.

So what does science has to say about this?

The fact that over the years certain regions and cultures developed a preference for male body hair (or lack of it) shows that there’s a cultural bias in effect. As an example, Chinese women prefer shaven men and i.e. British women were found to prefer hairier men.

One peculiar thing is that there’s a strong connection between how hairy a woman’s father is and how attractive she finds hairier men: women with hairy fathers tend to prefer body hair on their male partners too. This means that either preference for male hairiness is imprinted onto women or it can be hereditary.

Younger women on average tend to find men with less body hair more attractive.

The idea that hairier men are more masculine (have higher testosterone levels) is cultural only and has no biological bases.

Cool, right?

But enough of this, time to get to the core of this article – Simple Guide To Everything Manscaping!

Eyebrows

Category: Highly recommended.

Depending on where you live (a small town or a metropolitan city), your reaction when someone mentions shaping and maintaining eyebrows will vary from “WTF… that’s for women only… Right? Riiiight?” to “Duh… Of course they are managed, I’m not an animal!”

The fact is, having your eyebrows shaped and maintained is not mandatory for most guys. However, for those of us with thick, dark eyebrows (and especially those guys who are very close to rocking the ever-popular “monobrow”) having them professionally shaped will improve the overall facial attractiveness tremendously!

On the other hand, guys with thinner, fairer eyebrows will notice very little difference – I personally wouldn’t even bother if that was the case.

How to do it?

First off, when it comes to shaping your eyebrows – leave it to the professionals. It’s a sensitive area as there’s no way to hide it if things go wrong. Furthermore, it should cost you around half a price of a haircut and should be done about once every few months – so budget shouldn’t be a problem for most.

When looking for a professional (most hairstyle salons have someone) make sure she (usually it’s “she”) works with men too – shaping eyebrows for men is very subtle and when done right, no one will even notice that they were shaped, other than “Hey, what happened, did you get a haircut of something? You look so much better all of the sudden!”

Chances are, you’ll be asked how you would like them shaped – wax or tweezers. I prefer precision so always ask for tweezers.

The procedure will take about 15 minutes and bam – your face now looks cleaner, eyes look bigger and more defined and facial proportions somehow appear more attractive.

Afterwards, every few days take a small mirror a pair of tweezers and remove newly regrown hair (don’t touch the base line, just newly grown hair). It will be awkward and even complicated at first, but it gets intuitive quite fast and should take you no more than 3 – 5 minutes.

My notes for the video: great stuff, except I really recommend going to a pro at least the first time you’re shaping your eyebrows, you don’t need to wax them.

Summary:

Category: Highly recommended for guys with thick, dark eyebrows.

Shaped every several months.

Shaping should cost 10 – 20 USD.

Done in a subtle way.

Afterwards maintain every 2 – 3 days.

You’ll need a mirror and a pair of tweezers (~5 USD)

Nose Hair

Category: Mandatory.

Nose hair is something we don’t think about until it becomes painfully obvious they are not taken care off and then it’s an instant sex appeal killer. In turn, our goal is to never allow it to get to this place.

First off, we need to accept that this is not only a problem for guys in their late 40s and 50s. You can still be in your 20s and have some nasty nose hair getting ready to parade themselves to the world.

So how to know if it’s time to trim your nose hair? Simple, stand in front of the mirror with your head held high, if you notice anything sticking out of your nose it’s time to trim – no point in overcomplicating this.

How to do it?

Take a pair of small scissors (scissors are sharp, nose is sensitive – be smart and careful) and trim your nose hair. Especially in the front try to aim to cut as close to the skin as possible.

Alternatively, nose and ear trimmers are getting popular and you could get something like this: Panasonic Nose and Facial Hair Trimmer

But as said, a pair of scissors for a few bucks will do the job just as well.

Note: our goal is to trim, not to completely remove our nose hair.

My notes for the video: Very entertaining video but I’d skip the tweezing method – that’s masochistic!

Summary:

Category: mandatory.

Manscape as often as needed to not let them grow out and become noticeable.

Use small scissors or special trimmers to trim.

Trim, don’t remove.

Chest

Category: Mostly optional.

As discussed above, when it comes to managing your chest hair there’s no single correct answer: naked chest is generally considered to be more attractive, however, certain (quite significant) subsection of women highly prefer hairy men. Considering we probably won’t be asking women “Hey, how hairy was your father?” to get the edge, your own preferences on the matter should be the deciding factor.

To make this decision easier, few things to consider:

If your overall style is very neat and clean, having some chest hair can add that always needed masculinity to the look.

If, on the other hand, you have that bad boy thing going, having your chest hair removed might be a great way to take another step forward for that “sex symbol” look.

Body hair can be great for camouflaging all the “extra you” from having a few too many beers. On the other hand, if you paid your dues in the gym and the kitchen, you might prefer to go clean and reap all the benefits of your work.

Before we go into the how to part, I’d like to ask for the attention of fellow hairy bastards who are reading this. Category says “mostly” for a reason – if your chest hair are so full and long that they are sprouting through the collar of your tee, at the very least have them trimmed – very important.

How To:

Many brands now re-brand some of their beard trimmers as “specifically for body hair” and I’d say it’s a smart idea from their side, marketing-wise that is. However, a good regular beard trimmer is more than enough to get the job done. I personally use one from BaByliss.

Start with a longer setting and remove until you’re at a length you think looks good. Avoid creating artificial hard lines (shaping hard lines for facial hair is discussable, but a definite no-no for body hair). Remember, manscaping should be subtle in a way that it looks natural.

But what if you want to go clean?

Waxing is your friend but I would recommend going to a professional for that. It’s best to forget clean shaving unless you get a kick out of getting skin irritations, razor burns, ingrown hair and, for hairier guys, annoying inching in just a few days (waxing will last about 4 – 6 weeks.)

My notes for the video: Great video, not much too add.

Summary:

Category: mostly optional.

If you’re very hairy at the very least have your hair trimmed with a beard trimmer.

If you plan on going clean, have your chest hair waxed (it will last you 4 – 6 weeks)

Going clean is a great way to make the most out of being ripped.

Having some chest hair is great for guys who need to add some masculinity to their look.

Back & Shoulders

Category: Mandatory.

Even though back hair are not that different from chest hair, you don’t get the privilege of keeping them. There’s nothing attractive about a hairy back. Same goes for shoulder hair. That’s it.

How To:

If back and shoulder hair is a problem, I have a somewhat bad news for you – find a salon that does men’s waxing and one that you like because you’ll be visiting it every 4 – 6 weeks for having your shoulders/back waxed.

Yup, that’s happening.

My notes for the video: there’s little you actually need to know about this other than go and get a professional do it. But the really cool part is that it shows the before-after. Do I need to say more?

Summary:

Category: mandatory.

Back and shoulder hair are not attractive. Period.

Have them professionally waxed.

Groin

Category: Trimming – mandatory; clean shaving/waxing – mostly optional.

If you like women going down on you at the very least you need to have your pubic hair trimmed. I guess I don’t need to say that having hair in ones mouth is not a pleasant feeling.

Secondly, hair & sweat makes groin area an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, which causes bad smell – another reason for a woman not to move her mouth anywhere near it.

Lastly, your package will appear visually bigger if you’ll have it cleaned up.

Now, the optional part – personally, I haven’t found a single advantage of having pubic hair completely shaven / waxed, neatly trimmed is quicker, more practical and you don’t need to worry about extremely annoying itching when the hair are growing back. However, shaving your balls and shaft is a good idea for most guys (remember the “who likes hair in their mouth” part?).

Note: trim your hair naturally, let’s leave shaping triangles and other “artwork” to women!

How To:

Start off with a beard trimmer and adjust the settings until you get a short in length, natural look. Honestly, in most cases the shorter the better. As with previous sections – avoid hard lines, transition between hairy part and naked skin should be seamless and natural.

Afterwards take a lot of shaving cream, a good shaving razor and get to your balls, shaft. I hope I don’t need to say that it’s a sensitive area and to be careful.

My notes for the video: Got to love Aaron, very entertaining and I don’t have much to add other than personally I prefer shaving cream to soap.

Summary:

Category: trimming – mandatory; clean shaving/waxing – mostly optional.

Use regular beard trimmer to trim the pubic hair.

Use shaving cream and razor to shave balls and shaft.

Be careful!

Arm pits

Category: mostly optional.

This is actually very similar situation as with pubic hair. Armpits are an ideal place for smelly bacteria to breed so by removing hair on your armpits you’re making their life worse (that’s a good thing). Whether to shave it completely or keep it trimmed is debatable and very much depends on your preferences – makes very little difference to your overall appearance.

How To:

To trim either take a pair of good scissors or an electric trimmer and do the work, no need to overcomplicate this part. Afterwards, if you feel like going clean some shaving cream and a razor will do the job.

My notes for the video: feel free to ignore Gillette product placement, other than that the video is spot on.

Summary:

Category: mostly optional.

You’ll need a pair of scissors or an electric trimmer (beard trimmer works well) to trim.

Razor and some shaving cream if you decide to go clean.

Honorable Mentions: Ears, Legs & Arms?

Ears: same as nose hair – when they are visible it’s already too late, so keep this in line. Mostly affects older guys. A pair of scissors is more than enough to get the job done

(Avoid the tweezing method)

Legs & Arms: having them trimmer / waxed is unnecessary for most guys. However, if you’re particularly hairy and want to make those biceps look more defined, you might want to trim them slightly with a pair of scissors or an electric trimmer. Avoid creating hard lines, transitions should look natural.

Summary

Hopefully we managed to identify what parts of your manscaping you can still improve. I tried to keep this article simple and show that most of this stuff can be done without advanced equipment or visiting a salon every few days (though as mentioned there are procedures that are best left to professionals).

Thoughts? Do you have any cool tips that your manscaping easier?

Cheers