That men have been grooming almost as much as women has been well advertised, with statistics showing that men spend longer than ever in front of the mirror as well as spend more than ever before on the products! In 2015 the industry grew by a whopping 300% in fact.
And part of that flair for grooming has become the attention to detail and in this case the male pubic hair region (ahem) and what is called manscaping, the practice of shaping and/or shaving your pubic area!
It’s become increasingly popular, with a 2014 report from Indiana University suggesting that nearly 50% of women find a hairless or partly hairless “downstairs” more attractive.
So here’s how to shave and what it does to you:
Lay the land
Chances are your hair down there is too long for you to just hack at it with a razor! Get your scissors and trimmer out, get everything down to a minimum before you start shaving, otherwise you’ll make a right mess!
Get wet
It’s much much easier to shave on wet hair and skin, so get a good razor (try a women’s one, often they’re a bit more delicate for sensitive skin) and pop into the shower for the initial shave. What’s more hot water softens your skin and gets rid of dirt and dry skin to make the process easier. After that you can fix things post shower and you make sure you’re doing a neat by using a small makeup mirror and put it on the ground – for those special underball views oi vey.
Don’t go against the grain
If you start shaving your groin and genitals you better start going about it the right way and first and foremost is to shave with the direction your hair grows in. This prevents ingrown hairs and keeps your hair growing normally and not making yourself even hairier!
Beware the balls
As you can imagine the skin on your scrotum is extremely sensitive and delicate, full of nerve-endings as well as folds and grooves. What’s more though they’re also an area full of bacteria, meaning that if you nick your balls (squeal!) you need to wipe yourself down with alcohol so you don’t get an infected cut.
Ingrown Hairs
Welcome to the main nightmare of manscaping! If you start removing hair the inevitable nuisance of ingrown hairs will raise their ugly (puss-filled) heads. Thankfully if you don’t shave against the grain and if you wipe down with alcohol afterwards you will be fine. Just be clean and don’t overdo it. But if you are getting ingrowns, treat them like zits. Wait for a good head, pop them, then disinfect. Gross, but after all you’re the one who wants the smooth genitals my friend, so you must suffer!
