Body Shaving

If you think getting rid of body hair is weird, then read no further. There are many sports where it is advantageous or required to remove body hair. If you plan on entering a bodybuilding competition, you must remove your body hair. People are always asking for shortcuts to getting ripped and muscular, well here is the easiest one of all - remove body hair. Its amazing how much more massive and definied a hairy person looks when they remove their body hair!  Removing armpit hair not only makes your lats look wider but removes a large source of body odor.  People always ask, "doesn't it take a really long time?".  Nope, I can do my whole body in under 5 minutes and I only do it once or twice a week. 

Lets talk about the other options first:

• Creams and chemicals.  These might work for women's peach fuzz but despite what the ads say, they don't work on thick men's hair.  I tried this myself using a product specifically designed for men's thick head hair, left it on twice as long as they said, and all it did was make the hair curly - oh that and burned my skin something fierce.
• Waxing.  Haven't tried this myself but its gotta be painful.  Also time consuming and expensive if you have it done.
• Mechanical pullers.  Torture devices designed by men, for women.  These rotating heads rip the hairs out one by one so you can enjoy the agony of each one separately. 
• Electric razor (type used for facial shaving).  Easy on the skin, no pain, but takes FOREVER. 
• Electric clipper (type used for cutting head hair). An excellent option. Removes hair rapidly down to 1/32" and looks clean shaven from 8' away. No chance of ingrown hairs. Unless you really need to be smooth, give serious consideration to just clipping and leaving the hair at 1/32"

What we are trying to avoid

	Before we talk about shaving, lets talk about what we are trying to avoid - ingrown hairs. The name doesnt properly convey how painful they are and how UGLY they look so lets talk about them. Here is what the hair looks like before we shave it off.
	If you shave it properly, the sharp, cutoff end is at the skin level or above so that when you apply pressure to the skin there is no discomfort or imflamation. When the hair grows, it has a clear path to free air and doesnt contact skin during its growth upward. To cut at the right level: warm up in the warm/hot water till the goosebumps are long gone shave with the grain, in this example, drag the blade to the left.
	If you shave hard against the grain, in this case to the right, you cut the hairs off below skin level and they look like this. Imagine you have made the mistake of shaving your beltline against the grain. As you button your pants you put pressure on the skin and thousands of these little knives poke you - not plesant! You might be able to get away with against the grain shaving places where nothing ever touches (like your face) but certainly not elsewhere.
	If you shave too close like the above image, then something very unpleasant can happen. If the cut off hair has been covered by dirt or solidified skin oils, the hair cant grow upward so it curls back under. This can also happen if the sharp cut edge of the hair catches skin on the edge of the channel as it grows. As the hair continues to grow, nasty things happen. A raised red bump appears, if you are lucky that is all but quite often they get infected causing something that looks like a big whitehead pimple. Imagine this covering your chest like a carpet, yikes. In some cases they get infected so bad that a trip to the doctor is required.

Steps to shave the body

STEP 3: Scrub When you have shaven, your job is NOT over. Especially if you are a first time shaver, you need to keep your skin scrupulously clean and free of oil. You are all clean shaven now but the next morning, your skin hurts like heck just to touch.  The first few weeks it can be painful but the skin will quickly get used to shaving as it does on your face. We need to prevent the ingrown hairs at all cost. Showering twice a day is a good idea for the first few weeks when you start shaving. We need to make sure that as the hairs grow back, that the pours are free of oil and dirt so the hairs can grow straight out. To help make sure you don't get ingrown hairs, scrub yourself in firm circular motions with something really scratchy like a luffa sponge or a scratchy washcloth to help any hairs which were cut off too short work their way up thru the skin so they don't curl up and get infected under the skin.  Don't skip this step or you will be sorry!  If your skin hurts, then you need a good scrubbing.  The luffa will be painful, especially at first so be warned. 

Body Shaving Techniques

You will only make the mistake of shaving incorrectly here once, thats how painful it will be if you do it incorrectly. Your pants put a lot of pressure here and it will amplify the pain. Closely look at the area around your midsection to make sure you know exactly which way the hair lays in each section and avoid going against the grain or cross grain - only go with the grain. You might consider just leaving it clipped length (1/32") in this area.

Do NOT shave the butt and upper hamstring area - the area where you sit. You will be very,very sorry if you do! Clip this area down to 1/32" with electric hair clippers if you want but do NOT shave with a blade! If you shave this area, the pressure from sitting and the perspiration combine to cause extreme pain and infections that can send you to the doctors office for some nasty, high powered anti-biotics. Alles klar? You can shave the lower part of the hamstring area if you are careful. You will only make the mistake of shaving incorrectly here once, thats how painful it will be if you do it incorrectly. Closely look at the back of your legs to make sure you know exactly which way the hair lays in each section and avoid going against the grain or cross grain - only go with the grain.