Men's Fashion; Grooming

Ok, you were not born with titties and a kitty but that doesn’t give you the pass to be walking around looking like a caveman from the 1700’s.
Gone are the days when body grooming and beautification were seen as a ladies thing. These days, men are no longer slacking in these departments.

You can’t carry a nasty looking beard, wear the same smelly shirt you’ve been wearing for 3 days, carry such enormous amounts of body hair, and expect to be on anyone’s list of favorite people. It’s simply not going to happen. Society is built in such a way that people want to relate with other people that they perceive to be better off than them or are at least, on the same level with them.

If you want to attract and keep good looking, reasonable and smart people in your life, then you have to look the part. But if you are fine with being tagged the ‘neighborhood hobo’ then it’s all good; you can definitely pass on body grooming. A lot of men think it is ‘vain’ and ‘girlish’ to pay attention to their bodies. Some even taunt other men who do so and label them gay or sissy.

But let me ask you this question; if you pay so much attention to the car you ride, the food you eat and the house you live in; why is it then difficult to pay similar attention to your body? You know that you can change your car at anytime if you feel like you are tired of it, you could also decide to change your food table or your wardrobe as you please. But can you say the same for your body? For the rest of your life, you are stuck with that body and you better start taking proper care of it now. There’s absolutely no shame in taking good care of your body- you deserve it.

Grooming your body doesn’t have to be expensive; you don’t even need to visit a professional or spend outrageous sums. You can do it yourself, quite inexpensively and with easy to find tools and products. Grooming, however is a very wide concept and involves different parts of the body from the hair down to the toe.

Some decades ago, a hairy man was seen as masculine and strong. It wasn’t unusual to see men carrying forests of hair on all parts of their body but trends have changed these days. More men are open to waxing and carrying a completely smooth skin.

Grooming your chest hair
You can complement your perfectly toned body and six-pack abs with a smooth chest.

Men who are not toned may be forgiven for carrying hair on their chests but for you who have spent hours in the gym to get that body, it’s totally unforgivable. There are two ways to groom your chest hair; waxing or shaving. However, waxing is strongly recommended over shaving. This is because when you shave your chest hair, the skin becomes more sensitive and sometimes irritated. You may also injure yourself in the process or expose your skin to bacteria.

Another reason why waxing is preferable is that the chest hair is quite thick and grows faster so that within a few days, you’ll be in need of another shave. If however, you insist on shaving your chest hair, you should follow these steps to do it properly and achieve the best results.

• First, you need a very good shaving cream. Pick one that is specially made for shaving body hair and has a lot of positive reviews.
• Next, you should purchase a very good shaving razor. The razor should have multiple blades and a pivoting head for a smoother shave. 
• Depending on how long and full your chest hair is, you may need to trim some of it off first before you begin to shave. You can do that with a scissors and a flat comb for combing the hair out while you trim.
• After trimming, take a warm shower and relax a bit. This would give your skin some time to breathe, make your skin softer, and easier to shave.
• Next, you should use a wet loofah or an exfoliating sponge to exfoliate your body and remove dead skin cells. Again this would give you better results and help to reduce ingrown hair. Exfoliation also helps to prevent razor bumps.
• If you want your shaving razor to run smoothly over your skin, apply a little bit of shaving oil on your chest prior to application of your shaving cream.
• Apply your shaving cream over the area you want to shave using a shaving brush or your hand if you don’t have a shaving brush. Also, ensure that your chest isn’t too wet or too dry when you apply the shaving cream.
• Now, you can get right into shaving. Shave in the opposite direction of hair growth. You should study your chest carefully to know the direction of hair growth.
• Try to avoid running your blade over the same area too many times.
• As you shave, your razor would be clogged by the shaving cream, ensure that you are close to a tap or a bowl of water to rinse it off, as a clogged blade would limit your shaving results.
• When you are done shaving, jump into the shower and have a wash.
• Dry the skin and apply a protective product to help prevent irritation, bumps or ingrown hair.

Waxing your chest hair
I understand that the idea of waxing your chest hair sounds scary but it’s really not that bad. At least if the women can stand regular waxing, why not the men? Waxing is often done by professionals but you can still do it yourself if you feel uncomfortable having someone else do it for you. However, waxing is not for all lengths of chest hair.

If your hair is shorter than a quarter of an inch, you are better off shaving than waxing. These steps to waxing will help you.

• First, you have to purchase a waxing kit. You can easily get them online or in stores around you.
• When you are ready to start waxing, you should use a gentle soap to wash your chest and then dry it well.
• The waxing kit would have a pre-waxing cleanser that comes with it and is to be used to prep the chest before you start waxing.
• Use cotton wool to apply the cleanser to the whole chest area that is to be waxed.
• Apply pre-epilating powder on the chest. It should come with the waxing kit but if it doesn’t, you can use baby powder instead or purchase one.
• Now, you are ready to start waxing but you should protect your hands with some gloves first.
• Use the wooden applicator in the kit to spread the wax over the chest hair. Don’t put the wax on delicate areas like your navels and nipples.
• Study the direction of hair growth and place a wax strip in that direction. Leave the strip for some minutes and then holding your skin taut, remove the strip entirely in one quick pull. This part would hurt a bit but if you pull the strip all at once, it would reduce the pain a little.
• If after pulling you notice that you still have some hair left, put the strip back on and pull off after some time. You could also use tweezers to get rid of some of the stubborn hair.
• Wash off the entire wax residue and massage your skin with some baby oil to relieve pain.
• You see, it’s not that difficult right?

Grooming your back hair
There’s absolutely nothing attractive about keeping back hair. Although, it is understandable that back hair is quite difficult to get rid off since your hands are not long enough to shave your back like you would shave other parts of your body. You can shave your back hair if you have someone that would be willing to lend a helping hand or if you can pay for it. But the best way to remove back hair is by opting for a permanent removal.

Although this would cost you a lot of money, it would give you better results and within a short while, your back hair would be history. Options for permanent back hair removal include:

• Laser Hair Removal. This method involves using pulses of laser light to destroy the hair follicles and hinder the growth of hair. It is mostly used to remove hair from areas like the back, face, arms and legs.

• Intense Pulsed Light (IPL)-: This is another technology that makes use of light energy to get rid of unwanted hair permanently.

Grooming your “Engine Room”
Of course, you have to keep your ‘down below’ clean, smooth and free from hair. However, this kind of grooming is not for the faint hearted.
Well, if you still insist, let's consider how.

• Look for a private room you can make use of for about an hour without intrusion.
• Use a hair trimmer to reduce the hair volume in order to make it easier to shave. Be careful at this stage and try to avoid your scrotum if you are using a razor, a scissors is preferable for trimming hair from the scrotum, because of the thin nature of the skin covering the scrotum.
• You may need to lie on your back for a better reach and easy shaving. It is strongly advised that you avoid using creams or depilatories on your privates. But if you must, ensure that you test a small quantity first before going all out.
• Choose a suitable shaving position - lying on your bed, sitting on your toilet seat or on your garbage can (clean one).
• Use a three or four bladed razor for shaving and use your hands to support the part you are shaving to ensure that the skin is taut.
• You should shave opposite the direction of growth.
• Shave the area above the phallus, the sides, as well as between it and the scrotum. 
• When you are done shaving, wash off the area with a mild soap and pat dry with a towel.
• Apply baby powder to reduce skin irritation down there.

Grooming your armpits, legs and arms
Shaving your legs and arms
Well, you can pass on this as a hairy leg on a man doesn’t look so weird. But, to achieve that all round, clean look, you should consider ridding those legs of excess hair. Shaving your legs is quite simple and easy, just apply your body shaving cream over your legs after washing it with a gentle soap and water. 

Then with a shaving razor, start removing the hair slowly until the legs are completely smooth and free of hair. Remember to remove clogs from the razor as you shave, for better results.

For your arms, you can follow the same procedure as well.

Shaving your armpits
It’s important to shave your armpits for a cleaner and fresher body scent. Shaving your armpits is probably the simplest. There are a lot of products specially made for the armpits. Simply apply them over your armpit hair and shave using a new three or five bladed razor. After shaving, rinse off and pat dry and you’re good to go!