Manscaping: The Right Way To Groom All Your Body Hair

We’re loath to call this a ‘guide to manscaping’. Because despite the fact that that’s exactly what it is, using the term ‘manscaping’ seems old hat. Too dated. Too patronising to modern men who’ve moved on from the idea that making a small effort to make yourself: a) more physically attractive, and b) less smelly, is in any way emasculating.

According to a 2017 study published in the journal JAMA Dermatology, roughly 67 per cent of men have attempted grooming ‘down there’ in some capacity. So if you still think trimming your pubes is prissy, well, you’re on your way to being on your own, mate.

But just because we’re cool with the idea of body hair removal, it doesn’t mean we always do it right. Which is why – given that a nick on your nutsack is a hair more worrying than one on your chin – we defaulted to the experts.

Behold, your no-holds-barred guide to manscaping, from your brows down to your balls.

The Brows

One of the most defining features on a man’s face, eyebrows prevent sweat, water and other debris sliding down your forehead and into your eye sockets. Not only that, but they’re also crucial in helping you communicate anger, sadness and surprise (unless you’ve overdone the botox).

There are certain things you don’t want your brows to communicate, though. Like the fact that you take your grooming cues from Rylan Clark.

“The idea is to retain a masculine appearance but take some of the weight out of the eyebrows, removing any straggly hairs,” says Chris Beastall, editor of grooming blog Ape To Gentleman. “Groomed right, the result is a tidier, younger-looking appearance.”

Beastall recommends starting your brow-grooming with a trim. Take a beard comb and drag through the eyebrows, combing the hairs upwards. “This will reveal any lengthy, out-of-line hair,” he says. “These can then be trimmed using a pair of blunt-ended scissors. Some men opt for a nose/ear hair trimmer, which is fine, but much less accurate in my experience.”