How to Shave Body Hair

In order to explain how to shave your body hair, we have to decide on the body parts to cover. First of all, I will start with the head and then move on down to the toes.

1. How to Shave Your Head Bald by Yourself

If you are like me, you have thinning hair that is not growing equally on each side of your head. I have a receding hairline that is more pronounced on one side. Once this started to happen, I decide that the cue ball look would be the most practical style to follow.

Shaving your head by yourself is totally possible. I do it every second day. You may think that shaving in the shower is something that I probably do, but I actually shave it outside of the shower. I shave my head smooth while standing in front of my trusty bathroom mirror.

I am going to assume that you have already shaved down your head as close to your scalp as possible. Now, all that you need to do is to shave off the remaining stubble.
First of all, you have to prep your head for the task. I will keep this simple. You need to wet your head using a facecloth that has been soaked in warm water. After your shower, fill your bathroom sink with warm water and submerge your facecloth in the sink for about 30 seconds. Then hold the warm facecloth unto different sections of your scalp for about 10 seconds in each area until you have warmed up your complete scalp. The follicles will now be ready for the shaving session.
Add shaving cream to your scalp. Just make sure that you have covered the whole scalp with a thin layer of cream. There is no need to add mountains of cream onto your head.
Now using a multi-blade razor, shave the top portion of your head from the front to around the middle of your head. I recommend the Gillette Fusion5 Proglide (link to Amazon). There is no need to get a hand mirror involved while shaving your head until the very end. Doing so will just end up confusing you which will result in probably cutting yourself.
Now shave the back of your head with upward strokes up to the top of your head. After each stroke, feel your scalp in that newly shaved area to see if any bristle remains. If there is still some stubble that you can feel, shave that area again.
Now shave the sides, creating strokes starting at your ear line, up to the top of your head. Again, check to see if your scalp is smooth by using your other hand.
The top of the head should be done last. This is the trickiest area since there will be some contours that were not on other portions of your head.
Going slowly so that you will not cut into the skin on the very top of your head.
Now carefully remove the remaining shaving cream and check to see if the task is complete by using a hand mirror and your bathroom mirror.
Ensure that you have removed all traces of shaving cream. Having spots of dried shaving cream on the back of your head or behind your ears will create some embarrassing moments for yourself during the day.

2. Trimming Your Ear and Nose Hair

Trimming the inside your ears and nose is something that you probably will not have to do until you are in your forties. At that time, the accumulation of testosterone in your body will cause hair to sprout in areas that were void of hair previously. The follicles were already there since birth.

We all have seen tiny babies that had fuzzy faces and ears. This is an indication that follicles are there already on most parts of your body. It just takes hormones to send out signals to the follicles to push out hairs.

When I started to grow hair in my ears, I tried to ignore it until the hair growth was becoming apparent to others around me. At the same time, I had noticed that the hairs that were short for years in my nose were also curling out of my nose. I took action and I bought a trimmer that covers ears and nose hair.

Just to ensure that the hair situation is under control, I trim my ears and my nose every second day. The ears are delicate so do not thrust the trimmer into your ear. Just angle it to the side and trim off the hairs that are noticeable to you in your bathroom mirror. I have heard horror stories of people waxing inside their ears. I would advise against doing so.

For the nose, you can insert lightly the trimmer into each nostril and trace around the inside of each nostril. This task will only take about 30 seconds to accomplish. I find that if my nose hairs are not trimmed, I am also feeling as if everyone is staring at my nose and wondering why I had not trimmed down my out of control nostril hair.

You can invest in a pair of nose scissors. Since I tend to be in a rush in the morning, I feel that scissoring the inside of my nose would be a dangerous undertaking. Nevertheless, if you are careful, scissors can do a great job on your hairy nostrils.

3. Shaving your Face and the Front of Your Neck

The first step is to make sure that your face is clean. Taking a shower before shaving is the best bet because showering will also loosen your beard follicles.
Use a mild soap on your face since facial skin can be very sensitive. Nevertheless, if you only have one soap for your body, just ensure that you rinse off your face completely before you attempt to shave it.
Now apply some shaving cream. I suggest that you purchase shaving cream that is for mild skin even if you do not have mild skin. I think that is silly for brands to have different shaving creams to pick from. Why not just have one instead causing analysis paralysis for men because of the need to analyze 5-10 different types of shaving cream.
Add the shaving cream to your hands first. If you try to spray it directly onto your face, you are just going to create a mess.
Rub the cream onto your face in the areas where whiskers are growing. Some men will have to apply cream almost up to the bottom of their eyes.
Now to start shaving. Ensure that you are using sharp fresh razor blades. If you use old blades (ones that have been used for almost a week already), you may cause nicks and cuts to appear on your face which will allow bacteria to enter into your skin.
Start off by shaving the sides of your face in a top to bottom motion. I usually just make 10 strokes and then I rinse off my razor.
Use the same downward motion on the neck region underneath your jaw.
As a final touch, re-shave the whole area but with strokes that start from the bottom to the top.
By shaving in two directions, you are going to remove more of the whiskers.
Now rinse off your face and dry it off with a clean hand towel.

3. How to Shave your Back and Shoulders

To shave your back, you need to be very careful. Lots of backs can be inflicted with blackheads, skin tags, and other skin irregularities. You have to ensure that you do not cut into the skin because of these obstacles. Also, the shoulder blades make back shaving even harder to accomplish.

I suggest that you pick up a back shaver if you are shaving your back on your own. I have reviewed the top back shavers, click here to read my reviews. If you have a friend that is going to shave your back for you, you are a blessed person. Someone that is able to see the contours and problem areas can readily do an amazing job on a back that is full of hair. You will end with a baby smooth back.

Here are the steps to shave your back on your own:

Add shaving cream to your back while in the shower. I like being in the shower for shaving my back because the humidity is high causing the back hair follicles to become more relaxed. There will be less chance that streams of blood will appear due to your blades.
Use the back shaver at different angles on your back. Back hair is strange because it can grow in many different directions. Also, the growth tends to be very patchy and non-uniform.
I would start with the area just below the shoulder blades. Hair does not seem to remain right on the shoulder blades. I think that it is because clothing fabric rubs this area while you are wearing shirts and tee-shirts.
This a great time to shave your shoulders and the front portion of the top of your arms. You can the back shaver for these areas also.
Now, shave the area that is in the middle of the lower back. Some men have a lot of hair here, while other men will not.
Ensure that you shower off all of the shaving cream.
Inspect your back through the use of a small handheld mirror and your bathroom mirror.
Since back hair can actually be quite thin, there is a strong chance that you will now have a smooth back.

Since this article is all about shaving your body completely for men, we will now cover the chest area. This area can become very sensitive due to shaving, so I will add in some extra tips that will explain how to treat the skin after you have shaved off your chest.

4. How to Shave Your Chest with a Razor

You can shave your chest just by using a beard trimmer, but I will assume that which to end up with a completely smooth chest. A trimmer will not be able to cut off the hairs completely. You can either wax your chest or shave it down with razor blades. I will cover just razors blades because waxing the chest area is a scary concept for me personally.

Jump into the shower and add soap to your chest. You need to wash off any dead skin cells. Also, the warm water will prepare your follicles for the pending shave down.
Now add shaving to your chest. There is no need to add tons of cream, just ensure that each inch has a layer of cream.
Pick a razor that has multiple blades so that the job will go faster. If you have just one or two blades in a razor, you will need to make numerous passes on each section of your chest.
Since the skin on the chest can move around easily, you will need to use both hands to shave your chest. One hand will hold the skin section in place, the other will be using the razor.
Holding the skin taut, make a pass going an angle that feels comfortable for you. Chest hair is not like facial hair, it will be growing in multiple directions. There is a chance that you may have a redo certain sections because of the quick changes in the direction that chest hair grows.
Make sure that rinse off your razor often since a clogged razor will not shave well.
Be very careful that you do not shave your nibbles. In order to protect your nibbles, hold two fingers over the nibble and shave around it carefully. Hair tends not to grow in the center part of the nibble anyhow.
Since you are still in the shower, reapplying shaving cream will be necessary during the shaving process.
Now that you have shaved your chest, you will need to protect the skin and the follicles.
The first step is to decrease the shower water temperature so that the water will begin to close your follicles. If your follicles remain open for a long period of time, there is a greater chance that bacteria will get trapped within the follicles causing pimpling.
Dry off your body and especially your chest. Use a clean towel since a dirty towel will contain bacteria. Do not rub hard the surface of your chest or you will cause an irritation to develop.
It is important to add moisturizer to a newly shaved chest. Shaving removes the oils that are contained with the follicles and you need to restore the moisture level. If you do not do so, your chest will dry out and start flaking. A dry chest can easily develop ingrown hairs.
You will probably need to shave your chest once a week since that is the average length of time that it takes for stubble to appear on the chest.

5. How to Shave your Stomach without Getting Bumps

I have noticed that the hair that grows from the bottom of the chest to the belly button is very similar to chest hair. So it can be trimmed off with a beard trimmer initially and then shaved with a razor.

To shave the hair from the bottom of the chest to the belly button, first of all, shave it down using a beard trimmer. Put the trimmer on its lowest setting and trim down all of the hairs.
Now, while in the shaver, apply some shaving cream in small circular motions.
Shave the area using a razor that has multiple blades. You may have to shave in different directions because hair in this area will be growing in numerous patterns.
Rinse off the shaving cream and dry off the area while outside of the shower.
Now add some moisturizer to the newly shaved area since the skin will be dried out.

6. How to Shave Your Happy Trail

A happy trail is the line of hair that grows from the belly button down to the crotch area. Some people never trim this area, while others do. I will assume that you wish to have this area completely shaved and smooth.

I have suggested above to use a razor to shave off body hair. This area is different. I find that this area is very sensitive and that it is prone to developing ingrown hairs.

It is the section of the body that is can be irritated easily if someone is wearing jeans or a belt. Sometimes men wear underwear that has a tight elastic, which can be bothersome to the skin in the happy trail if you were to shave it down with a razor.

I suggest that y0u just trim down your happy trail. A portion of it will be hidden most of the time anyhow. A good beard trimmer can do the job or a shaver that is designed to perform manscaping.

Here are the steps to follow for calming down your happy trail:

Use the lowest setting possible on your shaver.
Trim off the happy trail using various directions with your shaver so that you will cover all of the hairs.
You may have to jump into the shower after trimming your happy trail since there could be tiny hairs stuck to your skin. I hate it when small hairs are trapped in my clothing, they can cause a lot of irritation.

7. How to Shave Your Legs For Guys

Shaving the legs was severely taboo in the recent past. It was reserved just for women, but now a lot of men are seeing the benefits.

If you are an athlete such as a runner or swimmer, smooth legs will give you an edge. When a runner has smooth legs, there is less wind friction that can slow down a runner. When a swimmer has newly shaved legs, he can glide through the water without having to worry about the extra drag that can be created by leg hair.
Also, if you are a bodybuilder, shaving your legs is a must. The definition in your leg muscles is more apparent when you have smooth legs.
Cyclists also shave their legs. They claim that cuts will actually heal faster on smooth legs. Hair can interfere with the healing process on legs. It is the same principle when someone has a head wound. Hair can get trapped in cut tissue that is scabbing over If this hair is displaced, the healing process is slowed down.

There are two ways to remove the hair from your legs. You can wax them or shave them with a razor. Waxing might be fast and more effective, but the thought of tearing off wax from my skin is not a pleasant thought.

I suggest that you shave your legs with a razor.

To shave your legs, just follow the below steps:

This might sound strange but comb your legs. Some men have long hair on their legs. If you have ever tried to shave a beard that was a tangled mess, you will know that pain is involved if you try to shave uncombed whiskers or hair. The clippers may pull away at the skin causing some pain,
Make sure that the blades in your shaver are clean. I like to add a few drops of baby oil to mine and then turn them on for a few seconds. Then I simply wipe them off to remove any dirt or grime.
I do not feel that it is necessary to use a guard or attachment on your shaver for trimming your legs. Just set the clippers to be on their lowest setting. Click here to read my body trimmer reviews.
Trim down all of your leg hair using the trimmer. You may have to go over areas several times if they have a thicker mass of hair.
The direction to go is in downward strokes. The is the direction that most leg hair grows. If you were to go against the grain, you might end up pulling on the leg hair.
Now, add some shaving cream to your legs. Best to add in circular motions so that it clings to the skin. The skin on shins is very taut so you need to check over your legs to ensure that the shaving cream had adhered to all areas.
Shave your legs using a razor that has multiple blades. Using a razor that has a single blade will increase the amount of time that will take to get a close shave.
It is best to use a razor that has a head that pivots. There are numerous contours in legs due to the structure of the bones and muscle.
After you have shaved your legs, add lots of moisturizer. Your lower legs can dry out super fast especially doing the winter if you are using electric heat. Add the moisturizer each morning and also before bed.

8. How to Shave Your Toes

Many men do have hair growing on their toes. Some men have hair growing on their toes that is thin and light in color. These lucky men do not really need to shave their toes. Personally, I have a lot of hair growing on my big toes that I was planning on shaving off.

Of course, shaving your toe hair is not going to make it grow back thicker and longer. It is the follicles that dictate hair length and thickness.

Here are three methods that can be used to achieve smooth hairless toes:

Tweezing: Using tweezers, just yank out the tiny hairs. This will pull them out of the follicles. You will not have to deal with them again for weeks since you have removed the hair down their roots.
Waxing: Apply hot wax to your toes to remove the hair is going to cause some pain. I personally avoid waxing any body part.
Shaving: This method is fast and pain-free. You might have to shave your toes again in a few weeks, but at least you will be getting a close shave with a razor.

The above steps cover the complete body. If you are planning on shaving your body completely, make sure that you are patient with the process. Another tip is always to use clean blades and clippers. Also, moisturize your skin well. Trimming or shaving removes some of the natural oils contained in the skin.