Manscaping?

[texascubfan]

My wife mentioned something called "manscaping" today while we were sitting on the couch. I generally keep the hair around my wedding tackle trimmed neatly, but I never gave my chest hair and pit hair much thought (my chest looks like a rug of velcro and my pits look like I'm carrying a small sheepdog under each arm!). Anyway she says we sould "manscape" it with scissors and beard trimmers and such. Do any of you have experience with this? Wouldn't the hair grow back thicker and more coarse than ever? Wouldn't it itch like crazy?! Thanks for any info on this subject!

[wyndhy]

if you're just gonna trim it it shouldn't itch at all. if you're gonna shave it then yeah..it does itch like crazy. try a product called bikini zone. it's a cream found at the druggists and it helps with the itching and tiny bumps you can get after shaving. as to the other question, i have heard (on the dicovery health channel, no less :p) that it is only a myth that shaved hair grows in thicker. i'd have to agreee because i've been shaving certain body parts for the better part of 20 years and i've never noticed a difference. as i get older the hair actually gets thinner and grows in more slowly.

[fredchabotnick]

Ok. I think I can help here. I shave my head with an electric trimmer (which I recommend getting, about $20-30 at Target, Walmart, whatever), and started trimming everything else earlier this year. (and no it won't grow in thicker. Otherwise I'd still have a decent amount of hair on my head :-)
This is what I've learned. First off, assuming that what you get comes with "guards" start out with the largest one (#4 or whatever) until you are sure both of you will like the results.
Trimming is easy. It took me awhile because I'm pretty hairy, but just keep going over the area. Figure out which way the grain is going, and as long as you're just trimming, go against it. If you're shaving, go with it to avoid ingrown hairs. Just park yourself in the bathroom (or someplace with tile) and go crazy. Sweep up afterwords. For me the only problem was me chest which itched like crazy for a week the first time. And that was after using conditioner on it! Nothing else itched at all (well, my balls did a little. But a little conditioner on the hair and it wasn't a problem). And my chest only itched the one time, so after the first time it's been good.
If you're thinking of shaving everything...take your time. That's a hell of a lot of surface area and it's areas that we, as guys, aren't used to shaving.
If you have any specific questions, feel free to drop me a line.
I don't think I could shave everything, without some persuasion, but I'm very happy that I started trimming.

[texascubfan]

I appreciate the insight. I don't think I'll be shaving anything, just trimming up lik eyou said. The main thing is the hair ticlkes her nose when we snuggle, I think. Some of it may be aesthetics, too. I know I like it when she's nice a trimmed, so I suppose it goes both ways. At any rate, Thanks again for the info. Maybe we'll do before and after pics.....maybe ;)