Trimming your abs, chest and other parts of your body is easy. What’s sometimes not easy is not having prickly hair or chafing afterward. Here is my quick fix to this common problem.
Is my choice either a nice clean-looking chest and body and perennial itching or chafing, or am I forced to go caveman?
Body hair itching is a common complaint from men who trim their hair. For those of us who have been bestowed the ‘gift’ of naturally less hair, this is less of an issue. For others, it’s pure torture.
So, what can you do? Here’s my fix, summarized:
How to Trim Body Hair Without Itching
Exfoliate your skin at least once a week. This will keep your pores clean instead of unclogged and more prone to ingrown hairs. Before your next trim, make sure you take a warm shower to soften your skin and hair.
This will reduce the number of irritated hair follicles when you shave or trim. You need to make sure that you’re using the best possible tools available when you shave or trim.
After trimming your body hair, it is imperative that you use some kind of moisturizer, preferably something aloe vera or coconut-oil based. Both of these will drastically reduce irritation. If none of this helps, consider waxing instead of trimming or shaving.
I’ll go through these a little bit more in-depth to explain everything a little bit better below.
Why You Should Exfoliate Weekly
A lot of guys shy away from doing this because they either consider it unnecessary or a bit effeminate. And for a lot of guys, that’s probably true.
However, if you regularly shave or trim your body hair, this is something that you shouldn’t skip.
The reasoning behind this is really simple:
Exfoliating your skin helps to unclog and clean your pores better than hand-washing. The fewer clogged, dirty pores on your skin, the less likely you are to have ingrown hairs. And fewer ingrown hairs means less skin irritation.
Regularly exfoliated skin is also easier to clean and keep clean.
I really don’t think the particular brand of exfoliating soap here matters, what’s more important is the fact that you exfoliate the areas that you trim or shave. But, if you want my recommendation anyway, then you can try this one.
How to Soften Your Chest Hair After Trimming
After you trim or shave your body hair, here comes the most important step of the entire process:
Softening up your skin and any coarse hair that you may have.
Here’s the thing:
- Never use facial aftershave for your abs, chest, or elsewhere
- Never use any type of aftershave that contains alcohol
The alcohol will dry out your skin and leave your chest or elsewhere feeling MORE irritated, not less.
Instead, I recommend one of the following two moisturizers:
Either one will do, and any brand will be fine for this. Either of these work wonders to prevent skin irritation and chafing, as they both:
- Keep your skin moist (and moist skin = less irritation)
- Reduce shaving or trimming irritation
Apply either one of these after you have shaved or trimmed. Work it into your skin and let it air out a bit. I’m confident that you will have a lot less skin irritation afterward.
Now, I will fully admit that while this helps almost everyone reduce irritation and itching, it won’t help everyone.
In special cases like these, I want to make a suggestion:
Waxing.
Here’s why.
Waxing May Work Better
I get that a lot of guys shudder at the thought of body wax, but for some of you, if you want to get rid of or just reduce your skin irritation after shaving or trimming, this may be one of your last options.
For most men, a combination of shaving or trimming, plus exfoliating and using an aloe vera or coconut-oil-based moisturizer afterward will work wonders.
There are downsides to this method, however, as:
- When trimming, you will need to continually trim your body hair, at least on a weekly basis and as often as every few days, depending on how short you keep your body hair.
- When shaving, stubble can occur, particularly with men who have a lot of body hair. Although moisturizers and exfoliation can help with this, they can still cause discomfort and itching.
This is where waxing comes in.
The reasoning behind this is simple:
What’s probably causing your itchy skin post-trim is that your hair follicles are too coarse. This hair then rubs up against your skin and clothes and causes itchiness and irritation.
This is going to be particularly true of men who have A LOT of body hair, as waxing will allow them to have smoother skin for a longer period of time.
Waxing can dramatically reduce this, as you’ll be getting rid of your hair entirely. With shaving, there is always the chance of ingrown hair. When you wax your hair, you are pulling it completely out; root and all.
However, you’ll still need to apply a coconut oil or aloe vera-based moisturizer afterward, to keep your skin elastic, smooth, and free of itch and irritation.
I can tell you from first-hand experience, that for areas such as your chest and abs, it’s really not that bad. Legs and back are a different story, however.
I would strongly advise you to at least first trying the methods listed above first before going this route, as it’s simply a lot more work and just more of a pain and hassle needing to wax every few weeks.
There are other methods of removing your body hair, such as:
- electrolysis and laser removal
- sugaring
- hair removal creams
…but the truth is that waxing is just going to be a lot simpler, less expensive, and just as effective for the most part as everything else.
To sum everything up:
- You can easily reduce skin irritation and itching after shaving and trimming by exfoliating once a week and by using an aloe vera or coconut oil-based moisturizer on your skin.
- If the exfoliation and moisturizer method doesn’t work, I would suggest waxing instead of trimming or shaving, and then using one of the two moisturizers.