Men tend to have body hair in places where we wish we didn’t. While many guys are fine with the hair that we do have, occasionally we have hair that we’d prefer to get rid of. The question is what method(s) is the most effective?
And how much does it cost?
And can do it myself or should I pay someone to do it for me?
Does it hurt?
Will it grow back the same way?
OK, so there is more than one question to ask…And possibly more than one body part that you’re considering for body hair removal. Let’s take a look at body hair removal for men in more detail.
Back Hair
The issue of male back hair removal is one that many guys consider as back hair is typically something that most men and women consider to be undesirable. R
esearch suggests that for men who have back hair aged 18-29 years, up to 30% of them shave or trim their hair every day.
Having said that, most men don’t have back hair – it seems that around 25% of men do deal with it to some degree – but those who do may spend significant effort (and money) to get rid of it.
Back hair removal for men can be a necessity for guys who feel that they have to get rid of the hair before they feel comfortable taking off their shirt in public.
Options for male back hair removal have increased over the past few years as newer and often better technologies come on the market, including home-based options.
While it can be expensive to do because of the size of the area involved, the effectiveness in terms of both cost and time involved have certainly improved in recent years. Gone are the days when shaving and waxing were the only options for male back hair removal and guys now have longer term options available to get rid of unwanted hair.
Certainly the amount of unwanted hair will help to determine which treatment might be most suitable for you. While Electrolysis can provide permanent hair removal, each hair has to be treated individually so it could take a long time if you have a lot of hair.
For short to long term hair removal results, here are some options for back hair removal for men:
Waxing provides several weeks of hair free skin. Waxing isn’t painless and depending on where you are getting waxed and how much hair is being removed, it may hurt more than you’d like.
Also, it depends whether you are waxing yourself or are putting your hairlessness in the hands of a paid professional.
Laser Hair Removal For Men
Laser hair removal offers men a longer term solution to hair removal but also costs more and takes more time. Multiple treatments are normally required but back hair is an ideal area of the body to treat with laser. Laser hair machines are able to handle body hair removal to a larger degree than say shaving and electrolysis and do offer longer term results.
Check out the link above to learn why laser is an ideal option for body hair removal for many guys for back hair removal.
IPL Hair Removal For Men
Intense Pulsed Light or IPL is a hair removal option that is similar to laser and often mentioned in the same breath. People often confuse the two and mention them interchangeably. Specifically you’ll often hear IPL referred to as laser hair removal which it is not. Check out the link above to view my complete page on IPL hair removal and why it’s an option for body hair removal for men worth considering.
Also, I’ve put a separate page together that discusses my 16 IPL hair removal appointments and my specific experience.
Chest Hair
The option of chest hair removal for a man isn’t something that just bodybuilders do anymore.
For a man chest hair removal might be desirable for several reasons.
While professional bodybuilders and other athletes (ie. swimmers) often have a real need to remove unwanted chest hair for performance reasons, regular guys are increasingly turning to various methods to get rid of their excess chest hair, too.
Chest hair removal for a man might be a result of a personal desire to achieve the type of hair free bodies we see in advertising all the time or it could simply be a desire to have a chest with less hair than you have now.
Perhaps you’ve seen before and after photos of shirtless men who’ve lost large amounts of weight and are shown in advertisements for the weight loss product that helped them achieve the results.
The before photo usually shows an overweight guy with a hairy chest.
The after photo always shows the guy with a slim waist and trim physique.
With no chest hair! And a tan.
Basically, the weight loss results are more obvious when the model has no hair since it’s easier to see the guy’s muscles and trim physique without the hair. And the tan hides any body flaws and remaining hair.
Plus we tend to live in a society where a hairless male chest is often seen as being “desirable” and the norm.
After all, when was the last time you saw print advertising or the front cover of a men’s health magazine with a male model with a hairy chest? For those of us who have a hairy chest and leave it as is, we’ll just have to wait for the day when the hairy chest is acceptable.
But for guys who desire chest hair removal in one degree or another, here are some options to consider.
Laser Hair Removal For Men
As mentioned above, laser hair removal offers longer term body hair removal for men at a higher cost. It also works well for larger areas such as chest hair removal for men.
Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Hair Removal For Men
IPL is an alternative to laser for body hair removal for men. It’s similar to laser but has several key differences as outlined in the linked post above.
Arm and Leg Hair Removal
Arm and leg hair removal is something that some women and men indulge in to remove unwanted body hair.
For women, leg hair removal is often akin to men’s facial hair removal in that it tends to be something that is done on a regular basis.
Mind you, men are more likely to get away with leaving their facial hair intact than women are with leaving their legs unshaved! Ah, the curse of societal “norms.”
Speaking of norms, good luck finding print or tv advertising showing a hairy male (or female) in a positive light as mentioned earlier!
For men, there might be athletic reasons to remove excess body hair on the arms and legs. As stated above, bodybuilders and swimmers often do so to improve their appearance and/or performance.
Plus, there are also societal reasons related to why both men and women might want to reduce or remove their arm and leg hair. Certainly, you generally see women without a great deal or arm or leg hair but you’ll have a hard time finding a male model with a great deal of body hair, either.
If you are looking at arm and leg hair removal for yourself, here are some options.
Waxing Hair Removal
Waxing may be a good option for arm and leg hair removal as you can do it yourself at home if you like. You can also pay a professional to do it but arms and leg hair removal is something you also have the choice of handling yourself to save money.
Laser Hair Removal
As mentioned earlier, laser hair removal offers a good choice for body hair removal for males since laser machines are capable of clearing larger areas like arms and legs than other hair removal options.
Intense Pulsed Light Hair Removal
IPL is a popular choice for arm and leg hair removal for men to consider. As with other body parts like the back, Intense Pulsed Light offers longer term hair removal than waxing or shaving. IPL tends to use a larger wand (the handheld device delivering the pulse of light) than laser and may clear hair quicker than laser hair removal machines.
Pubic Hair Removal
Typically, shaving – either with a manual razor or electric shaver – and waxing are popular hair removal methods often used for pubic hair removal. Some people might consider other options such as laser or light-based hair removal that may produce longer term results.
Obviously, when considering pubic hair removal you want to ensure you are very careful with any procedure that you do yourself and you might feel that going to a professional clinic that is experienced with this type of hair removal is a better and safer choice.
Here are some common choices for pubic hair removal.
Shaving
Here is the main shaving resources page on my other website Bald Guy Beard which discusses pros and cons of shaving, shaving issues and shaving accessories.
Waxing
Here is the main waxing resources page that discusses various waxing issues including the process itself as well as pros and cons to consider.
Laser Hair Removal
The main laser hair removal page discusses various forms of laser removal, the process itself, pros and cons, and a comparison of each of the four major laser hair removal machines against each other.
Nose and Ear Hair Removal
A nose and ear hair trimmer is a cost effective if temporary way to get rid of unwanted nose and ear hair but it’s not the only option.
Typically guys settle for temporary methods of hair removal for both nose hair and ear hair and often choose to remove hair manually perhaps with tweezers which can be time consuming and painful.
A method that might be a bit more palatable is to buy a nose and ear hair trimmer. There are many products to choose from and can often be used for other hair removal techniques such as removing hair on the back of your neck, getting rid of your unibrow and for trimming your sideburns.
While a nose and ear hair trimmer is a short term fix and may only remove the hair for a few days or perhaps weeks, it shouldn’t be a painful experience if done properly and is usually relatively quick to complete.
Plus, a decent nose hair and ear hair trimmer like this one starts at about $20 so it’s pretty cheap too.
Given the precarious location of nose hair and ear hair, the options for hair removal are somewhat more limited than other body parts that might be treatable with other longer-lasting options.
You might find a laser hair removal practitioner that is willing to offer ear hair removal but when it comes to nose hair removal, you’re probably stuck with shorter-term options like the ones mentioned above.
Having said that, nose hair and ear hair are generally confined to relatively small areas so using an electric trimmer to deal with the unwanted hair in question can usually do the trick when done carefully.
Unibrow Hair Removal
Unibrow refers to when your eyebrows actually appear to be one solid line of hair rather than two distinct eyebrows. This link goes to my other website Bald Guy Beard where I discuss unibrow in detail including the reason why it happens.
For most people, there is a distinct space of hair free skin between the eyebrows.
For many people that have unibrow, hair that grows in this space gives the appearance of one big long eyebrow and is something they want to deal with.
In some cultures, unibrow (or monobrow) is often seen as being visually undesirable and both men and women can experience it.
Eyebrows are funny in that we tend not to spend much time thinking about them but they often become very noticeable when people start doing things to them like shaping or trying to minimize them.
In that regard, shaving your eyebrows is generally not considered to be an effective or desirable method to deal with a unibrow. Your eyebrow hairs take several months to completely grow back too.
You could accidentally (and very quickly) shave too much hair which will really make your eyebrows noticeable, and for the wrong reason!
Here are some options that people often consider to remove unwanted eyebrow hair.
Tweezing
Using tweezers to pluck individual eyebrow hairs is a popular method of dealing with unibrow.
Since it involves removing hairs by the root, it can hurt but can also help you achieve several weeks of hair removal if not longer.
You might also consider using a professional (ie. in a beauty salon or clinic) to do it for you so that desirable results are achieved.
Waxing
As with the tweezing option, waxing can also give you several weeks or longer of hair free skin but given the relatively small space between the eyebrows, this might be a process best conducted by a professional lest you wax off more hair than you wanted.
Laser or Light-based treatment
Laser and light-based treatment (IPL) can be a good option for unibrow removal since it may result in relatively long term hair removal of the unwanted hair.
Given the size of the area that can be cleared with laser or light-based systems, unwanted eyebrow hair can usually be treated relatively quickly. Both processes need to be conducted by a professional so cost could be a factor in your decision.
With Electrolysis, you might end up with permanent hair removal and since the space between your eyebrows is relatively small, Electrolysis is often a good choice to eliminate unibrow.
Electrolysis can get expensive especially if multiple treatments are involved but it may offer you long term or even permanent results.
As with laser and light-based options, Electrolysis needs to be done by a professional.
Recent Posts
Laser hair removal may not be as effective for individuals with red hair, as well as those with blonde, gray, or white hair, because the laser targets the pigment (melanin) in the hair follicle....
Laser remains a very popular form of hair removal and for several reasons. While not a permanent hair removal option like electrolysis, the benefit of laser is that it enables you to treat more...