Its a subject which were all used to by now, what with footballers and music icons eager to show off the hairless chests. But how and why do they do it?
The simple answer is that its a fashion statement. Its been twenty odd years since the Magnum PI look was made famous by Tom Selleck. In the eighties, a good chest rug and medallion made you stand out from the crowd. It was fashionable and the ladies loved it. However, fashion is always on the move and what was cool in the eighties isnt necessarily cool now and in particular, hairy male bodies.
Its really been our fascination with keeping fit and going to the gym that has forced our rethink about body hair density. Before its increasing general popularity in the nineties, the gym was primarily a place where body builders would hang out, continually working out to improve their muscle tone and size. Body builders realised that to effectively show off their muscle tone in competitions and events, they would have to remove their body hair. You just could not see the muscle definition if the body was covered in hair.
Nineties man soon picked up on this. He was spending a few hours at the gym every week and wanted to look toned and muscular too. So he decided to remove the hair from his body to enhance his tone. Ladies warmed to this look too.
But what options do we have to achieve this?It all comes down to how much or how little body hair you want on your body. A lot of guys like to have a general trim down using a trimmer. Depending of the settings of the trimmer, this reduces the density of the hair by a fixed amount. For example, a number two will normally leave your hair around 8mm long. The hair will grow back fairly quickly and another trimming session will be required in just two or three weeks. This is often done at home or at a male grooming centre.
Whilst this is a perfect solution for some men, others want the completely bare look. The most common way to achieve this is by waxing. An area of special sticky wax is applied to the area and then a strip is placed over this. The strip is then removed quickly against the growth of the hair causing the hair to be removed from the root. It can be quite painful at first but repeated treatments tend to be less so, as the hair grows back finer. While home kits are available to do this, I would advise entrusting waxing to a professional as it is faster, less painful and normally more effective than when your wife or girlfriend does it.
After waxing, always use an after wax lotion and be prepared for some redness for a few hours. The treatment lasts for around six weeks before finer hairs start to become noticeable again.
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