The Complete Guide to Manscaping: Body Grooming for Men — with Advice from Stirling Cooper

Featuring firsthand grooming advice from adult-film performer Stirling Cooper.

Depending on your cinematic education, you might remember the line from the Trey Parker comedy Orgasmo — a veteran adult actor telling the rookie that “everybody shaves their balls, it makes the old Johnson look bigger.” Crude, sure, but it’s also an entire industry’s grooming philosophy in one sentence: on camera, every detail shows. To make that wisdom useful off camera too, we folded in the real-world routine of adult-film performer Stirling Cooper — so this is the whole map of body grooming, with a working professional’s hard-won notes stitched throughout.

What Is Manscaping?

Manscaping is the trimming, shaving, or removal of body hair on men — chest, back, underarms, arms, legs, and the groin — for the sake of comfort, cleanliness, or looks. That’s the entire definition. It doesn’t mean going bare, it doesn’t mean going anywhere near a wax strip if you don’t want to, and it carries exactly as much meaning as you assign it.

Worth saying plainly, because a lot of grooming content skips it: body hair is normal, keeping it is normal, and removing it is normal. Manscaping is grooming, not correction — the same category as trimming your beard or clipping your nails. You’re tidying, not fixing a flaw. Everything below is a menu, not a mandate.

Why It’s Normal Now (A Very Short History)

There was a stretch — call it the era of the waxed, oiled magazine cover — when body grooming for men read as either athletic necessity or vanity. That’s over. Somewhere in the last decade the whole thing got de-gendered and de-dramatized: trimmers built for below-the-neck use went mainstream, “manscaping” stopped being a punchline, and the register shifted from should you? to how do you prefer it?

For someone like Stirling, grooming is an occupational baseline — the camera notices everything, and so, frankly, does a partner. You don’t need a film career to borrow the logic: looking and feeling put-together undressed, whether for a shoot or for someone across the sheets, is reason enough. The current consensus is refreshingly boring — do what’s comfortable, keep it clean, and don’t overthink the aesthetics. For the wider context on how grooming and skin care fit together, that lives in our skin care and shaving basics. This piece is the body-specific chapter.

The Zone-by-Zone Guide

Every region of the body has its own hair, its own skin, and its own sensible approach. Treating your chest like your groin — or your groin like your legs — is how people end up with razor burn and regret. Here’s the breakdown, zone by zone, with the honest trim-shave-wax call for each.

Chest

The chest is the friendliest place to start because the skin is forgiving and the stakes are low. Your three options: trim it down to a shorter, tidier length; shave it smooth; or leave it and just clean up the edges near the collarbones and stomach.

For most men, trimming wins. Run a body trimmer over it with a guard — start long, drop shorter in stages until you like the length — and you get a neater look while keeping the texture that reads as, well, a chest. If you want it fully smooth, shave after trimming (never try to shave long hair directly), always with the grain, over damp skin with a gel or oil. The catch is the regrowth phase — a shaved chest grows back itchy and needs re-doing every few days, which trimming sidesteps entirely. We go deeper on styling and length choices in our full guide to chest hair.

• Trim: best all-rounder, lowest maintenance.
• Shave: smoothest look, highest upkeep, expect regrowth itch.
• Wax: longest-lasting smooth, but see the groin and back notes on pain and ingrowns first.

Back

The back is the zone nobody can reach and everybody worries about — and the one place we’d steer you away from DIY blades. You can’t see what you’re doing, the angles are impossible, and a razor you can’t watch is a razor waiting to nick you.

Your realistic options are a back-specific trimmer or shaver built with a long, curved handle to reach between the shoulder blades, an at-home hair removal cream used carefully, or — the one we’d actually recommend for most men — letting a professional handle it. Waxing the back lasts for weeks and gets it genuinely smooth, and a technician reaches the spots your arms physically can’t. It’s not glamorous, but it’s the path of least suffering. The full playbook, including the reach-tool options and what to expect from a salon, is in our guide to back hair removal for men.

Armpits

Underarm grooming is less about smooth-versus-hairy and more about function — shorter hair traps less sweat and odor and lets deodorant actually reach skin. You don’t need to shave the pits bare (plenty of men don’t), but taking them down with a trimmer is one of the highest-return moves in this whole guide for how little effort it takes.

Trim them short with a body trimmer and you’re done — cleaner, cooler, and less pungent by August. If you prefer them shaved smooth, the underarm skin is sensitive and folds on itself, so go slow, keep the skin taut, and shave with the grain. Whether to go bare at all is genuinely a personal call, and we lay out both sides in should men shave their armpits. A quick note on the finish: freshly groomed pits are the ideal canvas for whatever you apply after, and we get into that in the aftercare section.

Arms and Legs

Arms and legs are the low-drama zones — big surfaces, tough skin, no delicate terrain. The default answer here is leave them alone or trim them, not shave. Full-shaved arms and legs are common among cyclists, swimmers, bodybuilders, and men who simply like the look, and there’s nothing wrong with any of that. But for the average guy, arm hair rarely needs touching, and legs usually only want a light trim to knock down the density.

If you do want them smooth, a body trimmer without a guard tidies things fast and painlessly. Going all the way to shaved legs means committing to upkeep and a regrowth phase — worth it for athletes, optional for everyone else. We walk through who actually benefits and how to do it cleanly in should men shave their legs.

The Groin (Safety First)

Here’s the zone that generates the most questions and the most cautionary tales, so we’ll slow down. The skin is thin, it’s loose, and it’s unforgiving of impatience — which is exactly why “rush it” is the one instruction to ignore.

Trim first, always. A body trimmer with a guard is the safest, most sustainable approach for the groin, full stop. Take the length down before you consider anything closer, both because it’s safer and because shaving long hair is a clogged, tugging mess. Many men stop at a tidy trim and never touch a blade down there — a completely valid endpoint.

If you want it smoother, the ground rules matter more here than anywhere:

• Go slow and keep the skin pulled taut with your free hand — loose skin is how nicks happen.
• Shave with the grain, not against it. This is the single most important technique in the whole guide. Shaving in the direction the hair grows, rather than against it for a closer cut, dramatically cuts your risk of ingrown hairs and irritation. A slightly-less-close, comfortable result beats a baby-smooth one that turns into a field of red bumps two days later.
• Use a fresh, sharp blade and plenty of lubrication — a gel or oil, never a dry pass. A dull blade drags and tugs, which is what actually causes most of the damage people blame on shaving in general.
• Skip the hair removal creams down here. Depilatories are harsh chemical formulas, and groin skin is the wrong place to find out you react to them.

This isn’t just our house rule — it’s the exact fix Stirling credits for ending his own years of irritation:

Stirling says: “Luckily I found out what nobody had ever told me about shaving when I was a teenager, that you should always shave with the hairs, that is shave in the same direction that they grown in, don’t shave against the hair. This applies to shaving your junk as well, and as soon as I started applying this my problem went away.”

Waxing the groin (the male equivalent of a bikini or Brazilian) is an option, and done professionally it lasts for weeks — but it hurts, and it comes with its own ingrown-hair aftercare. If you’re curious about going that route anywhere on the body, our guide to male waxing covers what to expect, how to prep, and how to manage the aftermath. For at-home groin work, though, a good trimmer and an unhurried hand will serve the vast majority of men better than anything else.

The Toolkit

You don’t need a drawer full of gadgets. You need a couple of the right categories, and knowing which is which saves you from buying a face tool and wondering why it mauls your chest.

Body Trimmers (Your Workhorse)

A dedicated body trimmer — sometimes sold as a “body groomer” — is the one tool that earns its place for nearly everyone. These differ from beard and hair clippers in ways that matter below the neck: rounded, guarded blades designed to glide over curved, sensitive skin without catching, plus guards for setting length and, on most models, full waterproofing for in-shower use. If you buy one thing after reading this, buy this.

• Pros: versatile across every zone, low injury risk, no regrowth itch, minimal skill required.
• Cons: won’t get you truly bare-smooth the way a blade does.

Body-Specific Shavers and Foil Trimmers

A step closer to the skin than a guarded trimmer, these use foil or specialized rounded heads to shave body hair smoother than a trimmer while staying gentler than a naked razor blade. Handy if you want a smooth chest or underarms without switching to a wet-shave setup.

• Pros: smoother than a trimmer, safer than an exposed blade.
• Cons: still not as close as a razor, another device to maintain.

Wet-Shave Razors (for Precision and Smooth Finishes)

For a truly smooth finish — chest, groin, wherever — a quality wet-shave razor after trimming does the job. What matters is a sharp, clean blade and enough lubrication, not the marketing on the handle. It’s the tool Stirling reaches for below the belt, and if your skin flares easily, blade and prep choice matter even more; we get into the gentlest options in our guide to the best razor for sensitive skin.

• Pros: the closest, smoothest result available at home.
• Cons: highest skill and injury risk; requires prep, patience, and upkeep.

A Note on Hair Removal Creams

Depilatory creams dissolve hair chemically and can work on large, flat, low-sensitivity areas — but they’re harsh, they smell, and they’re a poor call for the groin or anywhere reactive. Patch-test first, keep them well away from sensitive zones, and treat them as a niche tool, not a default.

Aftercare: The Part Everyone Skips

Grooming isn’t finished when the hair’s gone — the 60 seconds afterward decide whether you spend the next week comfortable or clawing at ingrown bumps. This is where the results are actually made.

Exfoliate regularly. The most effective long-term defense against ingrown hairs is keeping dead skin from trapping new growth beneath the surface. A loofah or a gentle exfoliating scrub, used a few times a week (not on freshly shaved skin), keeps pores clear and hairs growing outward where they belong. Stirling’s own anti-ingrown ritual comes down to exactly this:

Stirling says: “I started exfoliating with a loofah and the best soap for the skin I could find, Dr Bronner’s Tea Tree Oil Pure Castile Soap.”

Handle the ingrowns you’ve already got. When a hair curls back into the skin and leaves a raised bump, resist the urge to dig. Exfoliate the area gently to coax it out, and only tease a clearly visible embedded hair loose with clean tweezers — never gouge for one you can’t see. Most resolve on their own once you’re exfoliating consistently. Stirling also swears by a dietary angle:

Stirling says: “I cleaned up my diet, getting rid of any sugar and dairy. These two foods always triggered some kind of pimple or skin inflammation so getting rid of them helped to decrease the number of ingrown hairs I was getting.”

Fair enough as personal experience — but be straight with yourself here: the dermatological evidence linking sugar and dairy to ingrown hairs specifically is thin. Ingrowns are a mechanical problem (a hair trapped under skin), not a dietary one. If cutting them makes your skin happier overall, great, no harm done — just don’t expect diet to do the job that exfoliation, a sharp blade, and shaving with the grain actually do.

Head off razor burn. That stinging red rash after a shave comes from a dull blade, too little lubrication, or shaving against the grain — the same trio of mistakes over and over. Finish with a fragrance-free, alcohol-free moisturizer or aftershave balm to calm the skin, and give irritated areas a day off before going again. If it’s a recurring problem, our full guide on how to get rid of razor burn breaks down the fixes zone by zone.

Finish with fragrance — last, and on calm skin. Once everything’s settled, freshly groomed underarms and chest are the ideal base for scent. Apply body spray or fragrance to skin that’s clean and no longer irritated (never straight onto a fresh shave), and it’ll read cleaner and last longer. Our roundup of the best body spray for men covers the finishing touches.

How Often Should You Manscape?

There’s no universal schedule — it tracks your hair, your zones, and how smooth you keep things. As a rough map:

• Trimmed zones (chest, legs, pits): every one to three weeks, whenever the length creeps past where you like it.
• Shaved zones: every two to four days if you’re keeping them smooth, since regrowth stubble is the itchy part.
• Groin: a light trim every week or two suits most men; smooth shaves need more frequent, careful touch-ups.
• Waxed zones: every three to six weeks, since you’re waiting for enough regrowth for the wax to grab.

The honest rule: groom on your timeline, not a calendar’s. Do it when it starts to bug you, and skip it when it doesn’t.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Shaving against the grain for a closer cut. The number-one cause of ingrowns and razor burn. Go with the grain and accept a hair less close.
• Shaving long hair directly. Always trim down first — a razor through long hair clogs, tugs, and tears.
• Using a dull blade. Most “shaving irritation” is really old-blade irritation. Swap them out.
• Going bare with no plan for regrowth. Smooth is a commitment, not a one-time event. If you won’t keep up with it, trim instead.
• Depilatory creams on sensitive zones. Harsh chemistry plus thin skin equals a bad afternoon. Patch-test and keep them off the groin.
• Skipping exfoliation. Removing the hair without clearing dead skin is how ingrowns get their foothold.
• Rushing the groin. The one zone where slowing down is non-negotiable.

Manscaping FAQ

Should men shave their chest?
Only if you want to — there’s no grooming rule that says a bare chest is better than a hairy or trimmed one. Most men get the tidiest, lowest-maintenance result from trimming rather than a full shave, since a shaved chest grows back itchy and needs frequent upkeep. Choose based on the look you like and the maintenance you’ll actually keep up with.

Is it better to trim or shave body hair?
For most zones and most men, trimming — it’s safer, faster, lower-maintenance, and skips the regrowth itch entirely. Shaving wins only when you specifically want fully smooth skin and are willing to redo it every few days. When in doubt, trim.

How do I stop getting ingrown hairs after manscaping?
Exfoliate regularly with a loofah or gentle scrub, always shave with the grain rather than against it, use a sharp blade with plenty of lubrication, and don’t shave closer than your skin tolerates. Those habits — the same ones Stirling landed on the hard way — prevent the large majority of ingrowns before they start.

Does manscaping make hair grow back thicker?
No — that’s a myth. Trimming or shaving doesn’t change the thickness, color, or rate of your hair; regrowth just feels coarser because you’re feeling blunt-cut stubble instead of a tapered tip. It softens again as it grows out.

Is it safe to shave the groin at home?
Yes, with care. Trim the length down first, keep the skin pulled taut, use a fresh blade with plenty of gel or oil, shave with the grain, and never rush. Skip depilatory creams down there. If you’d rather not use a blade at all, a guarded trimmer alone is a completely valid stopping point.

The Takeaway

If you remember one thing, make it the rule that fixed it for Stirling too: trim before you shave, and shave with the grain, not against it. That single habit prevents most of the ingrowns, razor burn, and regret that give body grooming its bad name — and for a lot of men, a good trimmer alone is the whole answer, no blade required. Manscaping is grooming, not a test you can fail; keep it comfortable, keep it clean, and let the rest be preference.

For the bigger picture on skin care and shaving, head back to our skin care and shaving basics, and if the groin or back is your main concern, our deeper guides to male waxing and back hair removal for men pick up exactly where this one leaves off.

David Schwartz

Writer

Born and raised in Austin, David is a dedicated writer and avid fragrance lover. When he's not trying out perfumes, he enjoys traveling and exploring new restaurants.