How to Shave Your Armpits

Writer and expert2 years ago

The increasing popularity of manscaping has left no hair unshaven, and armpits are no exception.

If you’re intrigued by the thought of hairless pits, our guide to how to shave your armpits can help.

So, if you’re wondering can you shave armpits with an electric shaver or what to do if you have an ingrown hair in your armpit? Read on.

Why Do We Have Armpit Hair?

Seemingly inconspicuous, armpit hair has many functions including:

• Reducing chaffing by preventing skin-on-skin contact • Holding sweat and pheromones to attract a partner • Aiding in regulating body temperature

Armpit hair is often referred to as ‘terminal hair’ due to its thick, coarse texture. Terminal hair typically appears after puberty and covers around 90% of the male body. Facial, pubic and abdominal hair are some other types of terminal hair.

What Length Does Armpit Hair Grow?

Armpit hair typically grows to a maximum length of two to three inches in just a couple of months. Once a hair strand has reached this length it will eventually fall out and the follicle will develop a new hair, repeating the process.

The Benefits of Shaving Your Armpits

While armpit hair has its function, the benefits of removing it may outweigh them.

Here are just some of the benefits of shaving your armpits:

1. Boosts Your Confidence

Whether it’s a hot summer’s day or you enjoy playing sports, you may find that smoother underarms look and feel much better. This can help you to feel more confident in your appearance – especially if you know that unwanted sweat patches are a lot less likely to occur.

2. Reduced Body Odour

We’ve all drawn the short straw once or twice when it comes to body odour. However, research presented by Gillette at the 23rd World Congress of Dermatology in Vancouver in June 2015 showed that shaving under your arms is proven to significantly reduce body odour.

3. Fast Regrowth

And if saying goodbye to body odour doesn’t sell it to you, it only takes a month or two to grow full armpit hair again. So, you don’t have to stay committed to it for long if you change your mind.

Shaving Armpits Proven to Reduce Body Odour

A man confident with his reduced body odor

In a clinical study, trained ‘expert noses’ assessed the underarm odour of 30 men under the following conditions:

• Before they washed or shaved their armpits • 5 minutes after they’d washed under their arms with soap • 5 minutes after they’ve washed their armpits with soap and shaved their armpits using a razor

Overall, it was found that shaving was 2.5 times more effective reducing underarm odour than washing with soap alone.

What’s more, the benefits of shaving could be smelt for days- a 57% reduction in body odour was evident after one day, a 40% reduction was evident on day two and a 30% reduction was still there on day three. This means that three days after shaving, the effects were still greater than those on the first day after washing with soap, which was only reduced by 23% on the first day.

This is because using a razor on your underarm skin helps to remove dried sebum, debris and trapped odorants, which can all be responsible for causing an unpleasant odour after exercise or after a hot day.

Should Men Shave Their Armpits?

Shaving your armpits is ultimately a personal choice. There are no hard-and-fast rules on what you can and can’t do with your body hair.

You may find that you prefer smooth pits and the benefits that come with them. Or, you may be happy just keeping the hair trimmed and tidy.

How to Shave Your Underarms Step-by-Step

Check out our manscaping tips on how to shave your armpits for the perfect finish:

If you do decide to shave, check out our manscaping tips on how to shave your armpits for the perfect finish:

1. Prepare Your Skin

First up, you need to prep your skin to guarantee the smoothest possible finish. Have a hot shower to soften your body hair, as this could help to lower the risk of any nicks or cuts, and minimise the chance of developing shaving rash on your armpits

For an extra-smooth finish while you’re in the shower, exfoliate your skin to remove any dead skin cells. This may help to prevent painful ingrown armpit hairs.

2. Begin with a Trim

Long body hair can get stuck in blades, affecting their performance, that’s why we recommend trimming your armpit hair first. The armpit is a sensitive area of the skin, so treat it with care!

The Gillette All Purpose Styler and Beard Trimmer is the ideal tool. It is battery-operated and 100% waterproof, providing you with versatile use. As a result, you can easily incorporate manscaping into your morning routine.

Our All Purpose Styler comes with three interchangeable combs (2mm, 4mm and 6mm), so you can choose how long you’d like your armpit hair to be.

You may find that you are happy with simply trimming your armpit hair, but if you want a closer shave, then the next few steps will show you how.

3. Lather Up: Apply Shaving Gel

Using shaving gel, create a lather under your arms. This will help to add more moisture to the hair, allowing the razor blade to easily cut through and ensure a close shave.

As your underarms are super sensitive, opt for shaving gels with ingredients that will be kinder to your skin. The Gillette Fusion5 Men’s Ultra Sensitive Shaving Gel contains our Ultra Comfort Complex to soothe and protect.

Selecting a shaving gel that caters to sensitive skin will help to prevent causing irritation when grooming.

4. Check Your Razor Blades

Before shaving, make sure your blade is sharp as dull or damaged blades are much more likely to result in nicks and cuts.

If you’re in need of a new ProGlide Razor Blade, sign up to our Gillette shaving subscription. and make sure you never run out of spare blades.

Receive regular deliveries of spare blades straight to your door, with the flexibility to cancel or delay whenever you need to.

5. Master Your Technique

Always glide your razor in the same direction of your hair growth - this is known as shaving with the grain, which reduces the risk of razor bumps or ingrown hairs. For more advice on avoiding ingrown armpit hair read our article to discover the best ways to prevent them.

Using the All Purpose Styler, attach the ProGlide Razor Blade it comes with, and position yourself so the skin in your armpit is pulled as taut as possible. Start to remove the rest of the hair using a gentle motion and light strokes for a comfortable finish.

6. Rinse, Dry, Recover

For the smoothest shave possible, rinse your skin after every few strokes to stop hair and excess shaving gel clogging up your blade.

When you’re satisfied you’ve got a clean shave, give your skin a final rinse and either gently pat it dry or let it dry naturally.

Before applying deodorant, use a soothing post-shave product like our Gillette Skin Ultra Sensitive Balm to ensure your delicate underarm area stays hydrated.

Top tip: always leave at least one day in between shaves to reduce the risk of your skin becoming irritated.

Now that your armpits are perfectly groomed you may be interested in manscaping other areas of your body. With our ultimate guide to body grooming shaved or trimmed, your body hair will have never looked better: