Chest Hair: The Complete Guide For Men

by Eric Steckling

As a man, there are three things certain in life, death, taxes, and chest hair. For many men, it's a source of pride, but for others, it's the bane of their existence and something they would give anything to get rid of. Whether you love your chest hair or hate it, This guide will help you keep it under control, and we even answer some of the most common questions men have when it comes to chest hair. So with that being said, let's get right into it.

Why Do Men Have Chest Hair?

The reason men grow chest hair comes down to genetics and biology. It is theorized that chest hair was a positive physical attribute thousands of years ago that helped keep your body warm. Chest hair also made it easier to visually spot fleas on the body. It's also believed the reason men have chest hair to this day is due to sexual selection. Men who had chest hair in the past were generally more healthy and had the opportunity to reproduce because they were perceived as more attractive and cleaner. Higher levels of DHT are also a cause for high hair growth in general, including on the chest.

Does More Chest Hair Mean More Testosterone?

Men with higher testosterone levels do grow more hair. This is because an enzyme called 5α-reductase converts testosterone into the sex hormone DHT, which causes hair growth. it doesn't determine the location of hair growth; that comes down to genetics, but it does increase overall hair growth.

Do Girls Like Chest Hair?

Remington products surveyed 440 of their female customers and asked what men's grooming styles they find most attractive. Here are the results

53% of women surveyed who are casually dating said that men should at least give their chest a simple trim, so it doesn't look like a carpet.

47% of women surveyed agreed that they like chest hair on men, and it gives them a masculine appearance.

17% of women surveyed said they prefer a man to be cleanly shaven with no chest hair.

So our takeaway from this survey is that overall, women like chest hair and even find it masculine, but they want you to keep it trimmed and maintained. I'm surprised by the low percentage of women who want men to be cleanly shaven. It seems women don't want a grizzly bear, or a little boy; they want something masculine yet neatly trimmed.

What Percentage Of Guys Have Chest Hair?

A study of over 1100 men ages 17 - 71 found that only 6% had no chest hair at all, while 56% displayed a moderate amount of chest hair. 38% of men displayed a light amount of chest hair.

In African American men, 22% were found to have no chest hair, while 37% displayed a moderate amount of chest hair, and the remaining 41% had a light amount of chest hair.

Should You Shave Chest Hair?

While some guys who don't have a lot of chest hair can get away with shaving their chest, in general, we do not recommend shaving your chest hair. Shaving your chest hair can increase your chances of getting ingrown hairs. Another common side effect of shaving your chest is experiencing an itching sensation when hairs grow back.

So if you hate the look of your chest hair, We recommend trimming. Trimming won’t cause ingrown hairs, skin sensitivity or irritation.

One of the main reasons that shaving your chest isn’t ideal is because it cuts too close to the skin. Leaving the hair just a bit longer is the ideal way to deal with chest hair. We recommend trimming chest hair at about 1.3 to 1.9 mm. T

his length will leave the hair feeling softer than shorter lengths so it won’t feel itchy or feel like its poking into your shirt. Make sure to use a trimmer with adjustments within this range. Most trimmers cut too short (with no guard) or too long (with the shortest guard snapped on).

The Beardscape has a few adjustments within the 1-1.9mm range so you can dial in the right length. It may not sound super short, but with chest hair, once you remove most of the bulk, you will realize you don’t need to trim super short.

Now, if you want to learn the correct way to trim your chest quickly and easily, then scroll down to the section right below this, and we will walk you through it step by step.

How To Trim Chest Hair

Now we will walk you through how to trim your chest hair step by step. Before we get started, we recommend trimming your chest in the shower; this will make for an easy clean-up later. Trust me; your significant other will appreciate this.

You only need a few products to trim your chest hair; here's what you'll need.

What You Will Need

Electric Trimmer
Trimming Guards
Precision Trimming Head (optional)

What length Should Your Chest Hair Be?

This is up to your personal preference of what look you are going for. We generally don’t recommend trimming below 1.3mm but if you really need the shaven look then please use caution! For the rest of us, trimming is the best option

When it comes to choosing the right length, consider how hairy you are and how big the difference is between your hair color and skin color. People who are extremely hairy may want to leave the hair a bit longer as you may need to blend it with other sections. Yes, there are people with long hair on their shoulders, sides and back. If this is you, the best bet is to just trim everything down to the same (reasonable) length which may be just a bit longer than your not-so-hairy counterparts.

The right range may be 1.6-2.5 mm if you fall in this category.
Those of you with hair colors that are much darker than your skin color, is best to cut short as even some stubble may stand out. If that’s you, we recommend trimming in the 1-1.3mm length.

If you’re somewhere in the middle, start on the longer side – around 2.0mm, trim everything down and see how you like the look. You can always go shorter if you want.

The key here is adjustability – if you trimmer doesn’t have adjustments in that range, consider getting one that does.

Step 1. Define your hair management strategy.

If you live with a significant other (and want to keep it that way) or just don’t want your bathroom to look like the alpaca cage at the zoo, starting with a hair management strategy is necessary. This is one of those cases where a bit of planning prevents a giant mess. Here’s some quick ideas.

Put down a towel on the floor and trap all there hairs and shake out outside.
Trim in the shower with the water off – before your hair gets wet – it just works better.
Trim outside – you generally don’t need a mirror for chest hair so head outside
Lean over the sink. This works for smaller amounts of hair.

Step 2. Trim The Upper Chest

The upper chest often has the thickest hair and is the best place to start. Make sure to pay attention of the hair at the very upper part of your chest under your neck – this spot is visible when wearing v neck or golf shirt.

Start with the top and trim down in the direction of growth. Be extra careful when trimming around your nipples (enough said). Remember that it may take a few passes – sometimes from a few different directions to get everything cut evenly.

Step 3. Trim The Abdomen

Next, trim your abdomen area from the bottom of your chest to the top of your belly button. Use the same vertical trimming technique and go over the entire abdomen. Trim downwards in the direction of hair growth. You might have to go over each section multiple times if there are any leftover hairs.

If you are skinny or have visible abs, you might want to go slower on this step and be sure to angle your trimmer correctly when trimming the indented areas of your abs.

Step 4. Trim The Upper Pubic Region.

Now it's time to trim the upper area of your pubic region right below the belly button. If you want to keep trimming lower, we recommend our guide to trimming your balls here.

We recommend trimming in the same way as the previous steps; however, if you have a happy trail, then you might want to determine if that's something you want to keep or not. We don't recommend shaping your happy trail, and you should keep it looking natural while cleaning up the surrounding areas. If you want to learn more about happy trails, we wrote a blog here.

Step 5. Finishing Touches

You should look nice and neat, but before you leave the shower, make sure to go over these easy-to-miss areas.

Check to make sure you don't have any leftover hairs growing around the nipples. You can use your trimmer without a guard and slowly approach and cut the hairs.

Next, look at your lower neck; you might have some clear or smaller hairs that you overlooked before. You can cut those using your trimmer without a guard, or you can use your precision trimming blade to remove them altogether, Make sure to trim in the direction of hair growth.

Another place you should check is shoulder hair. It's not exactly chest hair, but If you plan on having your shirt off any time soon, then this is definitely hair you want to trim off.

Trimming your shoulders, sides or any other areas should be done at the same length as your chest hair.

Don’t try to get too fancy and shave some areas and trim others. Everyone has different levels of body hair, so just roll with what you have. If you’re super harry its more practical to just keep it maintained rather than trying to make it look like its not there.

Step 6. Clean Up

If you put a towel down – fold it up neatly and shake outside. If you did a moderate amount of trimming in the shower, I would recommend using some tissue and cleaning the hair out before it goes down the drain – putting any amount of hair down a drain is not a good idea.

Conclusion

There you go! That's our blog on chest hair for men. We hope you learned something, and if we missed anything, we would love to hear your feedback in the comments below. If you are interested in other areas of manscaping, then be sure to check out our blog posts on happy trails, and trimming your balls here.

Happy grooming!