UK Edition
Are you part of the 46% of men who remove their body hair? If so, these are the best products to use
Hair removal has long been a form of grooming mostly reserved for women, with most men having favoured the ‘au natural’ look which usually meant that grooming equated to a well-kept beard. However, recent trends suggest that the pressures of hair removal have now reached the realms of manhood.
While male privilege permits men far and wide to showcase their underarm hair, leg hair, facial hair, whatever-hair they so please, without as much as a bat of an eyelid, figures from Mintel show that young British men are increasingly dappling into the world of hair removal.
In fact, research has found that this year 46 per cent of British men removed hair from their bodies, up from just over a third (36 per cent) in 2016. And it appears that no region of a man’s body is deemed too private, as a plucky 57 per cent of young males aged 16-24 say they have shaved, waxed and lasered their way to smooth pubic areas, compared to 40 per cent in 2016.
Is this the Love Island effect in full swing? Men have been bombarded with images of baby-smooth torsos and generally hair-free bodies from the likes of Wes Nelson, Jack Fincham and Adam Collard, to name a few.
Even Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, raised concerns earlier this year, saying “Look at the adverts being shown alongside Love Island. You've got explicit ads being aimed at young women around breast cosmetic surgery. That is all playing into a set of pressures around body image that are showing up.”
He added, “The time has come to think long and hard as to whether we should be exposing young people to those kind of pressures, and social media and advertising have got to look very carefully at the kind of impact they are having.”
Discussions around body hair have, in recent times, become a hotly debated topic. Only last week, Lourdes Leon, Madonna’s 22-year-old daughter, joined the many seeking to dispel regressive beauty standards by turning up at the 2018 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Awards with her underarm hair and leg fuzz fully intact.
But while almost half (45 per cent) of adults agree that it is unfair that women’s bodies are expected to be hair-free, around one in five (19 per cent) adults agree that men should remove hair from their bodies, suggesting a shift in grooming expectations along gender lines.
We’ve rounded up our favourite five hair removal products for men and women.
The Philips Lumea is derived from salon professional IPL technology and makes it possible to remove hair safely, effectively and easily at home. Using an innovative light based technology called Intense Pulsed Light (IPL), the cycle of hair regrowth is broken as gentle pulses of light are applied at the root and, after several treatments, hair is prevented from growing back.
Achieve smooth results free from razor rashes and prickly regrowth, in as little as four minutes with the Veet For Men Hair Removal Cream. With an easy rinse off formula, this is a quick and effective way to remove body hair leaves you hair-free for up to twice as long as shaving.
Braun’s 5-in-1 epilation, exfoliation and skin care system, features 12 extras. As well as, Braun’s best Wet & Dry epilator, the set comes with a deep massage pad to improve skin tone, two exfoliation brushes for gentle and deep body exfoliation, and a shaver head and trimmer cap.
No mess, no fuss. These waxing strips are a fast and effective way to remove hair, for up to 4 weeks of smooth fuzz-free skin. With beeswax for added adherence to coarse body hair and flexible contour weave fabric that conforms to the shape of your body, unwanted hair is removed with ease from those hard to reach areas.
This revolutionary new hybrid styler is a versatile design that can trim, shave, and create clean lines on any length of hair. Choose between three stubble lengths, or use the blade for a smooth shave.