Pre-date manscaping is a must for many. But timing it right to avoid the seemingly inevitable prickliness that follows can be tricky. To avoid showing up to your date looking like a stray tumbleweed, we turned to Melanie Mari, owner and trained manscaper at Bare Skin Studio, for guidance. Here’s her advice:
“If you’re using electric mens hair clippers, I would manscape [using whatever length guard you fancy] four or five days before the date,” Mari explains. This gives the freshly sharpened hairs enough time to become slightly blunt—that way, you won’t feel so thorny. “If you’re using a razor,” she continues, “manscape the day of the date [to avoid having scratchy pube-stubble].”
If you’re taking the latter approach, start by trimming any patches of unruly hair, including your bush and taint (that strip of flesh between a man’s sack and crack) with clippers. When that’s done, jump in a hot shower—the warm water will soften the coarse pubic hair and cause the skin on your naughty bits to loosen, making for an easier shave (the razor can’t get to the hairs in those nooks and crannies when they’re all shrivelled up).
From there, lather everything with Shave Butter (it’s clear, so you can see what you’re doing), and go to town. Mari also has an extra tip: “If you’re one of those guys with hair growing on his shaft, it might be easier to shave that area with a boner.” Yep, you guessed it, that way the skin will be taut, not shrivelled, which will keep you from accidentally nicking yourself. (For that same reason, it’s also important to stretch your balls while shaving them.)
Dermatologist Anthony Rossi also has some sage prickliness-reducing advice: “Trim or shave with the grain, never against—if you’re not sure which way to go, pull the razor in the same direction that your hair seems to be pointing,” he explains. “That will prevent creating sharp angles. Moisturise afterwards to condition the hairs and clear up any irritation.”
Follow this advice and you’re sure to bring your smoothest self to the table. Your date can thank us later.