Not (Just) the Face: Male Grooming Habits

More than 80% of men are shaving areas other than their face, research suggests.

Micheal Boroughs, a doctoral student in clinical psychology at The University of South Florida, and colleagues asked 364 men (18-44 years old) about their grooming habits. They were interested in exploring not only how many men are shaving their body hair, but also, why they report doing so, and what effect this could have on male body image.

How many men are shaving more than their face:

The study found that around 80% of men engage in shaving other areas than their face.

What are these men shaving?

The study found that, of these men, 73% shaved their groin/private region area. The abdomen, the chest and the neck each were around 40%.

Why are these men shaving?

The authors hypothesized that this level of body shaving would be associated with social comparison concerns (the degree to which men compare themselves to other men). The results confirmed this hypothesis. The more people reported shaving their body hair, the more they were likely to report comparing their physical appearance to others (r = .28).

They also asked men why they shave their body hair. 62% said it was for cleanliness, and 57% reported that it was for sexual appeal.

What effect is this having?

The more men shaved their body hair, the more they experienced body dysmorphia (excessive, unrealistics, worry and belief about one's physical appearance). Also, the more men compared themselves to others on appearance, the higher they scored on body dysmorphia.

Follow up research with women

They also asked women and men similar questions in a follow up study, and found that 98% of women shave their body hair. Again, they found that around 80% of men do.

Interstingly, 63% of women report shaving their pubic area, whereas 71% of men do.

My Summary

It appears then, that the majority of men are engaging in "man-scaping" in areas beyond their face. And, interestingly, when it comes to the most private part of the body, men are actually more likely to shave than women.

References:

Boroughs, M., Ata, R., Burke, N., & Thompson, J.K. (2010). Body depilation in men: correlates and associated features. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the International Conference on Eating Disorders, Salzburg, Austria.

Boroughs, M., & Thompson, J.K. (2010). Thinness, leanness, muscularity and hairlessness in a university sample: Evidence for an emerging hairless norm among women and men. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the International Conference on Eating Disorders, Salzburg, Austria.

note: Most of the time I am using "shave" for males, the word "trim" is perhaps more accurate, since males do not tend to remove all of their hair.