Never shaved your armpits before and want to know how? Follow these tips on how to shave your armpits for the first time!
If you’re not even sure where to start, this will be your ultimate guide to shaving your armpits properly without any bumps, irritation, or redness.
If that sounds good to you, let’s dive in with some basics!
Why You Should Shave Your Armpits
Shaving your underarms comes with many benefits:
- Less Body Odor
- Less Underarm Sweat
- Easier to Clean
- Less Noticeable Sweat Stains
- Overall Better Looking
It’s important for any man to understand these benefits and use them to your advantage.
You should note that your armpits don’t have to be completely shaved down to the skin in order for these benefits to be useful. Trimming will do just as good of a job!
What You’ll Need
To shave your armpits for the first time, you’ll need the following items:
- Hair Trimmer
- Razor (Optional)
- Deodorant
- Toilet Paper
- 10 Minutes of Time
I highly recommend using only a trimmer for your first time shaving. That’s why the razor is optional.
Deodorant and toilet paper is used for the aftermath of shaving (such as clean up and taking care of the skin).
How to Shave Your Armpits for the First Time
Now that you know the benefits and tools used for shaving your underarms, it’s time to get into actually doing it for the first time…
1) Find a Good Location
The first step to ensuring an easy shave is by finding a location that requires little clean up and is easy to work around.
Here are a few good locations to shave your armpits:
- Over a shaving mat
- In the shower
- Over a bucket
- Leaned over the counter/sink
Before choosing any of these locations, make sure that the area is completely cleared from anything that the hair could possibly fall into (clothes, bottles, etc.).
Use toilet paper to line the sink/counter if you’re shaving over them. Don’t wash away the hair when you’re done shaving either. Everything should be wiped up with toilet paper to avoid clogging the drain or toilet.
Related Post: 15 Shaving Tips for Teenage Guys
2) Use a Trimmer
Whether you’d like to shave with a razor or not, a trimmer is necessary to shorten the length of your hairs in order to get the smoothest shave possible.
Since it’s your first time, I highly recommend you give it a try without a razor.
Not only will it be much faster and easier to shave, but it also looks a little more masculine to leave a thin layer of hair on your armpits.
You can use the trimmer without any guard to ensure the closest shave possible without going directly on the skin.
3) Extend Your Arm as High as Possible
Because armpits naturally have many dips, hills, contours, and bumps, it’s important to try and get your armpit as flat as they can possibly get.
Extending your arms all the way out and up will help you achieve this to get a smoother shave.
4) Shave in Sections
Now’s the time to actually turn your trimmer on!
Treating your armpits as if they have sections is a great way to ensure that you don’t miss any spots and keep track of where you’ve passed over.
Do one pass through the dip (or the pit as they call it) in the middle, then another on the top and bottom sections. Finish it off with a pass along both side bumps that extend along the length of your armpits.
Follow the diagram from steps 1-3 in that order.
5) Short Strokes
Whether you’re using a trimmer and a razor or just a trimmer, you should always shave the armpit with short strokes.
Make sure you’re doing the strokes in an “up & down” motion only. Going side to side usually won’t give you much benefit in relation to the shape of your armpits.
You should also wipe off the excess hair that gets stuck in the trimmer/razor often to allow free passage of the hairs the next time you go in to shave.
Related Post: How to Groom Down There for Men
6) Go with the Grain
If you’re using a razor, warm up those hairs with a hot shower or by splashing warm water on the area.
Shave with the grain. The grain is the direction in which your hair is growing. Different parts of your armpit might have different grains (so check before shaving).
It’s important to shave with the grain to avoid irritation or pulling of the hairs during the process.
If you’re only going to be using a trimmer, the grain won’t have much of an effect on how close or irritating your shave will be. Just move up and down along the area.
At this point, you can pretty much shave to your desired length. Take it slow and watch where you’re actually passing over… your armpit skin is naturally very sensitive.
7) Wash Your Armpits
When you’ve completed your shave on both sides of your underarms and wiped all the hair away with toilet paper, give your pits a gentle wash.
You can either do this in the shower or over the sink with a body wash. Use cold water and gently massage the armpits in circles to remove hair, clean the skin, and calm down the area.
This is especially important when you’re learning how to shave your armpits for the first time! Skipping this step could result in redness, irritation, and potentially bumps.
Wet wipes or baby wipes are also useful for wiping down the area to get rid of any left over hairs.
8) Put on Deodorant
Putting on deodorant is crucial to keeping your armpits cooled off and clean for the rest of the day.
If your deodorant has alcohol in it, it might be a good idea to skip this step and apply a cooling moisturizer instead. The alcohol may only irritate the area more!
It’s common to experience itchiness after shaving your underarms and I’ve found that applying a good deodorant/moisturizer prevents that from happening.
Consider applying it twice a day if needed, just to keep the area moisturized and cooled down.
Related Post: How to Get Clear Skin for Teenage Guys
9) Be Gentle with Your Armpits
Because armpits are extremely sensitive parts of the skin, they are easily susceptible to pain and itchiness for the next 48 hours after shaving.
Here are a few things you should do immediately after shaving your armpits:
- Pat dry with a towel after showering (don’t wipe aggressively)
- Apply deodorant regularly
- Avoid swinging arms close to body (to avoid chafing)
- Wear loose shirts and thin layers
- Let them breathe when you can (go shirtless, air them out, etc.)
After following these steps, you’ll be able to walk around with pain-free, cleanly shaved armpits!
Hopefully these steps showed you how to shave your armpits for the first time! Remember to take it slow and only use a trimmer if you can. It makes life much easier!
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions leave them down below. Thanks for reading!
