The 10 Best Body Shavers
This wiki has been updated 35 times since it was first published in June of 2015. It appears we've entered the era of the "mangroomer." And it's only fair, seeing as we've been pressuring women to do it for years. These body shavers make it easy to keep hair on your face, arms, legs, and -- ahem -- everywhere else, the length you prefer. Several come with handy attachments for tackling hard-to-reach areas, too. Now, gentlemen, you have no excuse for not staying tidy all over. When users buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn commissions to help fund the Wiki.
1. Philips Norelco Series 7000
2. Panasonic Electric
3. Braun Precision
Editor's Notes
December 17, 2019:
Thanks to products like the ones in this list, keeping yourself presentable should no longer be a challenge. Many of these shavers come with multiple attachments that make it easy to customize the length of your trim. Whether you're going after your beard, chest, armpits, or any other part of your body, there is likely an attachment in one of these sets that will fit your needs. And thank goodness for that — you won't have to spend endless hours tweezing or meticulously trimming because you don't have the right tool at the moment. The attachments are what make many of these devices as awesome as they are. However, if you're dealing with excessive unwanted hair on your back, you may want to consider one of these handy, ergonomically designed back hair shavers.
The Sminiker Professional 5-in-1 and Norelco Bodygroom 7100 have been replaced with updated versions. The Panasonic Electric and Braun Precision are the other two new additions, included because of their high-quality construction and popularity among men with a wide variety of grooming needs. On the other hand, the Suprent Trimmer Kit and Braun Cruzer 5 have also been removed from the list due to complaints about malfunctions and battery issues.
4. ManGroomer Ultimate Pro
5. Sminiker Multi-Functional
6. Gillette Fusion ProGlide
7. Remington WetTech
8. Wahl Groomsman
9. Remington All Access
10. Philips Norelco Turbo Boost
Why You Need A Body Shaver
Electric body shavers are also gentler on sensitive skin and much better at reducing the number of ingrown hairs on a person than safety razors.
Human body hair is in place to help us stay warm. Thousands of years ago, when people didn’t have insulated homes and heaters, that body hair was essential. Body hair is deeply embedded in our DNA — in fact, specific genes dictate the thickness of one’s beard, and even whether or not someone will have a unibrow — but today, it can be more of a nuisance than a benefit. Research has found that women prefer men who do some body hair grooming. As for comfort, on top of the clothes people already wear, body hair can just cause excess perspiration and odor.
While safety razors can remove hair reasonably well, they aren’t suited for body shaving. First of all, they do not eliminate hair nearly fast enough; shaving one’s entire body can take hours with a safety razor. Only a true body shaver can safely remove hair from contoured areas, without cutting the user. Electric body shavers are also gentler on sensitive skin and much better at reducing the number of ingrown hairs on a person than safety razors.
One may not want the same closeness of shave on every part of their body; some men, for example, like to leave a little bit of chest hair to still look masculine. A body shaver has different closeness settings, so it allows for various hair lengths. Safety razors simply cannot do that. If you shave your body regularly, you can go through a lot of safety razors on a monthly basis to get the job done. A body shaver can be cost effective because it eliminates the need for safety razors.
Additional Features To Look For
If you’re worried about the chemicals in tap water harming your skin, look for a shaver capable of dry or wet shaving. Some models come with several snap-on combs suited for precision jobs, like shaving around the ears, along the neck and more intimate areas — it’s important to use the correct attachment for the latter since pubic injuries send 16,000 people to the emergency room each year, and many of those are shaving-related. For those hard to reach areas like the back, get a model with an extending neck.
If you have particularly coarse hair, make sure your body shaver comes with strong carbon steel blades. These will stay sharp, even after plenty of use. Those with thicker hair can also get a shaver with a power boost mode, to cut through particularly stubborn strands. The more length settings your shaver has, the more style options you will have. This is especially useful for people who live in four-season weather, and want the option to adjust their body hair length with the changing weather. As an added safety measure, some models have rounded blades to prevent nicks as you move the razor around contours.
Since you might be reaching around your body to shave, a cordless model can prevent you from getting tangled up. Just make sure your cordless variety has a long battery life, so you don’t need to stop mid-shave and wait for it to charge. Frequent travelers should look for a shaver that can fold in half or is compact so it doesn’t take up much room in their toiletry bag.
The History Of Hair Removal
The human race has a long history of wanting to be rid of their hair. Some historians believe that as early as 4000 BCE, women would use arsenic to get rid of their hair. The Ancient Egyptians used slightly safer methods of hair removal, using bronze or flint-based razors. The Egyptians liked to be as hairless as possible, not only for aesthetic purposes but also for health ones. They discovered that hair attracts body lice, which can spread deadly diseases.
Before this time, women had predominantly kept their arms covered.
In Ancient Egypt, a man’s facial hair also served as a status symbol, with some of the elite keeping a barber as part of their household staff. In Ancient Greece, it is believed that Alexander the Great popularized the practice of shaving one’s beard. Since, in battle, a beard gave the enemy something to grab onto, Alexander the Great began shaving his off, and many of his soldiers followed suit. Shaving has, in fact, played a large role in warrior culture.
American and European women have only been shaving their legs for the last couple of hundred years, but an even newer trend in hair removal is that of shaving one’s armpits. Fashion dictated this trend. In 1915, the fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar published an ad in which a young lady wore a sleeveless dress. Before this time, women had predominantly kept their arms covered. Since Harper’s Bazaar was a taste-making publication, they made many more women feel that going sleeveless was acceptable. But this also made women conscious of their underarm hair, and so they began to remove it.
Taber is a writer from Santa Monica, CA, with a bachelor of arts in political science from the University of California, San Diego. After completing her degree, she began writing and editing copy for a host of high-traffic e-commerce websites. Her areas of expertise include the beauty, style, pet, and home products categories, and she has plenty of experience covering literature and art, too. Her personal interests in crafting and decorating inform her writing and -- she hopes -- add a good bit of insight to her work. Outside of copywriting, she is a reporter and columnist at a Los Angeles community newspaper and is currently pursuing a master of fine arts in creative writing.