Have I been shaving wrong my whole life??

[WashingMatilda]

I am having an existential crisis.
I have just seen a Dove advert and she is shaving her armpits DOWNWARDS.
I have always shaved them upwards, as in from the bottom of the armpit towards my shoulder.
Google has been no help at all.
I'm just staring at the ceiling wondering what else I could have been doing wrong MY WHOLE LIFE.
TELL ME I'M GOING TO BE OKAY.

If a man has an abundant bushel of pubes there's nothing wrong with trimming some of the thatch. But don't shave them off.

I've always done armpits downwards....

A late entrant for the "Fatuous Thread of the Year" award?

ShizzleYoDrizzle

my partner does it, I don't like it either I'd rather his be natural/trimmed

I was told by DH - one of those guys who loves to shave with brushes and different blades and different handles and different hot and cold flannels - shave with the direction of growth in sensitive areas.

For the closest shave, once with the growth, once across and once against. As you get closer, you're more likely to get irritation. Therefore, once with the grain is best.

I think most guys either do nothing, or just trim.

Taking it all of is I guess a bit more common these days, but still not the norm I don't think.

@scaryclown I am really interested in your post but I confess I don't understand! Is there a link to an ad I'm missing?

Bloody hell. Oh well they do say learn something new every day

Urgh. I far prefer to get my everything waxed, but if/when I do shave it's a faff. Upwards downwards, across in both directions, diagonally...and I still cant get my underarms totally smooth. It's getting worse with age due to the skin being less taut

I don't like getting up close & personal with men who remove their body hair.

Googles the definition of 'fatuous'

@Geordie1944 You need to head over to the 'sleb twaddle' threads. This one is comparatively learned.

Shaving against the grain leaves you with quite long stubble... negating the point of shaving

I shave all over the place. Legs, armpits, toes, vajay. Only shave my thighs every so often (not hairy) as I get lots of little bumps that I would need to be exfoliating rigorously everyday to get rid of. Anyone have a cure for that?

My eyebrow threading lady works from home and she said a large number of her clients are men. Reckons she does a lot of back and crack waxing. She said they prefer her salon as its discreet.

keepcalm I do that too! Literally never shave my things because of it.

Sudocrem is brilliant for the little bumps.

*thighs, not things!

I shave in all directions. My hair growth pattern is all over the shop.

Now that this has moved down from armpits to lower, I think that it is important to mention that shaving pubes for either sex is unhealthy. Hair helps prevent diseases, genital warts, etc.

Also, the old fashioned birth control method of spermacide and diaphragm is helpful in protecting both pregnancy and disease (NOT perfect!) BUT it's hormone free and 97% effective on pregnancy.

I worry about the shavers nowadays who are following trends but unhealthy trends. FWIW, I asked nurse who was "down there" as I was embarrassed at not shaving and she assured me that I was more common than the clean cuts. Just neat trim, not trim to skin!

Abby agreed, I used to shave the whole lot off and it was a bumpy, raging mess

I still sometimes whip it all off but I always regret it.

I don't know how anyone shaves the front. Isn't it all soft and squishy (maybe just me?) and hard to get taught? What if you cut yourself?
I'm squeezing my legs shut just thinking about it.

I always read that you were supposed to shave WITH the hair not against it. I had tried it but I always preferred to shave against the hair because it made them much smoother and a closer shave so it's what I'd always done.
However the last couple of years my legs have been so so itchy a day or two after shaving (this never used to really happen so I'm unsure what's changed) so I finally got sick of it and decided to shave WITH the hair to see if it made a difference (even though it feels kinda unnatural as I'm not used to it) wow what a difference! No more itching at all! It's definitely not a close shave that way, but it's worth it for no more itching. Sometimes I still shave against the hair for a smoother shave, and the underarms get shaved as smooth as possible because they don't seem to itch too much anyway.

I always shave with the hair, when I she without the hair, it doesn't have any effect..

Er