Manscaping — or the act of trimming/shaving hair throughout various parts of your body other than your head and face — is more popular than it’s ever been before. More guys are stepping up to the plate to keep themselves as groomed as they can be, and this is something that we love to see. However, despite this movement, there’s still a bit of hesitation and confusion surrounding a happy trail on guys.
We’ve recently received a load of questions from men asking whether or not they should shave their happy trail, and seeing as how so many of you seem to be wondering if this is something you should do, we thought that now would be the best time to sit down and answer this for you.
So, without further ado, here are 5 tips for dealing with a happy trail on guys.
What is a happy trail?
Before we get too far, just what is a happy trail?
Your happy trail is a patch of hair that forms a line under your belly button. It typically starts right above your pubic area and stretches right to your navel (or belly button).
Over the years, the line of hair has been called a, “happy trail”, “happy line”, “treasure trail”, and more. These slang terms refer to the fact that this hair moves down your body to your genitals, and as such, we have the term, “happy trail.”
It’s a term that’s stuck with this hair for quite some time, and while there’s certainly a sexual connotation there, it’s a widely accepted term for most people that you talk to.
Should I shave my happy trail?
Now that we know just what a happy tail is, should you shave it?
This is something that’s been debated among guys for years, and although there doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer either way, here are what we’ve determined for both sides of the argument.
Pro-Shave
For people that are of the mindset that you should shave your happy trail, they say that they do so for a couple main reasons.
One, their hair in this area becomes too thick and uncomfortable.
Two, they’ve found that having less hair around this area keeps you smelling slightly better throughout the day.
Both of these are worth arguments for the pro-shaving side of the debate, and while shaving your happy trail won’t help to decrease your body odor as much as shaving your balls will, there are men that have found successful results here.
And, in addition to these two reasons, feel free to
Nothing bad is going to happy to you if you decide to shave or trim it, so don’t feel like you’re committing a major crime if you choose to do so.
Anti-Shave
Now that we know why some people choose to shave their happy trail, what about guys that decide against it?
In this case, the overwhelming majority of men say that they don’t shave their happy trail because women find it extremely attractive and sexy.
Take a quick search online, and you’ll find that the majority of both men and women seem to agree with this statement.
Having a well-kept happy trail while hanging out at the beach with friends and getting a nice tan can make you look quite a bit more attractive than guys that don’t have one, and for a lot of men, this is more than reason enough to keep this hair on their body.
Happy Trail Trimming
However, just because a happy trail on guys looks good doesn’t mean that it doesn’t require any sort of grooming. Just like the hair on your face or your head, the hair on your happy trail needs some upkeep here and there should you choose to keep it.
When it comes to keeping up appearances with your happy trail, there are a few different ways you can choose to go about things.
If you find that hair grows here rather quickly and thickly, then you may want to get an electric trimming of sorts and clean things up that way. I recommend that you read my article on my picks of Philips Trimmers that are available on Amazon.
However, if your hair is a bit thinner around your trail and doesn’t grow at the speed of light, you may be fine using a pair of tweezers to just get a few stray hairs that get out of place.
The rate at which you have to trim or groom your happy trail depends mostly on how fast your hair grows on your body, but for most guys, you’ll only have to do work on this area every once in a while — not every single day like you sometimes have to do with your facial hair.
Do I need to use any other products to keep my happy trail looking good?
Some guys are under the impression that they need to use special shampoos, conditioners, and more to keep their happy trail looking as good as it can be.
While we definitely recommend using products like these for other parts of your body, this is not necessary when it comes to a happy trail.
The hair that makes up your trail typically isn’t all that great in volume or size, and as such, you really don’t need to pamper it like you do with other hair throughout your body.
We suppose it wouldn’t hurt to do this, but in reality, it’s not necessary.
Final Thoughts
Having a happy trail is a pretty easy patch of hair to deal with, and since there really isn’t a right or wrong way to go about how to deal with one, we hope that this information helps you with your decision of whether or not to keep your own happy trail. While they certainly look good and can be a really eye-catcher for the ladies, don’t feel that you’re required to have one — especially if you’re not comfortable with the way it looks or feels.
