Shave (almost) Everywhere!

Alternate titles:
“Another post containing more than Neil’s parents ever wanted to know about their child”
“Yes people, Neil’s junk is being talked about again.”

I’m sure you all remember that Waxing post from the not-so-distant past. You may also remember that at the end I mentioned I wouldn’t mind subjecting Neil to the “Full Monty” for comparison.

Well I still haven’t found a place to do the man-wax, but I did receive an email offering an alternative solution, and I was sent the Phillips Bodygroom for Neil to try out.

I really did mean to review it before Christmas, but my subject was… let’s say a tad reluctant.

But I harrassed, and he relented, and I can vouch that it is a pretty keen little gadget!

First off, check out their awesome site: www.shaveeverywhere.com. It’s a fun bit of flash that went around the viral marketing circuit a few months ago – if you’ve seen it, it’s worth a revisit, and if you haven’t, well you really should watch the intro video, which is safe for work (barely). And to keep this site mostly the same (and perhaps keep the kinky googlers’ search results relevant), I’ll refer to the more delicate bits of the man’s anatomy by the pieces of produce referred to in the video.

So, what’s in the package? (And by package, I mean the box the shaver comes in… we’ll get to the other package in a moment.) The bodygroom of course, an instruction book (boring, as they usually are, but efficient and clear in its directions), a plug-in charging unit, three attachments for different lengths, and a handy rubber wrist cord for use in the shower (on top of everything else, it’s a wet/dry unit), so you don’t drop it on your toes.

Before I really explored the shaver, I honestly thought it would be pretty similar to most other electric razor or beard trimming appliances.

I’m glad to say I was wrong, and it’s really like both devices in one, and definitely designed for body hair, which is much finer (and generally longer) than either scalp or facial hair (which the instructions emphatically note one should NOT use the bodygroom on).

The head of the shaver has a shaving foil in the centre, perfect for taking any unwanted hair right down to the skin. Of course, as with any shave, this will leave stubble and stubborn regrowth, so I wouldn’t actually recommend it for areas with thick and very noticeable hair, like say, on the average caucasian man’s legs. (I say caucasian, because those are the legs I’m most familiar with, and I know both density and coarseness of body hair can be affected by ethnicity.)

What the shaving foil IS good for, is easily and painlessly getting rid of strange, sporadic patches of hair. Neil has about 12-16 hairs on each tricep – about the texture of chest hairs, and with a good two inches of separation from where his noticeable arm hair starts. The foil was awesome for that.

Then on both the top and bottom of the foil, the body groom also has trimmer attachments (much like those you’d find on a beard trimmer). You can use the trimmers with either of the two reversable guards, or with no guard at all, depending on the hair length you’re attempting to achieve.

The key differences here between the Bodygroom and any other trimmer I’ve seen are that a) the gaps between the teeth are a lot narrower, resulting in better precision when trimming finer hairs (like those on the underarms) and b) TWO trimming heads (with reversable guides), so you can still hold the shaver comfortably while shaving up, or down – which is really important when navigating the delicate carrot, kiwis and peach.

So after all that, how’d it actually work?

Turns out, pretty darned well. The body shaving and trimming performance is on par with a facial shaver at the same price point. The handle is comfortable, and the wet/dry capabilities are a big plus. It performed well on all types of body hair – underarm, arm, chest and undercarriage – either trimming or shaving as attempted. The only thing it wasn’t tested on, was the peach (Neil stormed off saying “No f*$king way something sharp and buzzing is getting near my a#$!” – hence the “almost” in the title).

Of course, while it does what it does extremely well, the bodygroom is still ultimately a shaver and trimmer.

Trimmers, unfortunately (with their side-to-side blade), sometimes catch and tug hair instead of slicing it off (Neil says “ouch!”).

Shavers ultimately cut the hair off at the skin level, allowing the roots to grow stronger and produce thicker, coarser hair and leave the issues that come with stubble and regrowth (Neil says “my bits itch”).

Of course, if you’re already a die-hard man-scaper (which Neil is just… not.) and would like to scrap the beard-trimmer and manual razor combination for a product that’s designed especially for your body, you really can’t beat the Bodygroom.

There – the end – you made it! No more talk of Neil’s junk, and the squeamish can now uncover their eyes.

Just be thankful I posted an image of the shaver, instead of a picture of the “Extra Optical Inch.”