A guy friend of mine recently confessed to having a somewhat unusual grooming habit: he waxes his chest. Evidently, he’s been using an at home kit for a while, but has just discovered a local salon that will do it for him. He describes the salon experience as comfortable and relaxing – soothing music, hot wax, and the confidence that comes with feeling good in your own skin are well worth the money.

Not knowing many men who wax or even shave their chest hair, I had to know, why does he do it? I assumed his wife preferred a smooth chest. Not so. She actually makes fun of him for enduring the procedure, although she agrees that he looks good when all is said and done. No, my chest-waxing friend does it because it makes him feel good.

I can’t argue with that logic. I don’t curl my lashes, paint my nails, or straighten my hair because anyone else likes it. I do it for me.

The whole chest-waxing conversation got me thinking about male grooming in general, or manscaping, if you will. Our society is increasingly more open to manscaping. More and more men visit salons for basic procedures like manicures and pedicures. Some even get their eyebrows waxed. I like that men are getting to enjoy some of the pampering that we ladies have long enjoyed, but I have to admit, a guy that spends more time in the salon than I do and uses more products to get ready is a turn off. Here, some guidelines on manscaping:

Face: Whether or not you rock facial hair pretty much depends on you and your face. Some guys look good with it, some guys look good without it, but either way, you should never let your beard run wild. An electric razor works great for touching up and grooming a bearded face, but when it comes to getting super smooth, a good old-fashioned razor and shaving cream can’t be beat. My boyfriend has been using Gillette Fusion HydraGel with his disposable razors and his skin is amazingly soft. An added bonus? It smells amazing. Also, I may or may not have stolen some of the shave gel to use while shaving my legs yesterday. (Let’s just say my legs feel like satin!)

Body Hair: As my waxing friend’s decision indicates, this is really a personal choice. Honestly, if you like a smooth chest, feel free to wax. If you’re proud of your chest hair, let it grow. But a basic rule of thumb for body hair is this: if you can’t cover your chest hair with a tee-shirt, it might be time to do a little trimming. Also, if there is enough fuzz on your back to be called back hair, take care of it. We ladies shave our legs and armpits daily so nobody has to look at our unsightly hair. We don’t want to see yours either.

And as far as grooming, ahem, below the belt is concerned, I will just say this; if you expect your significant other to do it, you’d best be prepared to do it too.