# men shaving their testicles
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 27, 2011, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869 "2011-04-27T06:11:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/1 "2011-04-27T06:11:39Z")
I barely get why apparently many/most young women now shave all the hair off their genital area. I assume this might have gotten started by porn stars, but I’m not sure.
As a clinical researcher in a hospital, I’m conducting a study in which I survey patients about all kinds of personal practices, including if and where they shave hair from their bodies. And I am discovering that the majority of young male adults around age 30 and under (not sure what the upper/lower age range would be) regularly shave all the hair in their groin/genital area.
My first questions is, Why? Does anyone think this improves the appearance of testicles? Doesn’t it itch when the hair starts to grow back? When did this start, what age groups practice this, and what is the intended result?
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### Author:  [@automagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/automagic)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/2 "2011-04-27T06:15:23Z")
It makes it more likely that you will be receiving oral sex tonight.
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### Author:  [@Hennessy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hennessy)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/3 "2011-04-27T06:16:49Z")
Or, why do women shave their private area? :rolleyes:
Off to the humbled opinions - weeeeee
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### Author:  [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/4 "2011-04-27T06:18:01Z")
> [@JillGat](#):
>
> My first questions is, Why? Does anyone think this improves the appearance of testicles? Doesn’t it itch when the hair starts to grow back? When did this start, what age groups practice this, and what is the intended result?
Because if it’s shaved they’re more likely to put it in their mouth. Yes, it improves the appearance - tons of scraggly curly thick hair is no fun. It itches initially, but as with any shaving the razorburn/discomfort quickly subside after a period. I personally started around the same time I got sexually active in the late teens. I can’t comment on the demographics of older generations, but I would imagine the sub-30 crowd does indeed have a much higher incidence of shaving.
It boils down to: appearance/aesthetic preference, hygiene/cleanliness/less-hair-means-more-oral, and probably most significantly, porn.
This is probably better suited for IMHO.
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/5 "2011-04-27T07:06:01Z")
Nit, but if you’re a clinical researcher you should know that it’s their _scrotum_ they’re shaving - not their testicles.
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### Author:  [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/6 "2011-04-27T07:31:41Z")
If you’re doing a survey you should also have an option for trimming.
I shave from time to time, but more commonly I just keep things neat and tidy down there.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/7 "2011-04-27T08:09:30Z")
Like everything else, it began with young urban gay guys, I think in the late 80s to early 90s. Then the “metrosexuals” took it from there. Same with eyebrow maintenance, which I hate.
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### Author:  [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/8 "2011-04-27T08:13:18Z")
Because sex feels so much better that way. I’ve been shaving down there since high school, I’m 34 now.
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### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/9 "2011-04-27T08:17:31Z")
[Data point](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sn1RUjbL1g).
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/10 "2011-04-27T10:35:47Z")
There may in addtion just be a fad thing happening. Fads in pubic hair would have been impractical a few years ago before the internet and digital photography (fashions don’t spread if no one can see they are the fashion), but not now.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/11 "2011-04-27T11:10:08Z")
> [@panache45](#):
>
> Like everything else, it began with young urban gay guys, I think in the late 80s to early 90s. Then the “metrosexuals” took it from there. Same with eyebrow maintenance, which I hate.
Just wait until you are about 50, and your eyebrows begin to look like demented caterpillars, you’ll change your tune.
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### Author:  [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/12 "2011-04-27T11:33:08Z")
“Nobody likes to go down on a tumbleweed.”
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/13 "2011-04-27T11:51:45Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#):
>
> Just wait until you are about 50, and your eyebrows begin to look like demented caterpillars, you’ll change your tune.
I’m 65, and am too old to change my tune.
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### Author:  [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/14 "2011-04-27T12:00:09Z")
Plus if you’re into tea bagging, one with the consistency of a Brillo pad ain’t cool.
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### Author:  [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/15 "2011-04-27T12:55:09Z")
_Second OP question. Does it itch?_ I had an operation where they shaved far more than they needed to, and YES, it itched like a bitch when it grew back. And, it itches in places that aren’t appropriate to scratch in an elevator full of people, or while sitting in a mixed company meeting.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/16 "2011-04-27T13:01:07Z")
> [@BMalion](#):
>
> “Nobody likes to go down on a tumbleweed.”
Isn’t that an Elton John lyric?
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### Author:  [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/17 "2011-04-27T13:18:25Z")
I don’t think of myself as old (but I’m 42; maybe I am). But this just strikes me as… unnecessary. It doesn’t seem to me that back in the day we suffered from a lack of BJs due to unshaven scrotes. My wife has never complained about the hair. But then I never understood men doing the chest-waxing thing either unless he was a swimmer.
And while I appreciate a trim lawn on women, a complete lack of hair strikes me as way too pre-pubescent to be sexy.
And while I’m at it, Get the hell off my lawn!
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### Author:  [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/18 "2011-04-27T13:41:34Z")
Well, I’m 44 and have been shaving them weekly for a few years. My wife appreciates a smooth scrotum, and as I enjoy the time she spends down there, it’s the least I can do. She keeps herself shorn for the same reason. Nothing interrupts the mood quite like someone gagging on a pube that’s worked itself loose and is choking your partner.
It starts to get a little prickly around day 5, but it’s not too bad. As long as you keep up with it it only takes about 5 minutes in the shower.
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### Author:  [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/19 "2011-04-27T13:45:16Z")
> [@Skammer](#):
>
> I don’t think of myself as old (but I’m 42; maybe I am). But this just strikes me as… unnecessary. It doesn’t seem to me that back in the day we suffered from a lack of BJs due to unshaven scrotes. My wife has never complained about the hair.
Yeah, if my wife was taking me all the way down to the pubes I would be happy to shave them off, but as it is there is litte risk of her getting any hair in her mouth, poking her in the eye, etc. If someone else wants to shave theirs though, go nuts.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-shaving-their-testicles/579869/20 "2011-04-27T13:45:49Z")
When you cut back the underbrush, the tree looks bigger.
**Baracus** - I saw what you did there.
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