How to properly wash your body

Showers are awesome. 

They’ve been around since the early Greek civilization, and the Romans had elaborate public shower setups in their bathhouses and gymnasiums. 

Showers make you feel refreshed, magically everyone becomes a singer in the shower, and you have time to yourself to just ponder the meaning of life or whatever. 

For most of you reading this, you’ve probably been showering for a while, as many of us ditch the bathtub routine at an early age or save it for special occasions. 

The question is, though, have you been showering correctly?

Oh, yes, there is a right and a wrong way to shower just like everything else in this world. You might think you’ve done yourself justice with your showering habits, but maybe not. People can be surprisingly lazy in the shower. 

We’re here to say that just because you let some hot water run down your body and you use a little soap under your armpits every now and then does not, we repeat, does not mean you are clean. 

The purpose of a shower is to ensure your whole body is clean and it is a greater part of your overall hygiene routine. If the ancient Greeks understood this, you there with your fancy cell phone, VR setup, and electric car should, too. We’ve apparently evolved over the last few thousands of years, but one has to wonder if we really have. We’re writing an article about how to properly wash your body for bloody sake. 

We’re never going to get someone on Mars at this rate…

Anyway…

At MANSCAPED™, we like to think of ourselves as male grooming experts, so we’ve come up with eleven steps to ensure you’re properly washing that man bod of yours:

1. Turn on the shower and set the temperature to at least warm. 
2. Take a moment to rinse your body and get everything wet. 
3. Start at your head and wash your head hair with a high-quality shampooing/conditioner.  
4. Next, grab a bottle of high-quality body wash or soap and soap all up and down (don’t worry, we’ve got more details for you below).
5. For the dangly bits and nether regions use a groin-specific wash designed for more sensitive areas. 
6. This is where you’d insert any shaving you need to do.
7. Adjust the water temperature a little cooler for your final thorough rinse. 
8. Turn off the water, towel off, and air dry a bit. 
9. Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize.
10. Deodorize.
11. Tackle the day (preferably dressed). 

Note 1: The steps we’ve outlined are specifically about how to properly wash your body and a few extra best practices to take after a shower. If you are a body hair trimmer we recommend doing this before you shower, so that can be considered step 0.0 if you’d like. We have a whole set of articles about trimming for you to check out if you need some pointers. 

Note 2: How often someone showers depends on a few factors. If you are an active dude or someone who sweats a little more during your day-to-day, you might be showering daily. At minimum, you should be showering at least three times a week. You marinating in your own juices is not super positive for you or for those around you. 

Note 3: Oh, and wash your sheets once a week too, man. You can tell your mother we said so. Get those kudo points. 

Alright, let’s focus on showers, shall we?

Now that you have our eleven steps to glory, let’s dive into the details. 

Step 1: Turn on the shower and set the temperature to at least warm. 

There are a few benefits to a warmer shower:

• It relaxes your muscles
• It enhances your blood flow
• It creates steam which is good for your respiratory system (those lungs, man!)
• Warm showers are comfortable and they allow you to stay in the shower a little longer
• And it opens up your pores which is critical for full cleanliness 

Get naked, turn on that shower, adjust that temperature just right, and hop on in!

Step 2: Take a moment to rinse your body and get everything wet. 

Before going right to the soap, take a moment and let that amazing warm water just flow over your body. Oh, yeah. Feels so good. This part gives you some time to relax, slow down, and more importantly, get everything wet. Your hair all the way down to your toes. 

If you have a lot of head hair, a beard, or body hair we suggest rubbing the water into your hair a little, getting everything wet. You don’t want to start soaping dry areas or partially dry areas. 

Step 3: Start at your head and wash your head hair with a high-quality shampooing/conditioner.  

For a good, thorough shower, we suggest starting at the top and working your way down, so on a human, that’s your head. 

At this time, grab your bottle of MANSCAPED™ UltraPremium™ 2-in-1 Shampoo + Conditioner, squeeze about a quarter-size amount into your palm, and lather away. When it comes to your head hair, you want to get to the base, so use your fingers and really work that shampoo + conditioner into your scalp. 

You should wash everything from the top of your forehead to behind your ears to the nape of your neck and in between.  

Once you’re finished, take a moment to wash out the majority of the shampoo + conditioner. The rest will wash out as you complete your shower as your head will be in the water naturally most of the time. 

Step 4: Next, grab a bottle of high-quality body wash or soap and soap all up and down.

After your head, we’re going for the full body wash, so grab your bottle of MANSCAPED™ UltraPremium™ Body Wash and go for it. 

We suggest starting at your neck and working your way down the entire length of your body. Neck to shoulders to underarms to arms to chest to belly to back to things to calves to feet. Don’t forget your feet! 

You’d be surprised how many of you forget your feet. 

Remember you have bottoms to your feet, too. Be careful on this part because you’re going to want to rinse your feet off before you stand again or it gets quite slippery. One foot up, soap, rinse, and down. Second foot up, soap, rinse, and down. No shower falls, please. 

Make sure you have a good, solid amount of suds throughout the whole of step 4, so you might need more body wash as you go. Don’t be stingy with your body wash. You can get more (hint, hint check out our Peak Hygiene Plan). 

While you can use body wash with just your hands, we’re fans of using a shower sponge or loofah at this point. You will love them, just trust your MANSCAPED™ team. A shower sponge or loofah really gets things sudsy and will help exfoliate as well. Exfoliating softens your skin, gets rid of dead skin cells, and really opens up your pores allowing all that cloggy gunk to get outta there. 

Step 5: For the dangly bits and nether regions use a groin-specific wash designed for more sensitive areas. 

As a man, odds are you have a penis and a pair of testicles or some combination of the dangling bits. You also have a butt with a butt hole and a lot of pubic hair all around. Let’s zoom in on this area. 

The groin area of a man needs some attention when it comes to the shower. There are a lot of folds of skin and you poop and pee down there, so let’s get all that clean. Yes, everyone poops. 

Our team at MANSCAPED™ has the perfect groin wash just for this area - Crop Cleanser®. 

This little bottle packs a punch, so a little dab will go a long way. With its luxurious lathering capabilities you will thoroughly clean every nook and cranny down below (yes, luxurious is our super intentional descriptor word for this product, ok?).  

Crop Cleanser® is loaded with vitamin E, aloe, menthol, and our cologne-quality fragrance, so everything will be well hydrated and smelling good.  

Next, we recommend our specific groin exfoliant to really get the area clean - Crop Exfoliator™. 

Crop Exfoliator™ is also a good first step before shaving your shaft and balls. Really preps the area nicely for the razor to do its job. 

Step 6: This is where you’d insert any groin-area shaving you need to do.

Speaking of razors, step 6 is where you’d take time for the groin-area shaving bit. We have a whole other article on shaving the boys, so enjoy some other reading material!

Step 7: Adjust the water temperature a little cooler for your final thorough rinse. 

Alright, at this point everything should be clean and you’re ready for your final rinse. For this step, we actually recommend cooling the water down a bit. The warm water you’ve been using so far has been opening up your pores, allowing all that dirt and grime build-up to be washed away, and all the moisturizer in the products so far has been absorbing into your skin. 

Cool water helps the pores shrink down a little bit, really locking in that moisturizer. It also gives a little refreshing woohoo hoo to the end of your shower which is quite invigorating. Get ready for the day!

Step 8: Turn off the water, towel off, and air dry a bit. 

At this point, the shower piece is technically done, but you’re not quite finished with the entire routine. Turn off the water, drop in the shower a little so you’re not sloshing water all around your bathroom, grab your towel, and really dry off. 

Once you towel off, we suggest just hanging out naked a bit and air drying. Turn on the fan in your bathroom, get rid of some of the steam, and get dry. 

Step 9: Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize.

Even though a lot of the products we mentioned have added hydrating ingredients, more moisturizer is going to be encouraged at this step. We have designed our Hydrating Body Spray bottle to deliver 360 degrees of coverage, giving you all the moisture your skin needs to be healthy.  

Our lotion is lightweight, quick drying, and non-greasy. We use natural ingredients and the body spray is also made with our authentic Refined™ cologne, so it’s a lotion and scent spray all in one. 

Step 10: Deodorize.

After the moisturizer comes the deodorant and you’re so close to being ready! We’ve got Crop Preserver® for the balls and UltraPremium™ Deodorant for the pits so you’re all covered. 

Let the deodorant soak in a little before immediately putting on your shirt or undies. 

Step 11: Tackle the day (preferably dressed).  

There you go! That is how you properly shower, men. Now, tackle the day. Go forth and do your thing. You’re ready. Remember the lessons we’ve taught you.

Or reread this step-by-step guide. We’ll keep it up for a while.