How to Shave Pubic Hair With Clippers (A Trim, Not a Smooth Shave)

Yes, hair clippers can trim pubic hair with a guard on, but they leave short stubble; smooth skin needs a razor or body shaver.

How to shave pubic hair with clippers comes down to the guard: which number you pick, and where it never comes off.

Once that's settled, an even, short trim is a beginner's job.

If you own ordinary hair clippers bought for home haircuts, they work below the belt once you drop three haircut habits.

On your head you cut against the growth, push the taper lever up for a closer cut and start a fade on the shortest guard. On the groin you do the opposite of all three.

Can you use clippers to shave pubic hair?

Yes, as a trim: a guarded clipper takes pubic hair down to short, even stubble, but the hair stays on the skin.

Gillette's pubic hair guide draws the same line between the two jobs. Trimming shortens hair to the length you choose without removing it, which can feel more comfortable for sensitive skin.

A razor removes hair as close to the skin as possible.

Clippers suit the trim because their wide blade and numbered guards cut a whole patch to one even length.

One Lovehoney forum member keeps "a trimmed shortish area" with electric clippers. Even the shortest guard leaves stubble, so bare skin needs a razor or body shaver after the trim, and the last section links that method.

Before you start, check that your guards click on firmly and that the blade is clean and oiled.

Where the wide clipper head feels awkward, a guarded body trimmer does the same trim with a narrower head.

If a beard trimmer is what you're holding, read up on a beard trimmer below the belt before it goes near your groin.

No clippers and no beard trimmer? The guide to trimming with a trimmer or scissors gets you to the same short result.

Clipper guard sizes for pubic hair and the length each leaves

Start on the longest guard and step down one size at a time, as Wahl's manscaping guide tells beginners to do.

Each step takes off a little more, so you can stop when the length looks right instead of finding out too late.

The numbers follow one rule, in Wahl's guard size guide: the higher the number, the longer the hair.

Each guard (Wahl calls them guide combs) cuts evenly to the length printed on it. Of the four guards in the table below, the #3 is the longest, cutting to 3/8 inch in Wahl's own guide comb list.

If your hair is longer than that, start on a longer guard from your set.

Here are the four guards a pubic trim uses, with the length each one left on my own hair:

All four printed lengths are Wahl's: the #1/2 and #1 from its single comb pages, the #2 and #3 from its guide comb list.

On Wahl clippers, the taper lever fine-tunes length between guards for fading and blending: down for a longer cut, up for a closer one. On the groin, leave it all the way down. If even the #1's 1/8 inch feels long, switch to the #1/2 rather than raising the lever. Never take the guard off; the next section shows why.

Each length is the middle of five dry hairs held against a steel ruler, one guard per weekly trim on my Wahl Deluxe Chrome Pro. Another maker's guard with the same number can cut a little differently, so trust the length printed on yours.

Keep the guard on at the scrotum and base of the penis

One warning covers every step that follows, so take it in before you switch the clipper on.

Warning: Never run a bare blade over the scrotum, the base of the penis or any loose fold of skin; keep a guard on. As the guard gets shorter, stretch the skin flat with your free hand so no fold can slip into the guard or blade. At the short lengths, make as few passes as possible. Gillette's guide and Wahl's manscaping guide both set these rules for delicate skin.

Gillette also tells razor users to stretch the skin gently on the scrotum and shaft, to improve control and reduce cuts.

That advice is written for a blade. Medical advice on razors differs: Banner Health's ingrown hair guide says not to pull the skin taut when shaving.

With a clipper, the reason to hold the skin flat is the guard: flat skin can't fold into its teeth.

Members of the Lovehoney forum describe the same risk in their own words. One who clips his scrotum has to stretch the skin out so the clippers don't nick it. Another leaves the underside alone for fear of catching the skin.

Where your skin is too loose to hold flat, leave that patch at a longer guard, or use a trimmer with a sensitive comb there.

Want the scrotum smooth rather than short? That's razor work with its own technique, covered in shaving the scrotum smooth.

Set up the clipper and a spot that is easy to clean

Get ready before switching on: dry hair, a clean, oiled clipper with its guard clicked on, a mirror and a spot where clippings rinse away.

Oil goes on the blades before each use or after every use, in Wahl's oiling guide.

You need six things, and you probably own them all:

• 1 hair clipper with its numbered guards

• 1 compact mirror for the underside

• 1 towel

• The cleaning brush that came with the clipper

• Blade oil

• Optional: 1 clipper disinfectant spray for the clean-up

Trim dry: wet hair is heavier and can give patchy results, as Wahl's manscaping guide notes. Shower first, then towel the area fully dry before the clipper comes out.

Keep a corded clipper out of the shower, and check your own clipper's manual for its water marks.

Philips' groomer cleaning page shows how one maker marks them. A crossed-out tap means no water at all, and a plain tap means rinsing only, not use in the shower.

I tried three places to trim, once each and with a different guard each time, so the table covers each one without ranking them:

wikiHow's trimming guide points to the shower or the toilet because clean-up becomes a run of the faucet or a flush. The bathtub gave me the same easy rinse, as long as the drain cover was in.

The drain is the catch: both long and short hair cause blockages, says Frost & Kretsch Plumbing in its guide to hair clogs.

A hair catcher stops loose hair before it reaches the pipe's trap. A cover over the drain does that job; empty it into the trash afterwards.

For reach and control, sit on the edge of the dry, empty tub, or stand beside it with one foot up on the edge.

My trim from long hair with the #3 guard took about 15 minutes, and cleaning and oiling the clipper about 5 more.

There's nothing new to buy if your clipper came with its guards, brush and oil; the disinfectant spray is optional.

Watch for three things that spoil a clipper trim:

• Damp hair, which leaves a patchy result

• A guard that isn't clicked fully on, or slips mid-pass

• Loose skin under a short guard, covered in the warning above

How to trim pubic hair with clippers, step by step

Trim dry, start on your longest guard, step down one guard at a time and move the way the hair grows.

That direction is the reverse of a home haircut, where Wahl's guard size guide says to cut against the hair growth for consistent results.

On the groin, the same maker's manscaping guide flips it: trim the way the hair grows and avoid cutting against the grain.

The American Academy of Dermatology gives razor shavers the same rule, calling it an important step against razor bumps and burns.

Work through the trim in this order:

1. After a warm shower to wash, towel the area until the hair is completely dry.

2. Click your longest guard onto the clipper, checking that it sits flat and doesn't shift when you press it.

3. Clip the top of the pubic area first, using short, gentle strokes.

4. Step down one guard at a time until the hair reaches the length you want.

5. Move the clipper in the direction each patch of hair grows, never against it.

6. As the guards get shorter, hold the skin flat with your free hand, guard always on (see the warning above).

7. Leave the base of the penis and the scrotum until the sides and thigh creases are done, clipping them in as few passes as possible.

8. Hold a compact mirror below you to check the hard-to-reach areas underneath.

9. Once the length looks even and no strays poke out at the waistband or thighs, rinse the clippings off in the shower.

When a step goes wrong, this is the fix:

Oiling cuts the friction that makes a clipper pull and snag. A nick that turns red or sore afterwards is covered in the skin care section below.

Clean and disinfect the clipper after a pubic trim

After every pubic trim, brush the hair out, disinfect the blade, let everything dry and oil it before it goes away.

Philips' guide to disinfecting clippers gives the reason: sharing dirty tools between users can spread bacteria and raise the risk of skin irritation or infection.

I photographed this routine after my first trim, built from the makers' care guides, and it runs in this order:

1. Unplug the clipper once it's switched off.

2. With the guard off, brush trapped hair out of the blade and the guard with the cleaning brush.

3. Rinse only the parts your manual marks as water-safe, never one with a crossed-out tap symbol.

4. Spray a clipper disinfectant onto the dry blade, leaving it for the contact time on its label.

5. Let every part air-dry completely before you put it back together.

6. Oil the blade with a drop at each corner of its top and one at its foot, running the clipper briefly to spread it.

7. Store the clipper in its case or pouch once it's clean, oiled and fully dry.

If you also cut your own hair, a second clipper kept only for the groin is the simplest answer.

Otherwise, run the full routine every time before the clipper goes back on your head, since disinfecting matters most after close trims and sensitive areas.

Rubbing alcohol is no shortcut for the whole clipper.

The same Philips guide says it can disinfect metal blade surfaces, but it may dry out materials, affect plastic parts or interfere with lubricants.

Skin care after a clipper trim: bumps, itch and ingrown hairs

Four habits keep the skin calm after a trim:

• Rinse every clipping off in the shower.

• Pat the area dry instead of rubbing it.

• Smooth on an alcohol-free moisturizer to soothe the skin.

• Wear loose clothing in hot, humid weather, since tight clothing rubs the skin (the AAD's folliculitis advice).

In the Cleveland Clinic's ingrown hair guide, the pubic area is one of the places ingrown hairs commonly appear.

Don't pick, scratch or pop one; a warm compress for 10 to 15 minutes helps it release.

See a healthcare provider if a bump shows signs of infection, such as getting bigger and more painful.

One Lovehoney forum member who clips close gets no itchy regrowth; another, who usually clips, had a few days of itching after going fully bare.

Each is a single account, not a rule.

When you want it smoother, or clipped elsewhere

A clipper trim is the first half of a smooth shave.

Gillette's guide says to trim longer hair before shaving, because a razor is designed to cut short hair and trimming first prevents blade clogging.

From there, the method for shaving smooth after a clipper trim takes over.

To keep the trim, plan on regular redos: many men groom every 3 to 7 days, the same guide notes, while others wait longer.

Your clipper and guards also work on your chest, stomach and legs, and guard lengths by body area has the setting for each.

Wherever you use it, the groin's lesson holds: the guard, not the clipper, decides how safe the trim is.