Most people hate trimming their lawns — even their personal lawns (we’re talking personal grooming).
During the pandemic, this raises a question: Do you still snip and shave all those hard-to-reach places when there’s nowhere to go?
LawnStarter decided to find out. We asked more than 1,200 adults a slew of questions about how their manscaping/womanscaping habits have changed during the pandemic.
Needless to say, their answers got a little hairy.
Read on for the all-too-revealing (and maybe somewhat disturbing) intimate grooming trends of 2021.
Table of Contents
Highlights and Lowlights
Hair to Stay
While some personal grooming habits have slipped during the pandemic, generally people have maintained their trimming and shaping. Roughly 51% of all women and 59% of all men describe their pandemic body hair as either a “managed forest” or a “well-manicured garden.”
The Couple That Trims Together Weds Together
Twice as many engaged and married people as singles maintain a “well-manicured garden.” We didn’t ask if one partner uses the gardening shears on the other. For singles, personal grooming (and maybe a trip down the aisle) is more out of sight, out of mind.
The Pruning Never Stops
What are the most popular grooming areas? For women it’s armpits, with 69% of respondents purging their pits. The most popular grooming region for men is, of course, the face at 78%. Beards and mustaches are in, and, besides, the scruff just never quits.
Beach Bod Dreaming
Summer is the most popular season for getting that freshly waxed and smoothly sculpted look, a fifth of men and 31.5% of women said. Fall was the least popular. But the most popular grooming time of all is “whenever the grass is tall enough.” So feel free to trim your hedges all year long.
Just Don’t Go There
For both women and men, the groin, pubes, and genitals are obviously the most sensitive areas for trimming. But after these three nether regions, answers diverged. The next most sensitive area for men was the nose (really?) and for women the arms and face. It isn’t easy being hairy.
Surprising Stats
To Groom or Not to Groom
- 2X as many 18- to 29-year-olds as other age groups groom more during the pandemic than before.
- 13% of men and 10% of women are letting themselves go.
- 10% of women and 6% of men who are single or dating only groom when their Tinder match replies.
What time of year do you usually bodyscape?
| MEN | PERCENTAGE |
|---|---|
| When the grass is tall enough | 49.0% |
| Summer | 20.5% |
| I don't bodyscape | 9.2% |
| Spring | 6.1% |
| 10 minutes before a date | 4.3% |
| Winter | 4.3% |
| Only on public holidays | 3.9% |
| Fall | 2.8% |
| WOMEN | PERCENTAGE |
|---|---|
| When the grass is tall enough | 43.2% |
| Summer | 31.5% |
| Spring | 6.3% |
| 10 minutes before a date | 6.2% |
| I don't bodyscape | 5.6% |
| Only on public holidays | 3.2% |
| Fall | 1.9% |
| Winter | 1.4% |
Where the Wild Things Are
- Almost half of married men groom their face less than any other body part during the pandemic.
- 45% of women groom their legs less than any other body part during the pandemic.
Going Pro
- 2X as many married people as singles prefer to be groomed by a professional, mostly because they like to be pampered.
- 18- to 29-year-olds are most embarrassed to see a professional for their bodyscaping needs — the older the person, the less self-conscious or uncomfortable they are.
Love in the Time of COVID
- Half of engaged men manscape because their partner likes it.
- Points for creativity! Married people are more likely than singles to try grooming trends like pubic hair dying, geometric pubic shapes, vajazzling, or Victorian-era sideburns.
Methodology
LawnStarter collected survey responses from a random sample of more than 1,200 adults aged 18 or older via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) from Feb. 4 to Feb. 5, 2021. Each response was anonymized using a unique user ID assigned by MTurk.
When Your Yard Needs a Trim …
While LawnStarter can’t help you mow your personal grass, one of our pros can get your home’s lawn looking trim and green. Leave the mowing to us, and you’ll have more time to spend with the family — or with your personal grooming.
Main Photo Credit: Shutterstock
