How To Trim Armpit Hair With Scissors In 5 Steps

Since our armpits are usually out of sight, many people put their own out of mind. As a result, armpit hair can become too long or too dense, which makes it difficult to keep it clean. Thankfully, armpit hair is easy to trim, and you can use scissors for the process.

Hair scissors are a great tool for trimming your armpit hair down to a decent length. Scissor-trims do require some patience and a lot of attention. However, the end result usually looks and feels much more natural. 

Having said all of this, some people do find that using clippers is just easier and more efficient. 

Keep reading to learn more useful information about scissor-trims; how often to do it, how to do it, and what alternatives you’ve got to choose from. 

Can You Trim Armpit Hair with Scissors?

While you definitely can trim armpit hair with scissors, it is important to use hair scissors for this process. 

In other words, not the old, generic, rusty pair you’ve got buried in your kitchen drawer. 

Hair scissors are much easier to use, as they are made specifically for cutting hair. They’re smaller and designed with thinner blades to trim the hair without snagging skin. 

Hair scissors can be purchased online or from most retail stores. So long as you also have a mirror, you should be good to go. 

If you need scissors, click the image to check out this reasonably priced pair on Amazon.

How Often Does Armpit Hair Need Trimmed With Scissors?

Armpit hair should be trimmed with scissors at least every four weeks. 

You will know that your armpit hair needs trimming if it begins to poke out even when your arms remain down by your sides, or if deodorant starts to clump in the hair instead of being absorbed.

Of course, you do not need to wait for these signs if you feel like your armpit hair is already getting too long. 

Ultimately, how often you trim your armpit hair is down to your personal tolerance level, as well as your rate of growth. 

How to Trim Armpit Hair with Scissors

Although trimming armpit hair with scissors is simple, paying attention to all of the steps is important to prevent snagging and skin irritation. 

You should feel better after trimming your armpit hair, not worse. To trim your armpit hair, carefully follow these steps: 

Step 1: Choose A Length To Trim Down To

Before you start snipping away at any armpit hairs, you will want to choose an approximate length to keep in mind. 

Picking a length to keep the armpit hair at will make it easier for you to trim all of the hair down to a desired length. 

The beauty of using scissors is that you can trim the hair to different lengths if you want to. This makes the end-result look a lot more natural. 

Clippers, on the other hand, are more appropriate if you want a nice, even trim throughout. 

Using scissors gives you a lot more control; you can get so intricate with the trimming, snipping away at stray hairs here and there until you find a result you’re happy with. 

But in general, you’ll want to have a length in mind before you start trimming. It doesn’t need to be exact, but you should have an idea of what you want to end up with. 

Most people looking for a natural, yet neat look keep their armpit hair around 1 to 1.5 inches long. 

Any more than that can look untidy and impede deodorant, while aiming for any less hair than that gets difficult to maintain with scissors and is more likely to itch. 

Remember, if you’re looking for very short stubble for your armpit hair, it’s best to go with a pair of clippers instead. 

Step 2: Raise The Arm And Tuck The Elbow

Raise your arm to the side so your armpit is in view. 

It also helps to tuck your elbow behind your head so that none of the skin in the armpit is folded over. 

Step 3: Keep The Scissors Parallel

You should always keep the scissors parallel with your skin. A bathroom mirror will be crucial here. 

Hold the scissors vertically so that the blades are facing the ceiling, not directly towards you. This is the safest way to trim armpit hair and avoid accidentally pricking the skin or snagging extra long hairs. 

Step 4: Trim in Sharp Strokes

Trim your armpit hair in short, sharp strokes. 

If you hesitate or close the blades slowly, you may cut the hair unevenly or irritate your skin by pulling too hard for too long with the blades. 

Leaving around an inch of length is a good way to avoid getting too close to the skin when you snip. 

It is okay to pause between trimming. Do not feel like you have to rush. 

Again, you don’t want to risk little nicks here and there; it can make the whole process a lot more unpleasant. 

Step 5: Soothe the Skin Post-Trim

Finally, it is important to soothe the skin of your armpits after a trim. 

Even if you do not intend to shave the rest of the armpit hair and leave the hair as it is, soothing the underarm area is important. 

Many people recommend showering after a trim. Once dry, you can use baby powder or shaving balm. 

It’s best to give it a few hours before you start applying deodorant, just to give them a bit of time to recover from the trim. 

Alternatives To Trimming Armpit Hair with Scissors

As handy as hair scissors are for trimming armpits, there are other options for doing so. Scissors can also be used in addition to other tools for overall maintenance. 

Scissors vs Clippers For Trimming Armpit Hair

Some people feel that clippers are easier to use for trimming armpit hair than scissors, as clippers come with guards that prevent the user from cutting below a certain length.

Longer guards can be used to simply thin the hair out, while short ones can be used for trimming.

Due to the guards, clippers allow you to trim armpit hair to an exact length and make it less likely you’ll snag any skin. 

But as I mentioned earlier, using clippers and trimming down to an exact, even length throughout can sometimes look unnatural. 

At the end of the day, many men don’t really mind this as the armpits are so out of sight anyway. 

They just want a quick and efficient way of removing the hair so they can focus their grooming efforts on more visible parts of the body. 

Scissors vs Razors For Trimming Armpit Hair

Unlike scissors, razors would be capable of cutting the hair down to the level of the skin. It’s the only way to get a truly smooth result. Even a pair of clippers used without a guard would leave behind very short stubble. 

If you’re looking for smooth underarms, the best option would be to trim the hair down to stubble using a clipper with no guard, before using a razor to shave down to the skin. 

A razor would not be able to shave down long armpit hair; it needs to be shortened with scissors or ideally clippers first. 

But shaving using a razor is more likely to irritate the skin, so post-shave soothing measures and moisturizing is even more crucial. 

Conclusion  

Many people already use scissors for DIY trims of their hair or beards. 

But hair scissors are also excellent for trimming armpit hair, which is a grooming habit that many neglect due to the underarms being so out of sight. 

Trimming armpit hair correctly leads to a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing result. 

Clippers may be quicker, but if you’re looking for a natural-looking result, there’s no alternative to using scissors; it’s just the best.