10 Men's Grooming Habits Women Hate

There are a lot of things guys do that irritate women.

Sitting on the couch all day watching five Die Hards in a row without taking the trash out, throwing dirty dishes on top of more dirty dishes in the sink, using their towel to dry off the “boys” after taking a shower, leaving clean, unfolded clothes in a pile at the foot of the bed, or leaving beer bottles scattered on the coffee table like John Belushi in Animal House.

But, perhaps nothing is more annoying to women than certain men’s grooming habits, or lack thereof.

How many times have you heard, “Ouch! Cut your toenails!”, while in bed? Or, maybe you hear the polite bewilderment, “wow, your nose hairs are really long”.

These “nice” reminders are to help keep us up on the daily chores of men’s grooming.

I decided to compile a list of all the men’s grooming habits women hate. Change some of these things and you might be surprised at the positive effects they have.

1. Chinstrap Beards

My previous article, How to Trim a Beard Neckline, goes into detail about how to avoid the notorious chinstrap beard.

If it were in the early 2000s, and boy bands were still relevant, a chinstrap beard might be okay. But, the year is 2018. We now have the likes of Jon Snow to emulate, not Joey Fatone from N-Sync.

So please, follow the advice in the article, no more chinstrap beards. Period.

2. Dirty or Long Nails

It’s not one of the things you get complemented on when nails are clean and cut properly, but it is one of the things that gets noticed when the opposite is true.

Long, dirty fingernails? Everyone sees them, even men. It’s weird, gross, and not okay.

I promise women do not look forward to being touched by dirty nails.

Cut your fingernails, and toenails too.

3. Too Much Cologne

Too much of a good thing, can definitely be a bad thing. This is absolutely true for cologne.

Cologne “should be discovered, not announced”, according to the Art of Manliness.

No one should be able to taste your cologne. Additionally, your cologne should not linger minutes after you leave a room. I don’t care how “good” it smells.

On average, one spray in one or two “heat zones” should do the trick. The best heat zones are the neck, chest, and wrist.

Check out A Crucial Men’s Guide to Cologne Types to learn the differences between cologne, eau de toilette and eau de parfum. Each will have a different amount of fragrance that will affect how long the cologne lasts on the skin.

4. Too Many Pubes

An overwhelmingly strong majority of women don’t want to go down on a guy with a Tarzan bush. They don’t want to pick pubes out of their teeth.

According to a study, 90% of women prefer some type of grooming done below the belt on a man. The same study indicates that 94% of men prefer some type of grooming on a woman.

I’m not saying that you need to rush down to your local salon and ask for the “guyzilian” special, but a little effort goes a long way.

5. Not Enough Pubes

“Just keep it trim, keep it clean. Being bare down there is weird. It makes me feel pervy. Or slightly ‘Jared from Subway’-ish.” –Rachel Varina

We are men, not Ken dolls. Men cut wood, grow beards, drink whiskey, play catch with their dogs and on occasion, watch the occasional chick flick with their significant other. Men don’t drive around in a pink convertible with Barbie.

Therefore, we don’t need to be completely shaven downstairs.

According to the same study above, 70% of women just want your wizards’ beard trimmed. Only about 1 in 10 want it bare.

A quick rule of thumb: shave shaft, shave taint, shave balls, trim pubes.

“Uh, I try to have very few thoughts about manscaping. I guess I’d have to say that I’m a strong advocate for beards and chest hair and all things scruffy, but there has to be a safe middle ground here. No one wants a full bush, but I also would like to know for a fact that I’m not hooking up with an eleven-year-old.” –Lucky Jo

6. Unibrow

Plucking a unibrow is an absolute necessity. It should not look like you have one large, continuous, hairy caterpillar running across the length of your forehead.

Check out this un-scientific, but largely accurate social experiment on unibrows.

To make it easy, just pluck the center and any extraneous hairs not within the eyebrow line with high quality tweezers.

7. Nose Hairs

Nose hairs can be difficult to catch. I personally have the unfortunate disposition of having unnaturally long hair on my body. As a result, my nose hairs can get wild and out of control if not properly tamed.

They are easy to forget about too, until someone tells you. This is embarrassing.

Use a nose hair trimmer to cut those long, wiry guys out.

8. Hairy Back

Luckily, I think everyone is on the same page when it comes to hairy backs. Guys that don’t have hairy backs are very thankful, and guys that do have hairy backs wish they didn’t.

I have never heard any woman say a hairy back was sexy. Quite the contrary, it often produces one of the most physical reactions from females as they recoil talking about it.

Unfortunately, a guy’s friends are also ruthless in picking on them about their back hair.

Guys I have talked to with back hair seem a little self-conscious about it, but there is a solution!

BaKblade 1.0

I personally haven’t tried it, but this seems to be the best solution. Check out some of the reviews on how to “hack” the blade in order to save a lot of money in replacements.

9. Bad Breath

Bad breath, also known as halitosis, is a turn off for anyone.

The problem? A lot of people have a hard time telling someone their breath stinks. It feels rude and more personal than telling someone they have a booger in their nose, like it’s part of their personality and not just a quick fix with a finger.

The solution? According to the mayo clinic, basic dental hygiene goes a long way, this includes: brushing teeth twice a day, flossing once a day, brushing tongue, staying hydrated, and avoiding diets high in sugar or with significant amounts of onions or garlic.

10. Product Stealing

This, arguably, is the biggest of the men’s grooming habits women hate, and one I am personally guilty of. In general, I’ll admit that I like using other people’s products.

It is a very guilty pleasure.

A guest stays over, brings their own face wash and leaves it in the shower? I’m definitely using it. Oh, what’s this, you’ve also brought moisturizer that I’ve never tried? You’ll never notice a little off the top.

In a previous post, I talked about being a kid and dabbing the smallest amounts of my stepdad’s cologne onto my neck before going to school in the morning.

The habit has not been lost through the years. My wife gets so upset when I use some of the cool products she buys. Conditioner, moisturizer, creams, and masks are all up for taking in our bathroom, and it irritates her to no end.

Guys, I’m not saying that you need to fix this one, because I’m not going to. Just know that it probably irritates your significant other!

Some of these men’s grooming habits women hate are obvious, and some are not. My goal is to shed light on some of the things you may or may not know. Now that you are aware, I hope that you can use some of the information to your benefit!

Thanks for reading!

-Chris