Your dad probably taught you many things, but even the most thoughtful parent probably didn’t teach you how to shave your back. Though many men grow back hair, shaving our backs isn’t exactly something that comes with a manual. Our arms aren’t designed to reach behind our backs and the hair can often grow in patches, making shaving back there a real challenge.
If you’re cool with your back hair, all the power to you. But if you’re looking to do something about your back hair, there are a lot of clever new products out there to help. In this article, we’re going to show you some of the best back shavers and we’re going to tell you how to shave your back. Once you check out the products below and the how-to at the bottom, you’ll see this doesn’t have to be so difficult and shaving your back might just be something you want to incorporate into your grooming routine.
Now, check out some of the best back shavers below. Whether you’ve got a lot of back hair or just a little, we’ve got some simple back shavers and a trimmer as well as a couple other useful products to help you accomplish this task.
1. Liberex Back Shaver
BEST OVERALL
After checking out a dozen or so of the best back shavers, we think the Liberex Back Shaver is the best back shaver for most people. Like many competitors, it can be used wet or dry, which is pretty convenient, especially if you want to use it in the shower. But that’s where most of the similarities end. First, the handle is 18-inches long and retractable so it can lock into different angles. While those two qualities appear in competing back shavers, this shaver also has a unique flexible head. The 20 degrees of flexing in the head is really useful to correct for poor shave angles. Just apply a bit of pressure and the head will bend to skin level to help you shave.
But there are more benefits to the head, too. The head uses three layers of blade cartridges, which ultimately means you need fewer passes to shave. When you’re dealing with something as tricky as shaving your back, every pass you don’t have to take helps. Furthermore, each cartridge is 3.5-inches wide, so you’re getting a nice wide pass of the back shaver every time.
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Toss in three free replacement blades and you can see why this is our pick for the best back shaver. It’s a bit more sophisticated than competing back shavers and it’s almost $20 cheaper than the next-best back shaver, so it’s a great tool and it comes at a bargain. The only downside is the price of replacement cartridges, but if you aren’t dealing with a ton of hair or aren’t shaving often, we still think the Liberex shaver is the way to go.
2. BaKblade 2.0 Plus
RUNNER-UP
The BaKblade 2.0 Plus is the next best back shaver we found. It’s got an 18-inch retractable handle, like the best overall pick. Truly, it’s not all that different from the Liberex Back Shaver, except in three key areas. It uses two layers of blades in the head instead of three, it doesn’t have a flexible head and it costs almost twice as much. And like the Liberex shaver, you’ll have to fork over for the replacement cartridges.
But at the end of the day, the BaKblade gets the job done, so if you have a gift card or there’s a discount on it, you could do a lot worse. It’s still better than 90 percent of other back shavers out there. If you’re willing to spend a little bit more, BaKblade has a newer model, the BaKblade 2.0 Elite Plus, which uses three layers of blades instead of two. The same caveats apply, but again, it’ll definitely help you shave your back with ease.
3. Bro Shaver Back Hair Shaver
BEST FOR REPLACING BLADES
If you’re anything like us, you probably wondered why there isn’t a back shaver that uses good old cheap safety razor blades. Well, the simple answer is that there is a back shaver that does, the Bro Shaver Back Hair Shaver. It’s designed to take any brand of double-edge razor blades, which drives the cost per use way down, so it’s significantly cheaper than the top picks in the long run. This particular back shaver holds three razor blades, which makes the cutting surface about four-inches wide so you’ll get great coverage. The handle itself is over 20 inches long, so there’s no such thing as a hard-to-reach place. If long-term cost is your priority, then the Bro Shaver Back Hair Shaver is definitely the best back shaver for you.
4. Mangroomer Platinum Pro Electric Back Hair Shaver
BEST ELECTRIC BACK SHAVER
If the idea of using traditional razor blades on your back sounds risky, you can always go the electric shaver route. That’s where the Mangroomer Platinum Pro Electric Back Hair Shaver can change your game. It’s basically a body groomer attached to a lockable flexible handle, so you can easily bend it to reach behind your back.
It comes with three different attachment heads for all your hairy back needs, including a 2.7-inch blade head for longer hairs and larger areas, a 1.8-inch head for detailing and a foil shaver head for upkeep. Among those three heads, you should have no trouble keeping your back hair in check and all three can be rinsed with water for cleaning.
Like all self-respecting electric grooming tools, the Platinum Pro shaver uses a lithium battery and boasts a battery light to help you know how much juice you’ve got.
5. The Art of Shaving Pre-Shave Oil, Lavender
BEST SHAVE OIL
We’ve checked out the best shave oils before, and our top-reviewed pick, the Art of Shaving Pre-Shave Oil, is well-suited to the task of back shaving. It’s got lots of ingredients that improve glide and soothe your skin, including castor seed oil, olive oil and lavender oil. Using a bit of this on your back will go a long way to make your shave smooth and pain-free.
6. Omiro Extra Large Hand Mirror
BEST HAND MIRROR
Though you don’t necessarily need a hand mirror, we recommend the Omiro Extra Large Hand Mirror to improve visibility. It’s got a decent handle, it’s pretty cheap and the mirror is nine inches wide and 7.9 inches tall in a rectangle shape, which is plenty of viewing space to help you check in on your back against your large bathroom mirror.
How To Shave Your Back
Now that you’ve got a sense of the products you’ll need and hopefully picked up your preferred back shaver, let’s run through how to shave your back.
- No matter what, you’re going to want to be in the bathroom for this because the two best places to shave your back are: the shower or in front of your big bathroom mirror.
- Shaving your back in the shower is the easiest and the most comfortable due to the constant running water, but you are likely to miss spots and will have to double-check in the mirror when you get out. Shaving in front of the mirror means you can use a hand mirror to watch while you shave and also apply a shave oil to help with glide and comfort. Regardless of where you choose, the shave technique will be more or less the same.
- If you’re not shaving in the shower, we recommend rubbing some oil on your back as best as you can. Oil works well because it runs and is super slick. Try letting some run from your shoulders down and rubbing it around as best as you can or put some on your hands and try to reach around. To get the top of your back, reach across your body and over your shoulder to get one side and vice versa for the other. To get your mid and lower back, try bending over and reaching behind you with both arms to rub some oil in. Any amount of oil coverage is better than none and will result in less itchiness afterward.
- Now that your back is ready, grab one of your handy back shavers, a hand mirror if you wish and stand with your back toward your bathroom mirror.
- Start shaving! Because visibility will still be tricky, we recommend starting with the back shaver in your dominant hand and reaching over the opposite shoulder and trying to shave as much surface area as you can. Remember to be gentle and let the shaver do the work.
- Start from the bottom and work your way up as though you were trying to paint vertical stripes on your back, pausing to rinse out or wipe the back shaver as needed. It helps to bend over and give your back a slight forward bend or arch. This will turn your back into one long curved surface, which will be easier to shave. We recommend sticking with your dominant hand and moving your arm over your head as you move across your back. It is possible to shave your whole back with one arm, but once you’ve moved across the center vertical line of your back, you can switch to your non-dominant hand if the angles are easier for you. For areas on your lower back, it can be easier to reach across your body under your opposite arm and around your back to shave horizontally. Every set of arms is different, so go with the method that gives you the most control and back coverage.
- When you’re finished, and this may be the most difficult part, take a quick cold rinse in the shower. Much like you should put a cold compress on your face after shaving, your back could benefit from soothing cold water after a shave. This will also help rinse off any hair and residual oil if you chose to go that route.