Quoted message said:I have a younger brother who is taking up swimming as his favorite sport.
He is beginning to get body hair, chest, legs. What product(s) do you
recommend to solve his problem?
At the age group level, I wouldn't worry about it.
At the top levels of competition, essentially all elite swimmers shave
their body hair before a big meet. Most (both male and female) also
wear swim caps, but a few even shave their heads.
Between those two, I'd suggest talking to the coach. High schoolers
might shave a couple times a year before major meets.
The benefit of shaving is a bit controversial. The general opinion is
that the effect of the swim caps is small (maybe a few percent at most),
and that of shaving body hair is even smaller (probably less than 1%).
But at the top level of competition, 1% may be significant. And you
feel faster.
There's been some idle speculation in this newsgroup that body hair may
actually be beneficial if the swimmer is wearing one of those
super-expensive body suits. I'm not convinced that there's any
significant benefit, but according to those people who support the idea
air trapped under the suit at each hair may add a bit of buoyancy. I'm
not aware of any independent attempts to measure such a benefit.
Ross