page_title: Puberty
section_title: Body hair and skin changes
hierarchical_section_title: Puberty / Body changes in males / Body hair and skin changes
context_page_description: Puberty is what happens in children's bodies that changes them into adults. After puberty, people are able to make children. A girl who has gone through puberty can become pregnant and have a baby. At puberty, a boy's body begins making sperm, and he starts to be able to ejaculate, which is semen coming out from his penis when he is sexually excited. If he has sexual intercourse with a girl, he can make her pregnant.
  Puberty is started by hormones, which are chemicals that tell parts of the body to do things. Today, on average, girls start puberty at age 10 or 11, and boys at age 11 or 12. However, people all over the world start puberty at different ages. Changes that happen to boys and girls during puberty include the sex organs growing bigger, hair appearing on the body, and growing taller and stronger. These changes are called secondary sex characteristics. People often notice boys' voices getting deeper, and girls growing breasts and starting to menstruate.
  Because puberty is the time in a child's life when he or she becomes able to make children, this is seen as very important. Therefore, people in many countries around the world have different ways of marking this event.
context_section_description: Not long after a boy's testicles and penis start to grow, pubic hair (pronounced [ˈpjuːbik], PEW-bik) begins to appear. Pubic hair is hair that grows in the pubic region, which is the part of the body where the penis is. Pubic hair is shorter, curlier and rougher than hair on the head. It usually starts growing on the abdomen above the penis at the place where it joins the body. (The abdomen is the part of the torso where the navel or bellybutton is.) There may also be some hair on the scrotum. After about six months to a year, there will be a large triangle of hair in the pubic region. Within three to four years after puberty begins, there is a lot of pubic hair in the area above the penis. Later on, pubic hair also grows on the abdomen upwards towards the navel and on the insides of the thighs.
  About two years after pubic hair starts to appear, hair also grows on other parts of the body:
  In the armpits.
  Around the anus.
  On the upper lip, forming a mustache (also spelled moustache in the United Kingdom and other countries).
  On the sides of the face in front of the ears, forming sideburns.
  Around the nipples.
  On the lower part of the face, forming a beard.
  The hair on the arms, legs, chest, abdomen and back may also become thicker. Different men have different amounts of body hair. Many boys begin shaving when hair starts growing on their faces.
  A larger amount of male hormones in the body cause changes to perspiration (sweat). This gives it a more "adult" body odor or smell. The hormones also cause sebaceous glands in the skin to make more sebum, a type of oil that keeps the skin from getting too dry. Sebum and dead skin cells can mix with a type of germ called bacteria and block pores (tiny openings) in the skin. This causes a skin problem called acne. Most people get acne during puberty. When a person has acne, he gets swellings on his skin called blackheads, whiteheads and pimples. Blackheads and whiteheads are painless, but pimples can be red and painful. They usually form on the face but can also appear on the neck, shoulders, upper back and chest. Oil glands on scalp – the part of the head on which hair grows – also make a lot of sebum. This can cause dandruff, in which small white bits of skin fall from the scalp.
caption: During puberty, hair starts appearing on the face
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