Your body during puberty

Your body during puberty

When you reach puberty your body changes. What happens exactly?

Dark-haired young man with a towel on his shoulder

Hair growth

Between the ages of 11 and 16, hair starts growing in various places. Soft at first, then more wiry. You grow hair on your upper lip, your cheeks, your armpits, around your penis and on your scrotum. Much later, you grow chest hair.

Growing

You are more likely to have a growth spurt around the age of 14: You can start growing fast. Your shoulders get broader, as well as your chest. Girls start growing earlier than boys do; around 12 years old.

Sweating

During puberty you might sweat more, especially under your arms, and this may smell. It’s completely normal. Washing every day and changing your clothes regularly is a good idea. Using a deodorant also helps.

Spots

Hormones are responsible for making the skin a bit oilier. That leads to spots. Do you suffer from this? Wash your face with a cleansing gel to make your skin less oily. Don’t use ordinary soap: it often dries your skin out too much. Your skin reacts by producing even more oil, resulting in even more spots.

Voice breaks

Around the age of 14, your voice gets deeper, and some odd noises may emerge. This is what you call ‘the voice breaking’. Luckily, this is temporary; after a while, it all sorts itself out.

Penis and scrotum

The penis and scrotum grow during puberty. The scrotum gets bigger first, then the penis. The penis first gets fatter, then longer. Most boys have an adult penis at 15 years old.

Erection

An erection means you have a stiff penis. Your penis gets harder and a bit larger. When you’re turned on, you get an erection. A stiff penis makes it easier to have sex. It’s hard to get a soft penis into a vagina.

Spontaneous erections

Sometimes you have an erection when you’re not turned on and when you don’t want it. This can be embarrassing, but don’t worry, after a while these spontaneous erections go away.

First ejaculation

Somewhere between 11 and 16 years old, you have your first ejaculation. That sometimes happens as a ‘wet dream’: you have a spontaneous ejaculation while sleeping. You notice that the bed is a bit damp when you wake up. That doesn’t mean you’ve wet the bed, but that you’ve had your first ejaculation.

Semen

The ejaculation fluid is called semen. Semen consists of a sticky white fluid containing millions of sperm. Every male body (from puberty on) and every man have semen.