I shave my chest, stomach, pubes and ***, only thing i leave is the happy trail. It's honestly not that big of a deal, i do it every other day in the shower, adds like 5 minutes to my showers and is pretty **** easy to wash it all away when I'm done.
Honestly when i do let my chest hair grow a little it grows faster, but it's never came in thicker, just quicker. None of my hair has really gotten any thicker it just starts growing faster and faster, which makes me wish i had never started shaving cuz then i wouldn't care or notice how quick my hair was growing.