A fascinating New York Times article charts the history of manscaping — the practice by men of removing hair from their chests, back, armpits or groin area. It used to be the province of male models, athletes, and homosexuals. No longer. If you look at the mass marketing of body razors (watch the commercial below for Braun bodycruZer razor "with a special attachment for sensitive areas"), you can see that every Tom, Dick and Hairy is supposed to manscape whether or not he's an athletic, gay, male model.
One survey of 364 male students at the University of South Florida on the subject of "male body depilation" found that more than 80 percent of them depilated. (I don't think I've ever used that as a verb.) The most interesting factoid? The graduate student who is conducting the survey said that there was no statistically significant difference between the number of gay men versus straight men who manscaped. How times have changed! I'm telling you, men are the new women.
Agnes B
Browns Fashion
Sportmax
I don't like hairy men.
1I like swimmer's bodies ... lean and clean!
There's a happy medium, too. I think it's nice when the balls are shaved (it sure makes them inviting, so there's his incentive!), but the rest of the pubes should be there. I'm with an adult, not a prepubescent boy.
2I don't really care either way, same for women.
3Aside from facial shaving and haircuts, I like my men with all their hair intact.
4I bought a $1000 Tria laser to deal with my hair (thanks for the share, BTW BellaSugar!). It fraking hurts - a lot. If I have to deal with it, I have no problem with men dealing too.
5nope! I'm with GlowingMoon. And not because I weirdly love body hair, I don't at all! I am just absolutely turned off by manscaping/metrosexuality. I like manly men!
6I like most body hair on men, but honestly, if my bf wanted to shave his a$$ I wouldn't complain.
7It's an adaptive thing. It aids in swim times, and it's a good, albeit small, relief during the hot months. But yes, men are becoming the new women. Our species is making the shift to be more egalitarian and we'll all be better off for it. This all has an interesting implication about how we're now evolving as a species.
8It was so cute when my husband and I first started dating he would shave his back and chest. I told him he didn't have to do that, but he kept it up for a few months. But now he lets it grow except in the summer he does some trimming to help keep cool I guess (he's quite hairy!).
9I love the way a man's body looks with hair on it but I'm also the sort of woman who finds long hair and beards attractive. I love the contrast between the masculine qualities of body hair vs the feminine qualities of my smooth skin. I find smooth men to be a total turn off for me and consider metro-sexuality merely a surface sign of a high maintenance man.
10I prefer my men with hair. Not that I would complain if they chose to trim their pubes or pluck their unibrow, but the hairiness of men is part of what makes them attractive. It absolutely freaks me out to see a hairless man!
11I don't mind the arm, legs, or chest. The rest has to go. I have a man that's hairy so I manscape him.
12My boyfriend is naturally has no chest or back hair. So that's what I'm used to and since he's the only bf I've had I have nothing to compare it to. I don't think I would mind a little hair though but I think I would draw the line at excessive back hair
13iv been encouraging my bf to keep growing out his full beard so i guess that answers which i like more
14My hubby's been using the Tria for a while now, he shaves as well. I love it!!!
15I don't like long/thick moustaches or beards, and I don't like super hairy chests, but other than that I don't really mind the other hair.
16I manscape because I like the feeling of no hair. I shave "down there" up to my stomach. I let the hair grow on my chest but trim it short. I also trim all the other body hair I have. I find it comfortable especially in the hot weather states. My wife wasn't fond of it at first but now she says she doesn't want me to let it grow out.
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