primitives discuss clean-shaven men

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x8946814

Oh my.

question everything  (1000+ posts)        Thu Jul-23-09 10:14 PM
Original message
 
Do Women Like Men Quite That Cleanshaven?

AMERICAN women didn’t shave their armpits en masse until the 1920s, after a perfect storm of sleeveless dresses and a barrage of advertisements by depilatory makers characterized underarm hair as ugly. Next came the tarnishing of women’s leg hair. By the 1930s, beauty writers scolded women with forests under their silk stockings. Decades later, what began as a fad had solidified into custom. Girls coming of age no longer needed to be told their leg hair was unsightly. They got rid of it. Can the same thing happen with men?

These days, the hair on men’s chests, backs, armpits and even “down there” has become suspect — if you believe the marketing campaigns. Several recent online videos created by brands like Gillette recast hair removal below the neck as the domain of average Joes. Having a chest as smooth as Matthew McConaughey’s is old hat for competitive swimmers, urbane insiders who became swept up in the metrosexual moment and some gay men who have long embraced hairlessness. To play Brüno, a gay fashion reporter who favors hot pants, the formerly hirsute Sacha Baron Cohen endured repeated waxathons to get bare nearly everywhere. But now evidence from market research and academia indicates that more men are removing hair from their chests, armpits and groins. The phenomenon skews to mostly college-age guys or those in their 30s. Reasons run the gamut from Because My Girlfriend Likes It to a desire to flaunt a six-pack or be clean.

(snip)

Little research has been done on male body depilation. But a 2005 study published in the journal Sex Roles found that 63.6 percent of 118 men at the University of South Florida said they trimmed or removed body hair below the neck to be hygienic and attractive. And in a yet-to-be-published survey of 364 male students at the same university, more than 80 percent said they engaged in body depilation, said Michael Boroughs, the lead author of both studies and a graduate student in psychology. What’s more, he added, there was no statistically significant difference in the number of gay and straight men who tamed the hair on their chests, abs and groin. Unsurprisingly, the loudest voices making the case for so-called manscaping are the creators of the five-blade shavers, multitasking gels and gadgets made specifically for trimming and shaving in the shower.

What may surprise, however, is how candid the pitches are, and that no fewer than four brands have broached the seemingly treacherous topic of manscaping. In May, Gillette started a series of how-to and why-do-it videos online suggesting that men go further with body shaving. The rationale varied by part. Chest? “A sweater should be bought not grown.” Armpits? “An empty stable smells better than a full one.” And their coup de grâce is the groin: “Trees look taller when there’s no underbrush.” A muscular cartoon with pixeled privates even shows how to get bare without putting “your equipment at risk.”

(snip)

Yet, do women prefer their men sleek? Not necessarily. Hairless armpits can be a deal breaker, which is odd, because those female naysayers may shave their underarms. Asbellgrad commented about a Gillette video on YouTube: “Trust me, a girl is turned off by a man who shaves his armpits. It’s kind of weird and creepy. Unless you’re an Olympic swimmer.” Plenty of female commenters online dislike suitors with less body hair than they have. As Eleanorxjane wrote about a chest-shaving video on YouTube, “i want a real man, not one that’s trying to look like he’s 12 again!” Having hair on one’s chest — as the expression suggests — signals maturity and boldness.

(snip)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/fashion/09Skin.html

HopeHoops  (1000+ posts)      Thu Jul-23-09 10:15 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. My wife likes my face fur long, soft, and bushy.

Razor stubble isn't any fun - especially in certain places.

Grandma:

hippywife  (1000+ posts)        Thu Jul-23-09 10:15 PM
Response to Original message
 
2. I certainly don't.

My husband isn't terribly hairy but I don't mind a single hair on his body in the least. Love him exactly the way he is.

mitchum  (1000+ posts)      Thu Jul-23-09 10:17 PM
Response to Original message
 
3. I don't understand how men can have the appeal of the Other...to women if they are so cleanshaven

question everything  (1000+ posts)        Thu Jul-23-09 10:21 PM
Response to Reply #3
 
5. All the men in my family are pretty hairy

not on the back but chest, arms legs..

I remember once my mother talking about someone with a hairless chest. She shivered and said how slimy it looked..

Withywindle (1000+ posts)      Thu Jul-23-09 10:24 PM
Response to Original message
 
6. I don't find it appealing at all.

I like a little reminder of our animal natures.

Now, a thick all-over gorilla pelt isn't attractive either - but neither is total hairlessness below the neck. I can't help but wonder if there's some chromosomal issue or some past bout with nuclear radiation they're not telling me about. Happy medium is the way to go, guys.

mwooldri  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jul-24-09 01:08 AM
Response to Original message
 
7. I have exactly one chest hair, and no back hairs to mention of any significance.

What hair I have on my arms is fine, blonde and not in big number. Same for my legs.

Chin and moustache do grow, even somewhat scraggily. I have some underarm hair and some "down there".

My wife says she prefers me with facial hair. I have a love-hate relationship with that... too long and it irritates me to pieces. Shaven is OK, but when your wife pinches your razor to the point you can't find it, shaving daily isn't done. So I live with some facial hair most of the time anyway.

MilesColtrane  (1000+ posts)      Fri Jul-24-09 01:24 AM
Response to Original message
 
8. No manscaping for me.

I might consider it if I looked like Robin Williams.

BarenakedLady  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jul-24-09 01:32 AM
Response to Original message
 
9. Depends

I don't mind soft facial hair, which is better than razor stuble imo. Chest hair is ok, to a point. I don't care for back hair at all. Knuckles either. I'm probably shallow that way.

I dunno.

[The Village Idiot]

TMI

[mamacags]

I like men hairy, really really really hairy.  Confused for Bigfoot hairy.  That's the way I roll.  However I liked a shaved or bald head to go with the ape like body hair.  I think it is sexy.

[GOBUCKS]

A man has shaven pits or pubes for one of only two reasons:
He's gay, or he's recovering from an infestation of crab lice.
Any other reason given is simply to avoid admitting to one of those two.

[Servonaut]

A man has shaven pits or pubes for one of only two reasons:
He's gay, or he's recovering from an infestation of crab lice.
Any other reason given is simply to avoid admitting to one of those two.

 

[Ree]

WTF??? I want a MAN not a little boy...ICK!!!

[The Village Idiot]

WTF??? I want a MAN not a little boy...ICK!!!

I bet there is at least one Congress who disagrees with you

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

HopeHoops  (1000+ posts)      Thu Jul-23-09 10:15 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. My wife likes my face fur long, soft, and bushy.

It tickles his balls.

[JohnnyReb]

It's a big issue for DUmmie women because they have more hair than their men.

[DixieBelle]

I find it funny that the DUmmies are discussing hygiene at all.

[Chris_]

I find it funny that the DUmmies are discussing hygiene at all.

I was thinking the same thing.....

[Rebel]

WTF??? I want a MAN not a little boy...ICK!!!

Well, you won't want me. I'm clean-shaven and the only hair on my body is a little on my abdomen and a patch between my pecks. At 36, I've given up having a hairy chest. I have a little, but Chewbacca I ain't.

[AllosaursRus]

Counts me out too. I have plenty of facial, and er.... lower abdomen hair, but that's it. Too much Arapaho in my ancestry for anything else. Doesn't seem to annoy "Toots" at all. LOL!

[delilahmused]

I love my husband's hairy chest and I've never seen him without a mustache. He says I never will while he's alive. I told him I'm shaving it after he dies just so I can see his face without it, just before I give him a Viking burial. I figure I'll put him in his drift boat, float him out to the middle of our (VERY large) pond and let his sons shoot flaming arrows at it. There's a couple parts I wish I could keep, though.

Cindie

[Ree]

Well, you won't want me. I'm clean-shaven and the only hair on my body is a little on my abdomen and a patch between my pecks. At 36, I've given up having a hairy chest. I have a little, but Chewbacca I ain't.

Are ya "manscaping"? Or do ya just have what ya have? I don't want a guy who shaves his pits...

[Rebel]

Are ya "manscaping"? Or do ya just have what ya have? I don't want a guy who shaves his pits...

Shave my pits? Hell no. I don't shave anything but my face. I was military and it kinda stayed with me. Also why I keep my hair short.

[NHSparky]

Yep--the gene fairy did not bless me with much body hair.  Even the facial hair isn't exactly attractive, which is why I keep it down.  I've thought about growing a beard, but after a month of patchy crap growing in, said to hell with it.  Also the head gets cut like I was still on active duty.  Just easier to clean and when you're working in someplace particularly nasty and hot, doesn't get too horrible afterwards.

[DumbAss Tanker]

A man has shaven pits or pubes for one of only two reasons:
He's gay, or he's recovering from an infestation of crab lice.
Any other reason given is simply to avoid admitting to one of those two.

 

Hear, hear!

[JohnnyReb]

A man has shaven pits or pubes for one of only two reasons:
He's gay, or he's recovering from an infestation of crab lice.
Any other reason given is simply to avoid admitting to one of those two.

Well, if it's a shoddy HALF-assed job, one might have just been in for surgery.

Just call me homophobic but I swear if the dude shaving me had showed the slightest sign of enjoying himself, I would have broken his arm.

[BlueStateSaint]

Well, if it's a shoddy HALF-assed job, one might have just been in for surgery.

I can tell you from firsthand (no pun intended) info--hernia repair will require half-shaving.

[miskie]

Thankfully I don't have hairy knuckles, toes, backs of hands or feet, and only somewhat hairy arms. Everywhere else though... Lets just say that fire isn't my friend... And unlike most people who have a lot of body hair, I still have a full head of hair as well. Well, thats nature, I suppose.