Loading ...I say this not only because I’m probably about a link and a half away evolutionarily from what’s known in cryptozoological circles as yeti, but also because there was a time where a healthy dose of hair was good and manly. Yep. To be a hairy dude is to be a manly dude.
Don’t mistake this for my saying that you’re less a man if you just don’t grow scads of hair all over your body–that’s not it at all. But there’s definitely something to the notion that being hairy makes a man feel a bit more manly, at a minimum. It’s something that appeals on some level to our inner caveman, that part of us which likes machetes, MMA, and pushups.
Of course, hairy guys over the last 15 or so years have been pushed out to the margins of what’s considered to be “good-looking” in a lot of ways, especially lately with the uploading of the word “manscaping” into our mainstream lexicon. We’ve got fellas who are waxing eyebrows like crazy, tearing (TEARING!) the hair from their chests, backs, and tender spots, and perhaps saddest of all, fellas who aren’t letting their beards grow out even a little bit. Again, don’t get me wrong–if you’re into shaving and all that junk, have at it, by all means. But it doesn’t change the fact of your manhood to let it go. In fact, I’d argue that it’s manlier to just let the chest go bushy.
Insert argument about how “being yourself” is the most important thing right about here, yeah?
So, the formerly-hairy guys are saying this: “You’re an idiot. Chicks want a smooth-chested guy.” Okay–if a woman is going to change her mind about you based on the amount of hair on your body, then she’s shallow and doesn’t deserve your or anyone else’s attention. End of story. It seems like so much of this cosmetic stuff, for both men and women, is for the purpose of impressing one another.
Pretty is good. Handsome is good. Working at this is good. But how much change should you have to make to achieve this?
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Front pg. thumb: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevegatto/ / CC BY 2.0
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Hooray for hair! Mmmm…hairy guys are sexy guys!