To groom, or not to groom: that is the question.
Few things elicit a stronger response in people than male back hair. Some find it sexy. Others can stand the sight of it. But pretty much everyone has an opinion on the matter.
An article by Kat Stoeffel published in New York Magazine investigates this contentious and often times polarizing issue.
“Back fur is the new bush,” Stoeffel writes. “Common among adults, yet rarely seen in the wild.”
Stoeffel examines a number of people’s thoughts on the subject — from Mark Joseph Stern’s GQ article in which he concludes back hair is the only body hair that is “never sexy,” to Andrew Sullivan’s recent blog post praising it for being “a powerful visual indicator of testosterone and maleness.”
Scroll down to see photos of men showing off their very hairy backs. And sound off in the comments section below: How furry do you like your fella?
Photo credit: erotic-co
Photo credit: poiluhairy
Photo credit: poiluhairy
Photo credit: yoquierouno
Photo credit: simonliedtke
Photo credit: www.paulievernon.tumblr.com
Photo credit: www.paulievernon.tumblr.com
Photo credit: Follicly Unchallenged
Photo credit: Follicly Unchallenged
Photo credit: Fuck Yeah Middle Eastern Men
Photo credit: lovesmhairy
Photo credit: Dirty Hairy Muscle
Photo credit: onlyhairydads
Photo credit: Follicly Unchallenged
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middleagespread
Wow, delicious looking men. I am naturally smooth, love, love, love hair guys!!!!
uruz422
Yum. These men are delicious.
tdh1980
When I was a little boy, the sight of a man’s back hair revolted me. Then I became a man and developed some of my own (at the top and on the sides). Now I think it’s one of the sexiest things — on the right person, in the right amount, and with the right distribution.
Jarrod
That’s just downright scary!
jd2222248
If I had hair on my back, I would keep it too. Great guys!
boring
RIP Robin Williams.
friscoguy
Like everything else if the guy is hot and has a hairy back it won’t matter. I just met a nice furry muscular guy the other day with the cutest beard ever and he took his shirt off as we were dancing and he was hairy like an ape but on him it was soo freaking hot.
Sweet Boy
Hairy guys are hot…they get bonus points from me, I don´t understand the obsession of looking like a 15 yr old girl
elliotkelly
Never okay and, along with body odor and bad breath, a complete and utter dealbreaker. Even if a guy is sexy, as has been suggested above, this brings it all crashing down.
I know people don’t like what it does to their skin, but I get a little back hair on my shoulders and I get it waxed like clockwork every two-to-three months or so. It takes 10 minutes, costs $40, and is less painful than a Chipotle poop.
Maude
UGH A LEE!
I know a straight man whose wife demands he use ‘Nair’ hair remover.
He smears it on, and showers it off.
I’ve never seen him with his back hair, but he told me it was/is, ‘ape-like’ in layers down his back.
jaybeebrad
@elliotkelly So it is “never okay” for a man’s body to do what it naturally does whether he wants it to or not, and in order for him to be good enough for YOU he has to alter his natural body to suit your tastes?
Dxley
In the human world there’s no such thing as “natural”. If you want “natural”; I suggest you get off the Internet, strip off all your clothes, go into the wild, hunt and kill rodents among other animals with “natural” weapons and eat them raw. We’re human; we can control nature. This is ridiculous, and I do like just a little hair but not the closest thing that reminds me how closely related we’re to chimpanzees.
Ridpathos
I don’t love back hair, for back hair’s sake, but if you’re a hot guy and you happen to have back hair, I’m not going to mind.
loren_1955
Being a natural man with back hair, I have gone the full spectrum of Nair, razoring, etc. Now it’s to the point that having a hairy back is just who I am…and I don’t get many complaints either 🙂 The photos are of gorgeous men, I would enjoy being with any of them just the way they are.
Zekester
It’s like anything else. If I find a man hot and he happens to have back hair it can make him seem even hotter. If I don’t find a man hot, back hair won’t make him seem any hotter and might even make him even less attractive to me.
mz.sam
Nothing against hairy guys, but the designated catagory of men as bears. I attended a mid-summer gayfest movie screening about Bears and was surrounded by a packed theater of similar typed men. Even with the theater A/C on, it was disturbingly suffocating to sit through the screening with all that sweating ‘musk’. A little talked about subject in the admired animal kingdom…just saying.
jaybeebrad
@Dxley: …and some of us think it’s “ridiculous” to spend time, money, effort and no small amount of pain to intentionally remove any or all of the hair that is coming out of your body to look like a pre-pubsecent teenager. That being said I would never dis or be unkind to a man who is naturally smooth.
vive
Hairy guys can be hot. But there are a lot of hairy guys who think it is “natural” not to wash carefully. Nothing worse than that oniony funk.
Merv
To each his own, but I don’t want any more body hair above the waist than a nice treasure trail. I’m not advocating shaving or waxing, but it’s great if it’s that way naturally. It’s rarer in Caucasian guys, but pretty common in East Asian African, and other guys, so those complaining that it’s not natural among adult men don’t have a leg to stand on. It’s actually very natural, and possibly even the norm. Even among Europeans it’s not that rare. I’m of European extraction, and have no back hair and very little chest hair.
NoCagada
@vive: Now, that was incredibly stupid.
NoCagada
Amazing…gays complain because they aren’t accepted as they are and here they are doing the same thing to each other.
singleguyma
Woof!!! Bring on the back hair! Nothing like cuddling up with with a male furball. I have a preference for overly hairy but just embrace whatever you have.
SFHandyman
I love everything that makes a man look more manly and that includes body hair. I like as much as possible. I’m not adverse to smooth guys but it is the hairy ones I really want to cuddle with.
Robin Williams R.I.P. probably ranked really high on the hairiest actor list. In looking at photos of Robin this week I noticed his really handsome adult son Zak possibly inherited his Dad’s hairiness. At least his chest. Every photo where he has an open neck on his shirt and sometimes even when he is buttoned up, there is a very healthy tuft of chest hair asserting its dominance. Good for him.
Kangol
Lord have mercy! Yes, more of these hot specimens!
vive
@NoCagada, may well be, but care to explain?
Jasonforever
@Maude: Tell him to get a Brazilian back! Braziianback.com
Jasonforever
@Jasonforever:Brazilianback.com
RJPinUSN
A hairy back is SEXY!!! A guy that gets nicknamed Chewbacca is what I like to be with.
ZachT
Rawr! Most of these dudes (esp the first pic) are smokin HOT!
Love a hairy guy, back and all. don’t care if its trimmed and maintained or natural.
moderately hairy guy here and wish i had more
run666
@Maude:
Damm thats hot, if a woman or a man is attracted to a man why would they want a hairless smooth man that looks like a little boy before puberty. Im straight beleive it or not but i find a hairy chest, back and upper shoulders on a man extremely sexy esspecially if the guy is stocky. Its a more manly look…