We don’t know about you, but we get all our sex and relationship advice from Cosmopolitan, which just informed us about a recent non-scientific survey of 1,000 guys about their body-grooming habits.
Turns out, a whopping 95% say they manscape to some degree. Of course, that could mean anything from trimming the hair growing out of their nose before it reaches their sideburns to the full Powder look. Anecdotally, though, it seems as if most of the bro-mans are taking the clippers South of the Border:
Men go as far as to say it’s weird when they find out one of their buddies doesn’t prune his pubic hair. “On a spring-break trip with my boys, I noticed that one guy in our group had what looked like a bush that was trying to escape from his swim trunks,” says Tunde, 27. “I told him to look around at the rest of us — no one else had anything like that going on. By the next day, he had shaved.”
As it became okay for men to wear things like designer jeans and use high-end lotions and gels, they started to tend more to their body hair. Women noticed and liked it — which set fire to the trend and sent the clippers heading south. “I ask every guy at my salon why he came in,” Pham says. “If he’s straight, it’s always, always to make his pubic area more…appetizing…to his girlfriend or women in general.”
There might be some medical benefit to mowing the lawn: According to Bloomberg News, cases of crabs in Sydney men plummeted since pubic grooming became a thing. “Male cases have fallen 80% from about 100 a decade ago.”
Of course, as Cosmo points out, not all guys want a bare field—most just want “a manicured patch” above the main event. Most, but not all
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…Then there are the creative thinkers. “I had one client who wanted his favorite football team’s logo waxed into his crotch,” Pham says. A few of the guys we talked to have gotten a down-pointing arrow, a unicorn, and — our personal favorite — a second penis.”
Is that supposed to make the real thing look bigger by comparison?
Image: Philips Body Groomer
MuscleModelBlog.com
I wonder if “manscaping” is really as common as this article suggests. If Cosmopolitan (which is a great magazine, by the way), conducted the survey…their pool of respondents is probably more likely to be urban, trendy, men…who may be more inclined to grooming. Just my two cents…
AgentCooper
I think that what these stats tell us is that 95% of men that read Cosmopolitan manscape. Considering that demographic, the number isn’t surprising.
Some men actually like male secondary sex characteristics. I think the pre-pubescent smooth look is waning from what I can tell, beards are in style these days.
That said, everyone should trim ear hair, which is a cruel joke on the evolutionary path
jwrappaport
I’m with Freud: most things are about acquiring sex. I certainly wouldn’t take the painstaking, meticulous steps to manscape if I didn’t think anyone would see the results.
It’s a lot like the tree in the forest question: what does a smooth bum feel like if there’s no one there to touch it? Please discuss.
GayTampaCowboy
I think the KEY part of this article is that cosmo didn’t break out the degrees of manscaping…as they said, “that could mean anything from trimming the hair growing out of their nose before it reaches their sideburns to the full Powder look.”
jerbear
Obviously there is some response bias in this survey. I agree with jwrapport though, if no one was going to put their face on my junk, then I wouldn’t bother keeping things tidy. It’s sometimes painful (I know doing it wrong if it’s painful) and takes a long time (yes I’m hairy lol).
yaoming
My boyfriend used to trim. Thankfully, I talked him out of that bad habit.
What happened to keeping it natural?
Triple S
I’m 18 and I think there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of hair on a guy’s body. I’m not a sculpted Olympian 😛 So my scraggly and gross hair on my body is only exacerbated in its crappiness 😛 Maybe time will help its development. But yeah, hair on a guy is natural and perfectly fine. I go for the ‘developed’ look. Not some preservation of hairlessness to imitate youthfulness. Embrace a 30 year old body for goodness’ sake!
alterego1980
I remember that Gillette had a funny “how to” web commercial showing guys(target audience was straight young male adults) how to trim down there. The tag line was something like “trim the bushes so the tree looks taller”. I think the ad was genius marketing and it’s true enough. Just like others have said, it’s all sex driven. Trim to impress, and to keep my boyfriend from choking when he’s on my ballz. Just saying…
mpwaite
I have a few straight friends (guys) who manicure; pedicure; groom and shave their pubes. It’s a totally accepted thing in the straight world. Leave it to straight men to be the last ones to “get” it.
trelin
Does anyone really like a furry tushie? Especially for a bottom…is that even desirable for a top?
Fwan
I personally don’t like guys that trimmed. I mean, if you prefer getting rid of all the body hair because of perspiration issues, then good. But the appeal of smooth skin gives me nothing. I prefer guys who embrace their bodies.
Kwei
@AgentCooper: And nose hair, PLEASE!
kurt_t
I’m married to Chewbacca. It’s never been a problem for me. Never understood what all the fuss was about.
Ottoman
And just last month, Queerty was reporting on a Manhunt survey that found most gay men preferred that men didn’t manscape.
hyhybt
@Ottoman: That’s really not a contradiction, both because this is speaking largely of men who do it to be more attractive to *women* and because people aren’t all that good at knowing what their target audience wants.
And that, of course, is assuming both articles are reasonably accurate.
It reminds me of a story I ran across a few months ago, where a guy had spend huge amounts of time and effort removing paint and sealant from the staircase of the house he’d just bought in favor of stained, finished wood. The staircase had already *been* like that for over a century, until the real estate agent convinced the previous owner that the house would never sell unless he painted the stairs.
HandsomeHomebody
What razor is that in the picture?
tidalpool
I live in a small town, about 6,000 total. After reading this, I asked every guy in my office, all the guys at the ranch, and 2 of my close friends. One guy says his G/F trims him into a heart shape on Valentines day, a shamrock near St. Patricks day.etc. One fellow claimed he shaved in college as he was on the swim team, but hated the growing back phase, so he never continued the practice. Those were the two affirmatives out of 38 men. could be small town, could be Texas, or it could be Southern baptists….take your pick.
R. Deron
I’m Native American. Manscape what?
D9W
@AgentCooper said: “… That said, everyone should trim ear hair, which is a cruel joke on the evolutionary path …”
You can thank the grandmothers from your family for that one. They chose the guy with hair in his ear/nose/on his back/arm pits/chest and elsewhere to be your grandpa’s. I guess they thought the more hair( and more smell) the more attractive.
The one I don’t get has to do with ass crack hair? Why There? I know it does two things- one to help with friction, the other just like arm pits’ smells, it holds some scents that some females find attractive ( I am not saying I do, just that it’s part of the symphony of smells we humans make that’s tied to hair that our grandmother must have liked).
hyhybt
@R. Deron: Thank you for filling in information I’d never even thought to wonder about up until now.
@D9W: Somehow I doubt more people are turned on than off by ass smell.
Allen D.
I let whoever I’m dating dictate what I do (because I honestly don’t care one way or the other). Every guy has requested no manscaping at all. So, survey says, women are complicated.
EManhattan
I’m mainly a bottom, myself – but have been inspired to flip by men with small, very hairy butts. I love very hairy butts!
I’ve always liked hairy men – thick bushes, hairy backs, the works. It’s much nicer than that pre-pubescent look that shaved or waxed men usually end up with. I’ve never been attracted to little boys, so I don’t understand men who imitate them and think it’s sexy.
I also find some naturally smooth men seriously attractive. The texture of their smoothness is very different from the texture of hairy men who shave or wax, though, and the small amount of body hair they have is also qualitatively different from the little patches sometimes left by body shavers and waxers.
If you shave or wax, don’t assume that the results will be universally admired – some men will like it, others will think it’s necessary because it’s currently fashionable, a lot of men won’t like it at all.
Aidan8
@EManhattan: I don’t groom and attend to hygiene because it’s “fashionable” or because I want to look like a “little boy.” I’m naturally only somewhat hairy, so I don’t “manscape” or wax. I have a little chest hair and it runs down my abdomen. I happen to like smooth or less hairy men… not “boys.” And I don’t look “pre-pubescent” either… (maybe college-age, well, not really) lol Anyway, why people make this an ideological issue I’ll never understand. If you like to be hairy and not groom, don’t groom. If you like to groom, do it. Does everything have to be an ideological argument?
hyhybt
@Aidan8: But don’t you just love the insinuation that preferring to be hairless, or preferring someone who is, means you’re into children? Don’t we get enough of that from the AFA?
princedeligne
I understand some trimming, but I think it has gone overboard indeed. Completely bare is a “look” that few men can pull off. Plus, a penis with no hair can look odd.
I blame pornography, I can’t remember the last time I saw a man completely natural south of the border. A mans pubic hair can be very sexy & erotic , why get rid of it?
hyhybt
@princedeligne: Penises are odd-looking things anyway, on general principle.
tidalpool
like every fad, this whole manscaping thing can go to far. Its like skinny jeans with saggy butts…ughhhh, whats wrong with decent fitting pants that show the essentials, and allow one to walk, run or jump on a bike w/o looking like some Bieber Boy?