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The Return of Chest Hair
The seventies and eighties were gloriously thatchy time to be alive: Burt Reynolds was almost indistinguishable from the bear rug on which he lolled in Cosmo. The front-pelts of Ted Danson and Tom Selleck practically sprouted through the TV screen. Albert Brooks in Modern Romance was as hairy as the drain in a Greek locker room. When the Daily Beast reached out to Steve Guttenberg, one of the kings of bearing man fur, he was aware of his legacy, exclaiming: “Chest hair? Lancaster, Connery, Guttenberg, need I say more???”
My own obsession with chest hair began with Harrison Ford. I was exactly thirteen when I saw him in Working Girl. I think puberty set in sometime around the end of the first act, right after he ripped off his shirt, revealing a perfect chest drizzled with a wonderfully even hair growth. He had his way with Melanie Griffith, and then ordered her Chinese food. Ever since then, I’ve been hooked on torso-fro.
By the nineties, a period of male-pattern chest baldness had entered pop culture. Much is made of women’s hemlines as indicators of economic mood, but the financial upswing that was the bulk of the Clinton years seemed, sadly, to create a taste for smoother, more boyish men. Geena Davis was gorgeous, but when a young Brad Pitt appeared next to her (and then on top of her) in Thelma and Louise, her looks were no match for his follicle-free form. I remember sitting in the audience, baffled: How is this guy prettier than she is? Music offered no relief, as hair-free boy bands like New Kids on the Block and ‘N Sync ascended the charts.
Along came Titanic, and Leonardo DiCaprio took the hairless baton from Pitt; and with these pinkinshly naked men causing mass swoons across the country (DiCaprio was getting so many numbers he had to form a “pussy posse” just to handle it all) a scary thing happened—men started waxing. And shaving. The metrosexual, along with his tell-tale five o clock trunk shadow, was born.
A quick note on the two kinds of hairless men. It’s one thing for guys to be genetically hairless. Women are a very forgiving group (Scott Peterson still gets love letters in prison.) That said, an extremely scientific email poll of my three best friends yielded a unanimous result on this issue: No one had any tolerance for male waxing, deeming it “too vain and feminine.” One friend said her crush on Daniel Craig was tempered by her belief that his smooth chest is the result of salon intervention.
As a chest hair lover, I pride myself on my hair-dar; that is, being able to surmise at a glance who’s packing wool and who’s not. Which is why Barack Obama’s infamous beach photo took me by complete surprise. I’d predicted a light but noticeable dusting; but even upon CSI level zooming, his skin appeared unsullied.
Ah, well. Nothing will put hair on your chest like being elected President of the United States.
Jessi Klein is a writer and comedian who has frequently appeared on Comedy Central, CNN, VH1, and the Today show. She is currently writing a screenplay for Universal Studios, as well as occasionally drawing animals for her best friend’s letterpress card company. She also likes to think she has value as a human being aside from her numerous credits in the entertainment industry.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Let's hope Hugh Jackman bings back the chest fro. After all, he is the sexiest man "alive".
I, too, have always been a chest hair fan (but only on men). A man with no hair on his chest is like a prepubescent boy, as far as I'm concerned (however, I'm not so crazy about a thick hair coat on a man's back). Unless you're a pedophile, who can get aroused over a smooth chest, especially if you suspect that it's been waxed off? Despite his Republican status, I found (still find) Selleck hot, and it's mostly because of his luxuriant, toasty pelt.
Here here! I'm excited to see that the trend may be reversing (though I think the age of the mustache can probably continue its haitus). I've met many women who initially balked at the torfro, but they were always push overs, and were relatively quick to admit that they secretly liked it. This article should be required reading for any single woman who is crazy enough to still thinking that a waxing beau is more manly
You're atypical limited-minded White American when talking about the body, Ms. Klein.
You could really move along with the New Day, the future. You had a chance. You were actually writing about something that is a sign of self-acceptance and naturalness. Which is something the African-American community has been struggling with for a couple of centuries.
Being a Rennaisance single African-American female, I looove White men with chest hair-NICE! And Jon Hamm is so hot it's crazy!
What about African-American men, Ms. Klein? You mentioned Barack Obama. Well, maybe they're the only men that can pull off the hairless bit! Or maybe, their little curls and kinks-are NOT attractive! Or just plain funny! I go with both.
But it good to see the White man's hairy chest back. Hope it's for many, many, many generations to come.
You have good taste--hirsute Hugh Jackman and Clive Owen in, slick Brad Pitt and all those Peter Pan types out. I would only add that the return of the he-man look does not mean we're abandoning the metrosexual. I still like a guy who is interested in dressing nicely, taking care of himself (but not waxing!), and looking good. A guy who can appreciate a strong woman. Think dominant, not domineering.
You left out Tom Ford, the fashion icon. He has propelled the coolness of the torso fro to new heights.
I think this is part of a natural trend cycle and the inevitable backlash against "metrosexual" men. I have quite the hairy chest and have never shaved it and I have not ever had a single complaint from any girlfriend my entire life. Quite the opposite, they all loved it, loved to touch it, play with it, rub it, etc. And I've heard variations on the comment "you're so manly" from girls for years, which I definitely take as a compliment. Sure all the dudes on TV lately have had perfectly moussed hair, highlights, six pack abs and shaved chests, but I've always been able to sneer at that knowing that in the real world, ladies love a real man.
And what of the footfro? Does it not deserve its place among the hip and hispid?
most women seem to freak when men talk, positively or negatively, about a feature of womens' bodies, but i found if they see anything but boyishly bare men's bodies they screech with disgust. electric razor companies are exploiting this. it's not equality to say men have to primp like women. women who love male body hair should feel free to say so without fear!
i should add that the gay market has a growing bearchasing niche. and the business world knows that promotion of male images must consider gay consumers.
Hear, hear! I've been trying to tell my boyfriend for years that I LIKE his torfro (love that word, too :) and he was always self-conscious about it. I forwarded him this article!
Hooray for manly men! Now if back hair rallies, I'll have to keep an eye on my husband...
But Jessie....David Gergen: hirsute or not hirsute. That is the question.
I'm never sure what people mean by dressing 'nicely' and looking 'good'. What I find odd is, when I ask people what they mean, they say: 'You should know'. Well, I don't...I mean, in general, I think being clean-shaven and wearing suits is freaky. I suppose this means I really DON'T get it...I know I wouldn't date a man who did either (well, in the case of the latter, outside of work). As to looking 'good' - I've horrified people by saying who I think looks 'good', so I'll refrain here...
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Making a comback? ARFKM? Did it ever leave? REAL MEN have ALWAYS had chest hair. The men who shave their chests are the ones that have the problem.
I like a nice hairy chest. I like hair on the back, too. I do not like men shaving and removing this hair. That is what is unmanly. Before marriage, I dated men of other races and each had varying amounts of hair, as did men of my own race. Each man looked like a man, not a boy. I married my husband for reasons other than his chest hair, but I probably would not have married him if he had removed it.
No denying the appropriateness of this article to The Beast.
Hi Jessi--I'm with you girrrrl. LOVE chest hair. I love mine and I love my Boo's wooly suit. It's the best thing about a man. Great article!
The idea that gay men are responsible for the last two decades of overgrooming is rubbish, first of all. And the idea that hot masculine men with body hair are all "bears" -- please. Bear culture fetishizes bear bellies, goatees and body hair. Some of just prefer men to be themselves, smooth or hairy, without the fetishizing, and I'm glad that letting men be men is making a little comeback, however briefly.
Oh....forget the whole hair issue. I had to laugh at her saying her straight guy friends wanted to kiss this actor. Honey, no straight guy I know wants to kiss another man. Maybe your friends aren't as straight as they tell you they are.
Ultimately, I like the man....not the hair or body parts.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
" REAL MEN have ALWAYS had chest hair"? What about the millions of Africans, Asian and Hispanic men with little or no chest hair/ Are we not " REAL MEN "?
Unmentioned in this piece is the racial angle: in general, African Americans and Asians are not very hairy at all, while Indians, whites, Arabs, and others, are quite hairy. Ever see an NBA player with a lot of chest hair? Ever see an Asian guy with lots of chest hair? Think they're all waxing? Doubt it.
mmennonno: "Bear culture fetishizes bear bellies, goatees and body hair."
my friend, you just don't get bears!
As a culture, we do seem to have lost sight of 'manly' men. We've spent a lot of years and a lot of dollars fantasizing about near-androgynous men, and let's not even get started on the fixation with sexualizing prepubescent girls. I don't think it's the hair, though. I think that it's the confidence, the certainty the self-assurance that sells the package. An confident man is attractive, even if he doesn't meet the standard criteria for sex appeal. If he comes packaged like Sean Connery or Daniel Craig or Harrison Ford or Hugh Jackman, so much the better. To hair or not to hair? I'll never tell...
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