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When did men start waxing?

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Ganesh

21:49 / 13.06.03

Glorious afternoon, and the jewels of Vauxhall's masculinity are shirtless in the park - and nobody under the age of, ooh, thirty-going-on-fortyish seems to be possessed of chest hair. Cut to 'Big Brother's Little Brother', where Dermot O'Leary and 'Heat' editor Mark Frith are pouring disapproval over housemate Jon's apparent refusal to "wax for the ladies".

Do young (straight) men wax their bodies? Did I miss the memo?

unheimlich manoeuvre

22:15 / 13.06.03

*stutters*
surely waxing is optional... i mean THEY can't force you?
can THEY?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

22:18 / 13.06.03

Waxed chests? Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Mazarine

22:19 / 13.06.03

Well, electrolysis is so expensive.

Perhaps, this time of year, barechestedness leads to a more even tan. Some ladies are fans of the unhaired chest. I myself have no preference.

w1rebaby

23:12 / 13.06.03

I've heard that the ladies like a waxed gentleman, but in my experience, nobody's ever complained. Not of course that there would be anything wrong with not liking rugged manly chest hair and preferring unthreatening hairless boy-band Kens, of course, I would never be so judgemental.

"Bird never build nest in bare tree" and similar Conneryisms.

I'd like to be the first person on this thread to say body fascism. I'm not going to elaborate, I just want to be the first person to say it.

pomegranate

23:14 / 13.06.03

wax yr back, not yr chest.

Raw Norton

02:19 / 14.06.03

My understanding was that men are waning.

Lilly Nowhere Late

04:34 / 14.06.03

I think it would even be a good idea if men were at least washing...

bio k9

06:18 / 14.06.03

laundry or dishes?

that

06:37 / 14.06.03

Doesn't matter, as long as its not with coal tar soap...

Ganesh

06:57 / 14.06.03

It just seems so... gay...

Spaniel

08:32 / 14.06.03

When I was younger I seriously considered waxing my chest. I went as far as to buy the stuff. The thing is, my chest isn't even that hairy.

If I had a hirsuite back, however, I'm pretty sure I would go the whole hog.

And I ain't gay.

Shrug

09:10 / 14.06.03

I don't see what's wrong with waxing. Personally I like chest hair though, well as long as its kept in check.

Danzig: He Pitys the Fool!

09:13 / 14.06.03

Experience tells me that a good healthy chest rug is not the problem. It's an incredibly hairy arse crack that repulses. Damn my arse carck to HELL!!

that

09:34 / 14.06.03

The idea of chest hair is much worse than the reality (unless the chest hair in question is Jon Bon Jovi's). I think that's true of a lot of things.

Actually can't say that I've ever got up close and personal with a waxed chest though I once had a relationship with a bloke who shaved his legs (for cycling purposes, in case that's relevant).

Our Lady of The Two Towers

13:11 / 14.06.03

Men, make sure you wax your palms before trying to attract ladies...

Matthew Fluxington

14:12 / 14.06.03

I'll echo the "body fascism" sentiment, and also say that I detect a sort of racism in those people who would insist that people remove their body hair. The urge to erase traces of one's ethnicity is far more repugnant than some hair on yr back, I think.

William Sack

14:21 / 14.06.03

Has anyone gone for the full Back, Sack and Crack wax?

that

14:22 / 14.06.03

Would you react similiarly in relation to women not shaving their legs?

that

14:23 / 14.06.03

That was directed at Flux, of course...

William Sack

14:26 / 14.06.03

Thanks Cholister. I was about to reply 'yes' without really knowing why.

w1rebaby

14:37 / 14.06.03

Please don't tell me people actually wax their cracks. I mean, not for fun, not recreational crack-waxing, I can believe that.

that

14:41 / 14.06.03

See, that's what always occurs to me... do people wax one another for kicks? Like, in a sexual way?

Matthew Fluxington

17:08 / 14.06.03

Yeah, pretty much, Cholister. The decision to remove one's own body hair should be a personal aesthetic decision, not one mandated by mates (potential or otherwise).

Mourne Kransky

17:57 / 14.06.03

1. It must be so sore! Are the young straight lads of London, in general, much more masochistic than I had previously suspected?

2. Been watching *Evil* Federico on BB4 as he slathers himself in creams all over each night and yet he seems, earnestly, to cultivate such an ultra-hetero self image. Is the new hyper-masculine prototype entirely depilated, with skin as soft and creamy as a newborn's butt cheeks? Maybe it's only the queers who will look like horny handed sons of toil in future. Boybands will be full of Jim Royle clones and soccer casuals will all look like Dale Winton.

Strange Machine Vs The Virus with Shoes

18:16 / 14.06.03

In small towns like South Shields, some men would regularly go to the tanning salon. They weren’t gay, (well not openly anyway) and they always used a lot of hair gel. They like to wear open shirts, and I’m sure if fashion dictated to men that they should be hairless, then they would start waxing and plucking.

Mourne Kransky

18:00 / 15.06.03

Result! Went to the Refugee Week Festival on the South Bank today and I was beset by the proudly unwaxed on all sides! Thank God for lovely migrants coming to our currently heatwoven city! I felt like Diane Fosse checking out the mountain forest in Rwanda for the first time.

Of course, the Kurdish dancers appeared to be wearing slipper socks but I'm choosing to repress that memory.

No star here laces

10:05 / 16.06.03

It's a 'hanging on to youth' thing.

Most girls seem to like it smooth, and who am I to argue...

Olulabelle

11:48 / 16.06.03

I like hairy men, actually, the hairier the better. But then I am not 'most' girls.

MJ-12

12:32 / 16.06.03

FWIW, having one's arms waxed really makes the tattoos stand out.

Bear

12:55 / 16.06.03

I'd love to try it but I think if I did I would lose my special powers. I've shaved my chest before but it itched like hell when the hair started growing back, does waxing stop the itching?

Mourne Kransky

14:33 / 16.06.03

Delays the itching, Bear, but nothing will stop the itch of regrowth short of a bilateral orchidectomy. And that means both balls.

I have had bits waxed and shaved at various times by certain sadistic individuals and the itching is annoying but it does look kind of nice when it all grows back at the same length. Like a mown lawn. Or an all-over suedehead.

_Boboss

15:19 / 16.06.03

had a flatmate once who immac-ed his balls regularly because they made his cock look bigger. the benefits of having a bigger looking cock that is of course the same size as a hair-about cock struck me as being a hilarious vanity. how i laughed the day said sack got ingrown hairs. fellas who don't have hairy chests are just cunts basically, pointless little semi-men far removed from atlantean forebears. fix hairless chest with a look in the eye and tell him he'll never resemble tom selleck, and watch him quiver at the utter loss of self-respect [all men want to look like tom selleck].

Saveloy

16:01 / 16.06.03

Xoc:
"Been watching *Evil* Federico on BB4 as he slathers himself in creams all over each night and yet he seems, earnestly, to cultivate such an ultra-hetero self image."

Tchoh, don't you read your Sunday supplements? The attitude that 'proper' men don't concern themselves with fancy ladies' things like moisteuriser and soap is a thing of the past - or a thing of the past-it, like you and me. Any straight male who grew up after the Boer war considers it not only normal to apply perfumes and shampoos but essential - in fact they think about little else and have developed neuroses to match those of women, who have always had to worry about such things and therefore think it just desserts etc. I've heard that there are some unfortunate lads who worry about the size of their arses. I didn't even know I had an arse till I was 21!

Mourne Kransky

21:24 / 16.06.03

Damn that Boer War and those Ladyshave, sorry Ladysmith, Boyz. I guess I'm going to have to redirect my orientation to this new circumstance (i.e. stop whining and adapt). I hadn't previously realised that was what The Relief of Mafeking was all about: General Gordon discovering the Joy of Smooth.

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