The male resistance to waxing is melting away

By Olivia Barker, USA TODAY
Wed Aug 24, 7:02 AM ET



They skulk in, alone or dragged by their wives or girlfriends - follicularly endowed fellows seeking a drastic solution to their body hair hang-ups: waxing.

"They're somewhat scared and kind of shy because it's new to them," says Hector Peña, general manager of Manhattan's Nickel. The spa for men has seen a surge over the past two years in the number of clients willing to subject their skin to those strips of white muslin all in the name of confidence - on the beach and in bed.

Backs, shoulders, chests, brows and (gulp) nethers are increasingly fair game for de-furring. (Or "manscaping," as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Fab Five call it.) Forget the tufted torsos epitomized by heretofore hunks like Burt Reynolds and Tom Selleck - they've gone the way of the gold medallion necklace.

Hollywood is taking a hard line against hairiness this year. Consider Hitch's Will Smith, who counsels Kevin James that dating success is as dependent on a fuzz-free back as dancing skills. In My Date with Drew, Brian Herzlinger sees his Chia chest as an impediment to snagging a snuggle session with Drew Barrymore. (Maybe he shouldn't have worried: Barrymore revealed her hirsute armpits at Marc Jacobs' February show, to much clucking from the follicle-phobic fashion flock.)

And then there's The 40-Year-Old Virgin's Steve Carell, who, in the summer's most painfully memorable scene, has ape-ish abs reduced to what Paul Rudd dubs a "man-o-lantern." (Carell, who really did go under the wax-smeared spatula, aborts the procedure after a few patches are yanked off.)

Having too much body hair is akin to having too little head hair, says Stan Williams, fashion and grooming director of Maxim magazine. "A lot of guys are concerned about it, but it's not something you really talk about."

At Nickel, where waxing is the most popular treatment, 60% of the appointments are made by women on behalf of their husbands or boyfriends. Customers range from twentysomethings to fifty-somethings, Wall Street types to truckers. "Girls inquire all the time, 'What do I need to do to get him to come in there?' " says Peña, who began turning his unibrow into two on the advice of a girlfriend.

Not all men are convinced. "Chest hair is back, like fanny packs and aviators," says Jonah Enbar, 20, a rising senior at Northwestern University. "I want it to grow."

Body hair "makes you a man. It's a maturity thing," says Bates College senior Chris Robinson, 21. "I bet it would be ridiculously painful" to take off. But he could be persuaded: "If a girl asked me, yeah, I would do it."

Still, Williams waxes horrific about the eyebrow-raising extremes. "Go to any club and look at these young guys" who have thinned their brows to Norma Desmond wisps. "It's pretty frightening."

When it comes to his chest, the average man clips it or simply lives with it, Williams says. If it's a source of relationship anxiety, "then why are you with (that person)?"

Waxing makes up 35% to 40% of the business at Joq Day Spa for Men in Atlanta. "Men are just becoming a lot more conscious of what their body looks like," spa director Christopher Keever says. "They realize you don't need to go around looking like the missing link."

Even cowboys get the back-hair blues. At Napoleon's for Men, a 2-year-old hot-shave-and-haircut hangout in Boise, guys who are no strangers to reins and rifles will occasionally call and ask whether waxing hurts. "I say, 'You can handle it,' " receptionist Dayna Ross says.

Fear not: Williams says there's a reprieve in sight for those with Brillo-padded pecs. Fall fashion is "woodsy," he says. "So when you emasculate the guy and whip off his hair," it doesn't jibe with what's on the runway - no matter that the men modeling those clothes are as smooth as Michael Jordan's pate.

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[PHANTOM21]

i tell you wut (spoken with heavy southern accent)

that waxing crap will never melt this way (spoken with sincerity)

[Matias]

[omax]

Well...If my back all of a sudden started to get really hairy...then I think I would be interested in getting it waxed or something.

But there is no way Im going to wax my chest.

[andrea js]

ppl tend to overrate the pain involved I've noticed

If I can handle it, and I'm a wuss..anyone can lol

[SAScrub]

I guess it just depends on the part of the body. My wife waxes my eyebrows, and I'm used to that. But I don't know if I can handle getting hair ripped out of my nipples...

[FamousJames]

I'm not ashamed to admit that some 'man-scaping' takes place.....not to the tune of fuzzy bear above...but you gotta keep things neat and clean.

[SpursStalker]

Originally Posted by omax

But there is no way Im going to wax my chest.

IMHO.....Men SHOULD have hair on their chest, its soooooooooo Yummy!!

Originally Posted by SAScrub

I guess it just depends on the part of the body. My wife waxes my eyebrows, and I'm used to that. But I don't know if I can handle getting hair ripped out of my nipples...

Take a pic next time she does, I wanna see this

[rjv]

any man of an italian/cuban/mexican background would be shot if he was caught waxing!

Yes I like my italian/cuban/mexican men with hair....

[kyleo]

Originally Posted by SpursStalker

IMHO.....Men SHOULD have hair on their chest, its soooooooooo Yummy!!

OK, that's amazing.

And, um, I respectfully disagree with the content of this article.

[mpgraphix]

Saw that a couple nights ago...really funny - strange sequences at times, but oh well

Yeah, what is that ladies? some of you like hairy animals others like the waxed look - im closer to the wax, even tho i dont do it....just strange

i guess thats like guys that are either buttmen or boobmen?

[Sith Lord]

Laser Hair Removal. More expenisive...but a better alternative.

Sith

[SoupIsGood]

My waxing resistor is still running pretty strong.

[SpursStalker]

Originally Posted by kyleo

OK, that's amazing.

And, um, I respectfully disagree with the content of this article.

Amazeing on what level?

[kyleo]

Originally Posted by SpursStalker

Amazeing on what level?

The unmitigated enthusiasm for a hairy man.

[Chief]

Originally Posted by andrea js

ppl tend to overrate the pain involved I've noticed

If I can handle it, and I'm a wuss..anyone can lol

you don't count, your a woman, your also supposed to be able to handle childbirth.
doesn't mean men should start having kids

and why wax ? why can't you go the barber and get like a chesthair cut, or a backhair cut, just as normally as you would get a haircut ?

[SimTek]

I'm sorry, and I don't mean to offend anyone, but the whole male waxing thing is just freakin' "gayness" at its most obvious. Anyone who doesn't see this is just kidding themselves. So...

COME ON OUT GIRLS! I'LL HOLD THE CLOSET DOOR OPEN FOR YOU!