Perhaps unsurprisingly, many women appreciate men who trim their pubic areas or shave them smooth entirely. According to some, it helps men and women think of a guy's package as larger. But women appreciate body hair on a guy's arms and legs, and even some on his chest if it's not super thick or like a carpet.
Case in point: When Australian researchers surveyed women about their body hair preferences on men, they found that women deemed men with "light" body hair—or guys with just a little bit of hair around their chest and belly button—as more attractive than guys with lots of body hair.
Similar to how we style our hair or grow a mustache, shaving arm hair is all about personal preference. There isn't any medical reason or athletic reason to shave your arm hair. Instead, it's purely an aesthetic preference. Since hair holds on to moisture, having less hair could help with sweating problems.
Hairy arms mean the man will surely be loyal and faithful. Hairy legs and chest are downright ugly (yes, this truth was accepted 'back then' too) and so not much thought or superstition is attached to it. For the most part, each of these implications are pretty much valid even today.
Are women supposed to keep it, or shave it all off? The short answer is: It's up to you. There's no physical health benefit to shaving your arms, but when you have your hair groomed in a way that makes you feel your best, it can boost your self-esteem and positively affect your mental health.
Like so many things, it comes down to a mixture of genetics and hormones. We know that at least some of the genes for hairiness are carried on the X chromosome – and the way these genes are expressed varies between different men and ethnic groups – but hairiness also correlates with high testosterone levels.
Is body hair a sign of high testosterone? Testosterone can cause hair growth but it's not always a sign of high testosterone levels. Testosterone and oestrogen are sex hormones, and they help determine how your hair grows. This means not only where, but also the texture, thickness and colour of that hair.
Scientists think that the build-up from years of producing testosterone disrupts the cycle of hair growth in men. As a result, the hair in some places grows longer before it falls out. That's why older men need to keep trimming eyebrows, nose hair and ear hair!
Of the 4,044 men surveyed, 68 percent said they trim their armpit hair; 52 percent said they do it for aesthetics, and 16 percent said they do it for athletic reasons. (About 1 in 10 guys surveyed said they never trim their armpit hair.)
The simple answer is yes, shaving body hair can help reduce body odour! Underarm hair is a wonderful breeding ground for bacteria, which thrive under the protective cover of the body hair, boosting the smell of perspiration as a result.
The individual occurrence and characteristics of chest hair depend on the genetic disposition, the hormonal status and the age of the person. The genes primarily determine the amount, patterns and thickness of chest hair. Some men are very hairy, while others have no chest hair at all.
Research shows that humor and kindness are also characteristics which women find attractive in a man. Clear skin and masculine features are often cited as two physical characteristics which women find desirable in men.
Data clearly show that women prefer men with body hair, a direct indicator of sexual maturity. Considering that this feature is present in both men and women, the same would be expected when males look for attractive characteristics in women.
PROTECTION AGAINST THE SUN: People who have a hairy body are less prone to sunburn and rashes. Another purpose that they serve is to keep us warm. This process goes like this- when we feel cold, our body hair stands on end and trap warm air which is closer to the surface of the skin.
A hairy chest signals higher intelligence in a man, somewhat tongue-in-cheek research finds. Dr Aikarakudy Alias, a psychiatrist, has found that hairy chests are more frequent among men who are highly educated, such as doctors.
Can boosting testosterone levels improve your sex life? The hormone testosterone plays a big part in men's health, but perhaps its most meaningful role is to fuel sex drive and performance. Testosterone levels tend to decrease with age.
Men develop more androgenic hair than women because we have more androgens. Androgens (sometimes referred to as male sex hormones because we more of them than women) are sexual hormones such as testosterone, androstenedione and DHT, which create male characteristics. This, of course, includes being hairier.
Bodybuilders have long shaved their arms in order to better show off their muscle definition; some swimmers also prefer to have hairless arms to make their bodies feel more streamlined.
No — shaving hair doesn't change its thickness, color or rate of growth. Shaving facial or body hair gives the hair a blunt tip. The tip might feel coarse or "stubbly" for a time as it grows out. During this phase, the hair might be more noticeable and perhaps appear darker or thicker.