Beards may be in. But stomach manes? Out. The same goes for chest tufts and creeping brows. In fact, hair anywhere other than a man’s lip, jaw or chin is having a hard time getting respect.
From magazine covers to movie shoots to beaches, it’s the hairless guys, the men showing off
the smoothest skin, who are getting pop-culture high-fives.
“I don’t know many people who don’t shave, or at least trim,” said JD Markwardt, 26, a Denver tattoo artist.
He’s not talking about chins.
“My friends, when we talk about stuff like that, say they all shave [body hair]. They don’t grow everything out like they used to.”
It’s not just the young dudes, though. Salon owners say retirees come in for chest waxings. Middle-age hockey coaches get Brazilians, a procedure that removes hair around the groin.
Just as women have for decades, guys across the spectrum are taking inventory of their body hair and saying, “Be gone!”
Studies and interviews suggest guys want “cleanliness,” although the evidence for their reasoning is far from conclusive.
Either way, corporate America has responded. Since 2007, nearly 100 new lotions, strips, sprays and devices meant to manage male body hair have come on the market, according to Taya Tomasello, director of beauty innovation at research firm Mintel International.
Nair, a company associated with women’s products since 1940, has a depilatory cream and spray for men. Nad’s for Men offers hair-removal strips. Hansen for Men also sells a line of strips and lotions. Remington advertises a new electric body shaver.
Satin Smooth, a company specializing in waxing products, last week began promoting the idea of the “boyzilian.”
These companies understand a significant shift in men’s attitudes about hair.
“As soon as it started growing, I started shaving,” said Markwardt. “I trim my armpits because if I don’t it gets very long and waves in the wind like a flag.”
Based on what has happened in the female market, Tomasello believes male body grooming has legs.
Women in the US began shaving armpits and legs in the 1920s as closer-cut and revealing fashions put more emphasis on body shape. The hair kept coming off. Fast-forward to the 1990s, when Brazilians became marginally popular; now they are commonplace.
And men are primed for the change. Last year, they accounted for nearly 30 percent of all spa business, according to the International Spa Association. They are drivers for a growing segment of the industry’s boom niche: hair-removal salons.
“Fashion trends come and go,” said Tomasello, “but grooming habits are here to stay.”
Salon owners hope Tomasello is right. Waxing the City, a chain of salons, opened its first place in Lower Downtown Denver in 2003. Now, owner Alex Jimenez and her partners have another salon in Denver, one in Boulder, Colorado, one in Dallas and a “waxing university” at the original flagship location. And men are key to the growth.
With fellows, “It’s full body,” she said. “From blue-collar guys to executives. And once that hair is gone, you get used to it. When you see the results on one body part, you say, ‘Ooh. How about there. And there. And there.’”
About 25 percent of her customers are men. Brazilian treatments, at US$60 and US$70, are one of the more popular male services, she said, just behind backs and eyebrows.
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